ONA interviews Hush Hush Commotion!

Hush Hush Commotion was one of Of New Astronomy's first bands to sponsor.  I met them through my old band and recognized their drive and smart work ethic in the music scene.  Since then, they've released two studio CD's with producer Trent Bell (The Flaming Lips, Starlight Mints), and toured like crazy.  I got the chance to interview keyboardist/guitarist Chris Lusk, and here's what came of it!

So who does what in the band and how would you describe your sound?

CHRIS: Well, Scott sings, Andy plays guitar, Dan plays bass, Adam drums, and I play keys and guitar. As far as describing our sound, I would have to say that we play energetic indie pop with a southern swagger.

As a band, what would you guys say is your favorite part of the whole experience?

CHRIS: I’m really not sure which is my favorite part. I really love touring, but I also love the writing and recording process too. But, if I have to give you a single answer, I would have to say my favorite part is getting to experience things and visit places that I wouldn’t ever get to. Being in this band has allowed me to do a lot of really cool things.

Let's talk about the writing process. I've read a lot of band interviews and they never go over this! How do you guys go about writing your songs?  How was writing for the new EP "In Control" different from your last CD?

CHRIS: I think the biggest thing we try to do with our writing process is to slow down and take our time. Some bands sit around and crank out dozens and dozens of songs, and then weed out the ones they aren’t satisfied. Us, on the other hand, we pour so much attention and effort into the details that if we aren’t happy with a piece of a song, we will scrap it and start over. This makes for a slow process, but at the end of the day we are happy with all of our final products.

As far as the actual process of writing, Andy will typically come with a riff idea and we will slowly build off of it and begin to toy around with structure ideas. We are always helping each other out with ideas and we make all of our songs a collective effort. Normally, we build upon our ideas by writing most of the music and coming up with a couple melody ideas. Then, Scott will take a rough recording home and get the melody tweaked and put words to it. And then, we play with it for a while and make more changes until we finally feel comfortable to play it live. It’s always fun to listen to early recordings of our song ideas and compare them to the album version — we are constantly changing and updating our ideas. 

We have used this formula for both albums now. The big difference between the old CD and “In Control” was our mindset going in to the process. With “It Could Happen,” we felt this pressure to release something quickly and to write songs that people would like. As a result, we didn’t get to spend time much time on it — “It Could Happen” was written, recorded and released all within five months. With the new album, we sat down and told each other that we wanted to write music that was pure and honest. As cheesy as it sounds, we decided we needed to write music for ourselves and not for mass appeal. That’s not to say we don’t want people to like our music, but we felt we had to be honest to ourselves first and then, hopefully, the music would be well received.

To put it bluntly, we had grown sick and tired of all the cookie-cutter, generic bands that were forming around the country and we didn’t want to be grouped into that scene. A lot of people have taken our feelings about this incorrectly. We’re not against pop music. We like pop music and we still play pop music. We just hate the lack of creativity that seems to be swirling around the current pop scene.

I'm really digging this new southern (or is it western?) guitar twang that pops up every once in awhile in the new EP!  What sparked this?

CHRIS: Well we live in Oklahoma and we’re surrounded by a lot of southern exposure. Not to mention we are heavily influenced by bands like Kings of Leon, Wilco, Limbeck and others. I think a big thing is we started applying more blues and roots-rock styles into our writing. We like infusing those with our pop sensibilities and seeing what we can create.

Chris, what kind of toothpaste do you use?  : p

CHRIS: I have no idea. Haha. I don’t really care, so I just grab whatever. I think right now I have Crest? Maybe?

You guys recently played Sing It Or Scream It Fest in OKC. We don't see too many shows like this in Oklahoma. What did you think of the show and how did you get set up with this?

CHRIS: Sing It or Scream It Fest was a really cool opportunity to play for a big crowd and we felt very fortunate to be asked to play. It was a lot of fun to see so many different bands — both national and local — together in one building. We’ve always enjoyed playing festivals, but it was really cool to play one in our own backyard. 

What would you say are some of the things that influence the music as a band?

CHRIS: Musically, we draw from a wide range of influences including Kings of Leon, Limbeck, Wilco, Say Anything, Regina Spektor, Conor Oberst, Maylene and the Sons of Disaster, The Format, John Mayer, August Burns Red, Everybody Else, and many more.

 What's the craziest thing that's happened on tour?

CHRIS:  That’s hard to say, we’ve had a lot of crazy things happen in a ton of places. There’s so many different levels of “crazy” that it’s hard to choose just one. Plus, some of our stories may not be suitable for publish! Haha. Let’s just say that being a touring band is incredible because every day is a new adventure and with my band being the way we are…we always find ways to have a good time, no matter what kind of circumstances.

You guys seem to be very active personally with your street team. How is that going and how important is this to the functionality of your band?

CHRIS: Our street team is incredibly important to the band and we owe our members a ton of thanks. HHC_HQ (Hush Hush Commotion Headquarters) was set up my good friend Lauren Hartley, who has been friends with the guys in the band for years. Having the street team is a really cool thing that allows us to get to know our most devoted fans and interact with them on a more personal level. We try to have monthly meetings so we can fill them in on what we’re up to, give them sneak peaks at new merch designs, or even let them hear samples of new songs we’re working on. The benefit for us is we have a good network of fans we can rely on to help us promote. Whether it’s helping passing out fliers or just talking to their friends about us, our street team members are so good to us. In fact, every time we go on tour they get together and buy us a bunch of snacks and drinks to take on the road. This last tour we went on, I think I survived an entire month on the snacks they got for us. Like I said, we owe Lauren and the HHC_HQ members a ton!

Pop tarts or toaster strudels?

CHRIS: I’m not a huge fan of processed breakfast pastries in general, but I’ll go with pop tarts on this one.

Any final thoughts or last words?

CHRIS: We’re just really grateful for Of New Astronomy apparel for all the support you show to Hush Hush Commotion and we just want you to know that your shirts are the coolest! The rumors are true: HHC loves ONA!

And ONA <3's HHC too.  Awwww.  You can check out Hush Hush Commotion on myspace at www.myspace.com/hushhushcommotion and their songs can be found on iTunes!  Or you can catch them live, rocking ONA on the stage!

-Aaron

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