Hang Ten, an interview

As previously mentioned, we first found Hang Ten on Instagram and immediately fell in love with their track, “Balloon.” Then, when they sent us a sneak peak of their upcoming, September 2nd release, “Slow Down,” we had no choice but to bring them in for questioning...

UpToHear: How’s the local music scene in Appleton, WI?

Alex Drossart: It’s actually pretty good for a small, Midwestern town. Our friend and long time collaborator, Cory Chisel, founded an annual music festival called Mile of Music, which brings bands in from all over the place, and has definitely increased Appleton’s presence as a music destination. We also have Lawrence University, which has a top notch music conservatory. Wisconsin, in general, has been home to a lot of great musicians (Butch Vig, Bon Iver, the aforementioned Cory, Violent Femmes etc) and we’ve been lucky enough to cross paths with and collaborate with a number of them.

Samuel Farrell: Yeah, Appleton is definitely a pretty unique beast and pretty insular in a lot of ways. Because the music community here is relatively small, you really get to know everybody and we’ve basically all played together in various incarnations over the years. In that way, we’re really lucky in that we’ve met some amazing people and have gotten to be really close with so many different people.

UTH: How did you meet? And how often do you play live?

AD: Sam, Ryan, and Ryley all grew up together in an even smaller town called Freedom, which is about 10 miles north of Appleton. Matty and I both grew up in Green Bay, which is about 30 miles north of Appleton, and became friends through playing in bars around town. We all started working on various projects together through a monastery-turned-arts-nonprofit called The Refuge, which is owned and run by Cory. Although we’ve all been working together for years, we’d never really all worked together on a project that was really “our own,” so we started Hang Ten as a pandemic times recording project while holed up in our basement studio at The Refuge. Up to this point, we’ve strictly been a studio project, so we’ve never actually played live (even in studio) as a band. We are currently focused on getting ready to do a couple shows around Wisconsin in October, which has been interesting, as we’ve intentionally tried not to think about how we could pull these songs off live while we’re recording them. I think we’re cracking the code though, it’s gonna be cool!

SF: Yeah - we’ve all played hundreds of shows together, just never as Hang Ten! I’ve actually been playing in bands with Ryan Eick since we were about 10 years old. Grade school sweethearts! As far as Hang Ten playing live, Alex has seen the Keyboard Matrix and I think we can pull it off without resorting to playing to tracks. Either way, we’ll find out.

UTH: The video for “Balloon” really seems to portray the small town vibe and it’s no secret that we are huge fans of that track, but this new one, “Slow Down,” is simply fantastic. Do you take steroids when you write your music? Or are there more dynamic steps to your writing process?

AD: Our mind and body altering substance intake days are largely behind us (we’re all old now) but we do enjoy ice cold Topo Chico Hard Seltzer and a myriad of Wisconsin beers while recording and writing. I doubt any of us have used steroids (who knows though? I’ll ask), but maybe you’re on to something there… The writing process is pretty simple. Sam usually comes to the band with an idea, then we text incessantly about the arrangement, additional hooks, lyrics, etc until we’re all happy and then finish off the recording in the studio. We record, produce, mix, and master everything on our own, so we’re able to get stuff done pretty quickly, and usually subscribe to the idea that the first and/or simplest idea is the best idea. Our “demos” often end up being the core tracks of the final product.

SF: I’ve never understood the process of pre-production. I’ve always preferred demos. They seem to capture something that gets missed when you record something for the second (third, fourth?) time. And we’ve definitely tried to do it the other way in other bands, but I think we’re pretty firmly in the ‘first time, last time’ camp with Hang Ten. It seems to work and it keeps everything sounding exciting, at least to me. We do a lot of recording/writing/producing for other people/projects, so Hang Ten gives us the chance to stretch out a bit. It’s never felt like work. The writing and recording process happens at the same time, so it’s really easy to have an idea, try it, and see if it works. We also aren’t shy about throwing out ideas that don’t work, and I think that’s important. Nothing is precious.

AD: Sam, Matty, and I, in particular, have spent a lot of time as hired guns on stage and in the studio, and I think that’s provided us with a lot of experience and insight into what makes up the DNA of a “good song.” I think it would be impossible to overstate how important those experiences have been to our growth as musicians.

UTH: In our review of “Balloon,” we went on and on about Sparklehorse. Have you had a chance to check out any of their material?

AD: Weirdly, none of us were too familiar with Sparklehorse. I’ve listened to it since your review, and I’m flattered as hell! Thanks for the tip!

SF: I have! The album that spoke to me the most was vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot, especially “Rainmaker” and “Hammering The Cramps.” It reminds me of something that I can’t quite put my finger on. I grew up loving Toad the Wet Sprocket and Grandaddy, and it seems like it has a lot of that in its DNA in weird ways. Also this band called Lilys that released a criminally under-appreciated album Better Can’t Make Your Life Better.

UTH: Yes, “Rainmaker” is definitely a solid track to start with. While the entire catalog begs a listen, it’s Mark Linkous’ vocals that first draw you in, which is exactly what hooked us with you guys. They are absolutely brilliant.

SF: This might be nerdy, but I love the vocal sound too. I also love the sound of compressed, completely dry vocals. It sounds so close and intimate to me. Everybody disagrees with me, especially when I try to convince singers I’m recording that ‘hey, let’s take off that the verb and let it be naked’. Nobody likes it but me and apparently Sparklehorse! I’ve snuck in quite a few bits of dry vocals on the Hang Ten stuff but I don’t think anybody else has noticed.

UTH: Agreed. With all of the plugins and effects available, very few seem to take advantage of a good, dry vocal. There is absolutely nothing wrong with your earlier material, but it seems like you just keep getting better and better with each new release. Is this some sort of witchcraft or is this just a natural progression?

AD: I think it’s just a natural progression. We’ve definitely tried to hone in on a sound, and we’ve solidified the lineup of the band since the first few songs, so maybe that has something to do with it? Or maybe witchcraft? Maybe we’ve been cursed! Sam played bass on the earlier material, and he was intentionally trying to play like our friend Matty, so eventually we figured he should just play bass in the band. The last few months have been spent trying to turn what started out as a studio project for fun into something that resembles “a real band.”

SF: Yeah, I think a lot of it is just the band finding its voice. Personally, I’ve never really written anything quite like this before. We’ve written for tons of projects in a ton of different genres from soul to country to punk to metal, but nothing quite like whatever Hang Ten is. I think there’s been progressively more input from everybody on the tracks and that’s only made it better. I’m going to be honest, the people in this band are some of my favorite musicians and writers in the world, so tricking them into working on this has maybe been my greatest victory.

Great dudes and great music. Do yourself a favor and pre-save “Slow Down,” which will become available on September 2nd!

-TM