Havvk are a now Dublin based band who came to my attention when they were releasing their last record 'Cause & Effect', an affecting, beautiful and expansive record all delivered over a pulse and drive that propels forward making everything feel urgent and vital. I played it non stop and its still in regular rotation even now. One of the things I love about Havvk is that it extends beyond playing in a band, they also run a label, Veta, which aims at putting the control firmly in the hands of the artists. Helping provide a platform and highlighting local talents, which is obviously something I can firmly get behind! Julie took time out of her incredibly busy schedule to answer some questions.
Enjoy!
Can you tell me what first inspired you to make music, what made you pick up a guitar, write songs and join a band?
I’ve really been drawn to music all my life. It probably accounts for most of my earliest memories and I was always encouraged to play. So I can’t think of a point where ‘being in a band’ wasn’t on my to-do list. What actually pushed me towards pursuing it seriously was being told I couldn’t. Don’t worry, it’s not as controversial as it sounds. I had been having trouble with my hearing in college and amongst other things, the doctor told me that it would probably not be a good idea to expose myself to too much live music. When I got upset, he told me it would probably be no harm as long as it wasn’t too loud. Ten years later, I’m in a stupidly loud post-rock band. But I do take very good care of my hearing at all times.
What bands posters did you have upon your bedroom wall and what was the first album you ever bought and why?
After the Spice Girls / Robbie Williams era, my posters were about 70% Green Day and the rest were a mashup of Blink, the Offspring and Buffy. My first memory of buying my own tape was ‘C’est la vie’ by B*Witched. Then the first album remember buying is possibly Insomnia by Green Day? But I had stolen Dookie off my brother long before that. I’m skipping a lot of amazing NOW compilations here too!
The band has now existed in three countries England, Germany and Ireland. Has each different location for the band had an influence on the sound, the topics covered lyrically, what lead to those moves and has it been difficult to maintain the musical bond together while traversing these different geographical locations?
HAVVK started off in London, formed off the back of my own singer-songwriter project which Matt produced. We were two years into developing that before we realised we both not-so-secretly wanted to be making much louder music and form a ‘proper’ band (FYI that’s definitely the accurate answer to Q1). I think you can hear the transition from the folk scene in our earlier tracks and it’s influenced by that open mic, acoustic scene that we started off in in London. But the more comfortable we got in our setup, the more we started to write about the political and social issues around us. When we moved to Berlin, I think we each let go of a lot of stress and challenges from London, and I think you can hear it in our sound – we had more headspace to explore ideas. That reset button definitely helped us to be more confident in our lyrics too. The moves have been challenging too, but I think they’ve given us a chance to check in with ourselves and make sure we’re all loving the music we’re playing. I don’t think a music career is ever what you expect it’s going to be, especially as you get older. But if you’re with good people and you’re still loving the music that you’re making, I think you can work together to make it fit around house-moves, projects, family etc.
Cause and Effect came out last year which was one of my favourite releases from last year. It’s beautiful and floaty at times and angular and dense at others. It seemed to be a big step forward for the band. Can you tell us about writing for that record, did you have an idea going into the album what you wanted it to sound like? You worked with Rocky for that album who is well known for his massive sound and clarity, did this inform the decision to work with him?
Thank you! We had a definite idea going into the studio for Cause & Effect. We had released a couple of tracks that had overt messages about equality or human rights. But this was also at the peak of a lot of political discussion, especially around Brexit in the UK and Repeal in Ireland. It felt like more than ever, we were surrounded by noise, social media rants and fake news. It felt like shock-value was outweighing real conversation and real responsibility for the impact of hateful speech. The album centres around a need to find clarity in that environment, not just in the lyrics but with the distinction between the louder and softer tracks. Rocky was absolutely crucial to how it came together. We are, amongst other things, post-rock nerds and were huge fans of what Rocky had worked on already. Matt and himself worked really closely on the production and there was a real collaborative feeling in the studio.
The lyrics on Cause & Effect cover a range of topics including social media, mental health, gender equality. Do you feel a responsibility as an artist to tackle these topics especially as in Ireland at the minute these topics are to the fore?
This answer becomes more affirmative for me, the older I get and the more I try to step back in understand other people’s experiences. The short answer is, personally, I do feel I have a responsibility because I have a platform and an artform that lends itself to this. But I also think it is totally valid for me or for anyone to make art or music that doesn’t have a political message, because there’s more than one way to advocate for change. If you’re making music about lying on a beach, then cool. But if you’re making that music and not supporting gender balance or safe space in your studio or at your gigs or on social media, then I think that crosses a line for me. I think we need to do better and seeing these issue’s as ‘everyone’s issues.
Can you tell us about the writing process for Havvk is there a main songwriter or is it collaborative, how do you approach melodies and lyrics?
Matt and myself are the songwriters and it’s become a very collaborative process. Matt is one of these musicians that can write a melody and hear all of the other parts that make the song. So this tends to make up the canvas of most of our tracks. I tend to get more fixated on one idea, like a bass riff or a specific vocal hook – but these also develop into songs or get tied into other ideas. The lyrics are more my bag but we also collaborate a lot here, especially on nailing down the meaning and the message we’re sending out.
The album is layered with a multitude of beautiful sounds and some filthy sounds too! Can you tell us about the gear used to create some of those sounds? Are there any pieces of gear that are the quintessential Havvk sound?
There is a of ground I could cover here, but I’ll tell you about Matt’s TC-90 Thinline Telecaster, which is totally signature to our sound. It cost him £350 around 15 years ago and they only made around 1000 of them so it is pretty rare. It also got dropped about 10 years ago and has a giant hole in the bottom of it (also crucial to our sound). When it broke, we went from shop to shop on Denmark St in London trying new, expensive, different and supposedly 'better' guitars but they just didn't feel right. In the end, we just got it patched up and the TC-90 continues to be our special ingredient.
You run Veta records which Cause and Effect came out on, can you tell us about the label, is there philosophy behind the label? Can you tell us about the current roster any favourite releases or what’s coming up this year?
It’s easy to feel like there’s a hidden key to unlocking ‘success’ in music. But behind nearly all sustainable projects, there’s a relentless drive and a supportive team encouraging things creatively and building a strategy and infrastructure around everything. The aim of Veta is to help provide this so that artists can have more time and headspace to make things and to have creative control, not just of their own sound and image, but in shaping the kind of industry we want to be part of. We are currently five artists strong – HAVVK, Maria Kelly, Sive, Dyvr and St. Bishop – and we act as more of a collective than a record label. Our sounds are quite different but there’s a huge cross-over in how we work and support each other. I am really excited to for the world to see what Dyvr is doing next. He’s actually just moved to Belfast so a lot of Irish listeners will be hearing him for the first time now. He’s not only got an incredible voice and song-writing ability, but he is using his platform to elevate queer voices and stories. It’s incredibly powerful stuff – and you can dance to it! He’s just released a collaboration with St.Bishop called ‘Ocean’, which I’ve been singing all day. (Maria Kelly just walked into the kitchen, singing it too so that’s a great sign!) He’ll be announcing something big quite soon. That’s all I’ll say for now…
Your videos are always so visually arresting, from the white out illustration of ‘If I Dont Tell You’ to the unnamed star/space voyage themed ‘Operate’. Can you tell us about how you come up with concepts for these, do they come from the band? How important is it to the band of maintaining or developing an aesthetic to help present the work to the world?
We are very passionate about our videos – there’s a lot of personal ideas and humour in all of them and we want to be true to that. But we also wanted to use the album as a means to collaborate with our talented friends. A bit like Veta, we are big believers in sharing skills and trying to use our own platform to showcase other people’s work and vice versa. With ‘If I Don’t Tell You’, you’re seeing full scale wall illustrations created by John Rooney from Derry. This was filmed in stop motion by our videographer, James Byrne who also took on board the ‘Operate’ video. Here again, you’re seeing some of our talented friends from the dance scene in Berlin – they cover my kitchen in tinfoil and turned it into a space ship for the day.
The scene both north and south seems to be stronger than ever, is there anyone you’d want to shout out to?
Yes! I’ve already mentioned all the Veta gang so I’ll skip them. Off the top of my head, I would advise anyone to immediately check out Rachael Lavelle, Denise Chaila and Lyndsey Lawler. That’s just a small but amazingly varied cross-section of the music taking off in Ireland right now.
And finally in the vein of Rob Gordon. What are your Top 5 favourite records.
This is not representative of all of HAVVK and again, I’m going to try to think fast or I’ll be thinking about it for hours – here goes!
Sleater Kinney – The Woods
St.Vincent – Actor
Interpol – Turn on the Bright Lights
Radiohead – The Bends
Savages – Silence Yourself
Find and follow Havvk:
https://www.facebook.com/HAVVKmusic/
https://www.instagram.com/havvkmusic/
https://www.havvkmusic.com/
https://www.youtube.com/Havvkmusic
Find and follow Veta:
https://www.wearevetamusic.com/
https://www.facebook.com/wearevetamusic/
Find and follow Old Crows:
https://www.facebook.com/oldcrowspromotions/
https://www.instagram.com/oldcrowspromotions/
.png)
