Het 'leuke' aan de pandemie is dat er véél tijd is om nieuwe bands te leren kennen, vooral bands die deze tijd nuttig besteden en bv. uitpakken met schitterende heavy psych jams. Vraag de vier Virginians niet naar de lyrics bij dit nummer, die zitten nl. niet in hun geheugen gebeiteld. Gewoon genieten dus van hun negen minuten durende spontane live jam. Hun nieuwe album komt er deze zomer aan.
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Emanating from the tidewaters of Virginia, Freedom Hawk’s heavy riffs, rolling groove, soulful guitar melodies, and harmonic metal packaging to produce a sound that is distinctly their own. The quartet’s brand of heavy rock captures the best of the heavy ‘70s with touches of early 80s heavy metal, and presents it in a way that’s unique yet very familiar. Inspired by their experiences that could only come from living close to the ocean, there songs speak to that lifestyle and conjure images of the warm sun, a day of surfing, and partying on the beach.
Founding members T.R. Morton, Mark Cave, Matt Cave, and Lenny Hines formed the band in 2005 and played their first show as Freedom Hawk in January of 2006, opening for Year Long Disaster and Throttlerod. Their debut album, Sunlight, was self-released soon after in early 2008. In this debut, you can hear the beginning of the band forming their sound and writing style that would be expanded on in later releases. Songs “Executioner”, “Land of the Lost”, “Going Down” and title track “Sunlight” embody their sound and can be found as a backing track to many surfing videos (and other beach related sports).
Their second release in 2009, Freedom Hawk (Meteor City Records), is a continuation from their debut in style and writing, and captures a point in time that reflects the beginning of the bands musical journey. Being a popular choice as the sound track for online videos, this is album is unique in that all 7 songs were picked up and used throughout the years.
Building off of the success of the first two releases, 2011 brought their third release, Holding On (Small Stone Records), is a reflection of the band becoming more comfortable with each other musically and expands on their sound. “Zelda” and “Faded” are perfect examples them reaching beyond the boundaries they’ve set for themselves, while tracks like “Living for Days” and “Indian Summer” provides a heavier take on their original sound. The song “Her Addiction” was sampled and used in an episode of CBS’s Hawaii Five-O and could also be heard in an episode of MTV’s Ridiculousness, along with “Indian Summer”.
With the departure of Matt Cave, the band releases their fourth album, Into Your Mind (Small Stone Records) in 2015 as a three piece, without veering too far from their original sound and style. The songs embody the same slow groove and heavy rock anthem songs seen in previous albums, but a cleaner purer package. The rhythm tracks were recorded with all three members together in one room, to help capture their sound in a more organic fashion, which was typically done in the early throws of rock ‘n roll. Tracks like “Beyond Our Reach” and “The Line” shows a more laid back bluesy sound from the band, while heavy hitters “Blood Red Sky”, “Radar”, and “All Because of You” stay true to the bands form. “Blood Red Sky” was also used and can be heard on an episode of MTV’s Ridiculousness.
2017 was an exciting year and brought the re-release of the band’s first records, Sunlight and Freedom Hawk, by Ripple Music. Both albums were re-mastered and release on vinyl for the first time since their original release.
The bands fifth release, Beast Remains (Ripple Music), is set to be released in 2018 and will be a return to a four piece with the addition of Brendan O’Neil. The culmination of years perfecting and solidifying their sound, combined with the energy that can only be captured by a four piece, with songs like Solid Gold, Darkness to Light, Champ, and more the stage has been set for what could be another reinvention and expansion of the sound they started ten years earlier.
Over the years, the band have gone on countless tours taking them to across the U.S. and to multiple countries in Europe. U.S. festivals include SXSW, Doomed Fest Maryland, and Doomed and Stoned. European festivals include Roadburn, Freak Valley Festival, and in 2018, Desertfest London and Desertfest Berlin with more live dates to follow as they continue to expand their reach both in terms of music and fan-base around the world!
