{"id":4353,"date":"2011-11-13T23:39:29","date_gmt":"2011-11-14T06:39:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/?p=4353"},"modified":"2011-11-28T15:22:10","modified_gmt":"2011-11-28T22:22:10","slug":"van-hunt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/2011\/11\/van-hunt\/","title":{"rendered":"VAN HUNT"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>VAN HUNT
\n<\/strong>Tracking down the sound in his head, even if it leads him to the world of punk rock <\/strong><\/h2>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

\u201cThere has always been a sound in my head that existed long before I made records,\u201d says Van Hunt. It\u2019s a sound the Atlanta native has been chasing throughout his life, even as he became a star with two major-label R&B releases in 2004 and 2006. When his record label permanently shelved a more adventurous third album, he became even more determined to capture that sound. \u201cI\u2019ve always gone after that, but having to live in the world and not in my head, I was influenced by my surroundings,\u201d he explains. \u201cThat\u2019s why the first record sounded like \u201970s or \u201980s R&B, and the second more electro-funk. This album is more punk.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, What Were You Hoping For? <\/em>draws on influences that might surprise even longtime Hunt fans, most prominently punk pioneer Iggy Pop. For Hunt, Pop\u2019s raucous \u201970s music struck a very deep chord. \u201cIt was almost like a negro spiritual with the rhythms,\u201d says Hunt, who won a Grammy in 2006 for his contribution to the Sly & the Family Stone tribute album Different Strokes by Different Folks<\/em>. \u201cI was listening to Iggy Pop and listening to old blues and taking some other sounds and combining them. This is what I wanted.\u201d Hunt was inspired in part by a reading of the 1997 book Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk<\/em> by \u201cLegs\u201d McNeil and Gillian McCain.<\/p>\n

Hunt is well aware of the chance he is taking by offering something so unexpected to the fans who\u2019ve been waiting five years for new music\u2014On the Jungle Floor<\/em> was released in 2006, and 2008\u2019s Popular <\/em>didn\u2019t see the light of day legally even as it became a sensation online. \u201cWhile I\u2019m writing, the only thing I think about as far as fan reaction is how excited a person will be to hear what is going on in my head,\u201d says Hunt, 41, who composed most of his new songs in the summer of 2010 before recording at L.A.\u2019s Sante Fe Tracking Station with drummer Ruthie Price as his only accompanist. \u201cI just imagine that if it\u2019s fun for me to play, it will be entertaining for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the career setbacks and the challenge of selling his fans on a new direction, Hunt\u2019s strategy is simply to keep working\u2014and to set a good example for his young son. \u201cTo be honest, I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s my blue-collar upbringing or what, but I approach music very much as my job,\u201d he says. \u201cI wished for the opportunity to make the music I enjoyed listening to, and I\u2019ve done that. Like I tell my kid, \u2018Find something you love to do. That\u2019s how you become successful.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013Nancy Dunham<\/strong><\/p>\n


\n<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

VAN HUNT Tracking down the sound in his head, even if it leads him to the world of punk rock \u201cThere has always been a sound in my head that existed long before I made records,\u201d says Van Hunt. It\u2019s a sound the Atlanta native has been chasing throughout his life, even as he became […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[2615,10156,2829],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4353"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4353"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4353\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4356,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4353\/revisions\/4356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}