Interview by Kris Peters
Traversing the line between rock, punk and a hint of pop, Sydney outfit Hugs are definitely a young band on the rise.
With an infectious attitude and even more infectious music, Hugs represent the new era of crossover rock in this country where the genre or stylistic direction isn't necessarily as important as the journey taken to get there.
Following the recent release of their EP In Bones - which the band themselves have explained "what we tried to do on our EP was take the twinkly guitar sound of Midwest emo and put it in different musical contexts" - Hugs have set their sights on taking their music throughout Australia but first stopped in at HEAVY HQ to talk about the recent release.
"Everybody has been really positive about it," vocalist Sam enthused when asked about the early response to In Bones. "I've never really been involved in a band where we've worked so hard on crafting the songs and also recording them. Normally it's a pretty quick process. You go in, slam it down, and whatever comes is what it is but we spent a really long time crafting the sounds and the parts. Tom wrote these cool interlude bits to join the songs together and I am really stoked with the reception so far, and we continue to get."
"I'm the same," guitarist Tom added. "Heaps of warm words, especially from friends and other bands. I was happy with how it has been received."
In the full interview the boys run us through each track on the EP and it's meaning and musical composition, their sound and why it resonates across the board, finding the balance between musical styles, live shows, new music and more.