INTERVIEW: Johnny Hunter Look Inwards On Their Explosive Debut Album ‘Want’

Johnny Hunter. Photo by Tom Wilkinson.

I’ve always felt like Australian bands make world-class post-punk. Acts like Gold Class, Autosuggest and early Black Cab have all released excellent post-punk projects, and it’s a genre that stirs a lot of emotions up in yours truly. Post-punk bands are also (usually) incredible live - I think it’s in part thanks to the basslines that post-punk bands create.

While I haven’t had the pleasure of seeing Sydney’s Johnny Hunter yet, their take on post-punk (which they combine with elements of new wave and pop) captivated me from the moment I first heard one of their songs. Their 2020 EP Early Trauma offered a snapshot of the band’s potential - potential that is fully realised on their excellent debut album, Want. Want is now out in the world, and it’s a project that is as cathartic as it is introspective. Songs like The Floor are stirring, while songs like Dreams and Cry Like A Man are vulnerable and insightful. It’s a delicate balance, but one the band has pulled off with aplomb.

I recently spoke to the band about the new album, the pandemic and much more. Hopefully this chat inspires you to check out the album, because it’s easily one of my favourite Australian releases of the year!

Ben Madden: Firstly, congratulations on the release of Want! I’ve been following Johnny Hunter for a little while now, and I feel like the album is a true insight into the band’s ethos, as it centres around topics like masculinity, vulnerability and self-actualisation. As a band, and as individuals, what do you feel like you’ve taken away from the process of creating Want?

Johnny Hunter: Thank you! We like to think we’ve grown within the writing and recording process of Want. Originally it was a compilation of tracks we had written over the course of the conception of the band and as time went on we realized that it wasn't as random as we thought. It was very much a musical commentary on the people we had become since writing those songs and the people we yearned to be.

As a listener, the record feels cathartic. There is tension and release within every song, and it’s easy to imagine tracks like Dreams and Clover becoming staples of your live shows going forward. Was there a similar feeling of catharsis when you were writing the songs from Want?

Performing it definitely produces some sense of emotional release, I wouldn’t say we felt catharsis when writing though, I’d say we were excited. We genuinely thought these were amazing songs and just couldn't bloody wait to release them. Dreams has been in our set for some time now and a lot of diehards kept calling for it to be released. It's definitely a staple of our live show and I'm sure Clover will endear the fans on a similar level.

The album sits within the world of post-punk, which is a genre that (at least in my view) often challenges people’s pre-conceptions of how masculinity should be expressed and performed. Cry Like A Man touches on toxic masculinity, but I’d love to know more about how that theme extends to the rest of Want, if it does?

Masculinity is a hot topic! Our experience of it shapes Johnny Hunter in its entirety, from our live shows to press shots to the music we write. So yes, you could say it's a huge theme within the album. I enjoy creating that paradox of a total embrace of masculinity and then completely denouncing it. It freaks people out. We can release a track like Want which is so macho, so boisterous and then follow it up with something like Cry Like A Man or Fracture which is so fragile and vulnerable. Having said that Want the album and the song is also so vulnerable, having grown up in Australia I’ve noticed that it's particularly taboo for men to “try” in the eyes of the public, to let people know that you're passionate. Want certainly doesn't hide our hearts beneath our sleeves.

I wanted to ask about the album’s closing lyrics – on Clover, Nick sings, “We can get out of this mess that we’re in”. The lyrics on the album are one of the strongest points, but this is a line that stood out to me – especially as it’s one of the last things people will hear when listening to Want. What was the inspiration behind this line, and what does the way forward look like in your eyes?

The song itself was originally inspired by being in a relationship with someone with severe mental illness and trying to help them. I suppose as time went on that grew into something more universal. The world's been through a lot in the past three years, there's this growing shadow of hopelessness I’ve never felt before and “We can get out of this mess that we’re in” is a call to light, a beacon of hope. Given most songs on the album stem from some sort of emotional turmoil I thought it was a very fitting cliffhanger.

Comparisons to artists like The Cure and Joy Division feel not only apt, but well-deserved. However, I’m curious to learn more about the influences, music or otherwise, that helped inspire the songs on Want?

Musical influences to name a few: Bowie, Nick Cave, Sonic Youth, Q Lazzarus, Pretenders, Bauhaus, Lorde, Chromatics, U2, The Smiths, The Go-Betweens, Triffids, The Church, New Order, Nine Inch Nails all influenced us musically and visually.

I used literature as a means of lyrical inspiration, be it Leonard Cohen’s Book of Longing, Sylvia Plath’s Ariel, Shakespeare, TS Eliot, Dante, Wuthering Heights, Paradise Lost and many more.

Comparing Want to your 2020 EP Early Trauma, what do you think has changed in regard to the music you’re making and the way you approach music as a band?

It's relatively the same, we just have a better understanding of time management now - how we can get the best out of our limited time in the studio. As a young artist, you go in with all these silly expectations of extra production value but, in the end, you learn that less is usually more.

At the time of writing, you’re preparing for your first national headline tour, and you’ll be playing shows all across Australia. What are you looking forward to most from the tour?

Melbourne is like our second home, so we are always welcomed with a warm return. We’ve met a few friends in Brisbane too and we look forward to having a few beers with Jack and the fellas. A late addition to the tour is a pre-Splendour party in Byron - we’ve never played there before, and it's got all the hallmarks of a potentially great show so we can't wait for that.

I wanted to ask: are there any Australian bands/artists that you’d like to shout out?

Megafauna, Eternal Crush, Shady Nasty, The Buoys, Dick Dudley, Mac The Knife, Spike Fuck, Jet City Sports Club, Organs, Low Life, Stumps and Body Type are our absolute FAVOURITES.

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Finally, what’s on the cards for the band over the rest of 2022?

A holiday, another album recorded and another tour.

You can follow Johnny Hunter on Instagram here, Facebook here and Twitter here.