Interview with Sons of Huns “I think that heavier music, with bands like Red Fang, Danava, and Lord Dying, Portland is really getting noticed as a city that loves it heavy.”

April 2014 Interviewer : Bonten Records

――Firstly, Thank you for taking your time and welcome to Peckinpah mag!
Could you tell us about the history of Sons of Huns?

Ryan Northrop
Sure, we all started out in other bands around the Fall of 2009. Peter (guitar) was in a band with Shoki (bass) at the time where Shoki played drums. I also played drums in a band with Shoki while he played bass. I went to the last show of Pete and Shoki’s band one night and loved Peter’s playing and told him I wanted to start a rock band with him. We all loved this garage band from the Northwest US called The Sonics, and we tried to write songs in their vain, but it eventually turned into Sons of Huns and we’ve put out an EP, 7″ and album so far.

――What is Sons of Huns current lineup?

Ryan Northrop
Shoki Tanabe (bass)
Ryan Northrop (drums)
Peter Hughes (guitar).

――Could you describe Sons of Huns sound to our readers who haven’t heard you yet?

Ryan Northrop
We’re a rock n’ roll band from Portland, Oregon USA. We love the fuzz.

――What does the name Sons of Huns mean or refer to?

Ryan Northrop
Picking a band name is hard and we wanted something that rhymed. Plus, the Huns were a brutal race so we think that reflects well in our music.

――Which bands and artists influenced you as musicians?

Ryan Northrop
The nice thing is that we were pretty much influenced by the same bands: Black Sabbath, The Sonics, The Monks, Motorhead, etc.

――Congrats on your first album. It is released from Easy Rider Records. How did it come?

Ryan Northrop
Thanks! I, Ryan, had heard of a sweet, up-and-coming stoner rock label on the internet and we had just recorded our album, “Banishment Ritual,” and we really wanted to have a good label put it out. I emailed Daniel Hall, owner of Easy Rider Records, our tracks and he got back to me that he was interested. The rest is history.

――Banishment Ritual(※1) is released on Vinyl. Are you fans of Vinyl?

Ryan Northrop
We are big fans of vinyl. We think it sounds better and our fans like it more because they have something tangible and special to hold.

――The album has brilliant trippy, spacey artworks, Whose work?

Ryan Northrop
Our good friend, Adam Burke, who is a brilliant artist, did the entire artwork for the album. He also did the art for our “Leaving Your Body” 7″(※2) record.

―― I would like to ask you about the song called “Super kanpai rainbow”. Does “kanpai” means Japanese “Cheers”?

Ryan Northrop
Yes, we needed a name for a song and our bassist, Shoki, speaks Japanese and we thought it was a fun name.

――You seems like a big sci-fi fan. Did you influenced by particular films or TV shows?
Ryan Northrop
We love the Sci-fi genre. We grew up reading stories from Ray Bradbury, Issac Asimov, H.P. Lovecraft and others.

――How would you describe local music scene of Portland?

Ryan Northrop
Portland has something for every music lover. It’s not a large city, but still gets all the same influences and art that any large city would. For a long time, Pop and Indie Rock really put Portland on the map but I think that heavier music, with bands like Red Fang, Danava, and Lord Dying, Portland is really getting noticed as a city that loves it heavy.

――Which bands and musicians albums are you currently enjoying?

Ryan Northrop
Any recommendations you can give to our readers for bands to check out.
We really dig Windhand, Klevertak, Christian Mistress, Danava, Lord Dying, Billions and Billions and many others.

――Sons of Huns played with many cool bands like Red Fang, Davana…etc. How was it?
Ryan Northrop
It was great as expected! We feel lucky to able to play with such awesome bands.

――Do you have any funny or interesting stories from live performances or tours that you’d like to share with our readers?

Ryan Northrop
If you ever see us live, expect to move and shake, otherwise you’ll get an earful from our guitarist, Pete.

――Finally, Would you like to send a message to Japanese fan?

Ryan Northrop
We wanna give a shout out to our Japanese crew: Takako, Shinji, Shimpei, Yusuke and Hideaki. Thanks to all our Japanese fans and we hope to see you soon and get greasy!

この記事を日本語で読む。 Read this article in Japanese.[:en]