When a band comes to an end, for whatever reason, it can be difficult to dust yourself and start over but after being the frontman for hardcore/post-hardcore band The JCQ for eight years, Jack Saunders had to do just that. Whilst some may have started a project similar to their previous work, Saunders along with guitarist Edward Li, bassist Chis Corney and drummer Nick Corney (of Bossk) decided to start a new band that would head in a different direction. That new band is Bowhunter.
Taking its lyrical influence from Saunders’ personal changes, Bowhunter’s debut EP, ‘To Love Again’ sees them take a more power-pop rock route that is likened to You Me At Six and Kids In Glass Houses. Their collective appreciation for pop music has led to tracks like ‘It’s Not Over’ sounding bright, upbeat and resonating with positivity. Whilst the EP as a whole lays down a good foundation for whatever Bowhunter has planned next.
To find out more, we recently spoke to Jack Saunders. Jack discussed the bands formation, their influences, their goals and more.
AH: We already know you from your time in The JCQ and Nick plays drums in Bossk but can you tell us how Bowhunter came to be?
Jack: Right after the final JCQ tour I knew I still wanted pursue music in some way or another. Me and Nick (drums) hang out a lot and had always spoken about starting some form of band and invited his brother Chris (Corney – bass) to join us. Originally we didn’t want a guitarist, but after a few writing sessions we realised we needed one, so I approached Ed (Li – guitar) to see if he’d be interested in jamming with us. Luckily he was and at the first practice we had with him ‘It’s Not Over’ was written. Something just clicked and over the next few sessions we very quickly wrote what would become ‘To Love Again’. We’ve all been friends for years, but never played music together so we’re really happy with how it all came together.
AH: Straight off the bat it’s clear Bowhunter is certainly different from your previous bands. What was the motive behind taking a more poppy/melodic approach with this band?
Jack:
It couldn’t be more different! We never really set out to sound the way we do; but we all wanted to write music that was different to our previous efforts. Our roots are based in heavier styles of music and as much as we still love it, tastes change over the years and we’ve learned to appreciate other genres. Pop music being one of those in particular. I guess we wanted to create music that emulates that appreciation. The music we’ve all written before has been challenging by it’s nature, but this music presents its own challenges and it’s been fun working those out.
AH: From hearing the EP, it reminds me of bands like Kids In Glass Houses. Were there any individual or collective influences you had when writing ‘To Love Again’?
Jack: Our individual tastes are very different, but there are bands that we collectively enjoy such as Jimmy Eat World, Foo Fighters, Brand New and The 1975 and I think you can definitely hear those influences. For me the EP is very nostalgic. It reminds me of all the pop-punk and emo bands I used to listen to when I first started really getting into music back in the early 2000s. I like that a lot.
AH: The opening track, ‘It’s Not Over’, was recently released online. How has the response been? How did fans of your other projects react?
Jack: Being a band in it’s infancy it’s kind of hard to judge, but overall the response has been very positive. We’ve got a lot of our friends on board who generally aren’t into this kind of music so I guess that’s a good thing!
AH: Lyrically, the EP takes on the matter of personal changes and conflicts, care to expand?
Jack: About a year leading up to the formation of Bowhunter I had a number of things change in my life; A relationship I was in for 4 years that had a very negative effect on my life finally came to an end and I quickly entered into new one which is thankfully having the complete opposite effect! I also had to come to terms with coming back down to earth after 8 years of pouring my soul into The JCQ. The lyrics of ‘To Love Again’ pretty much documents that period of change but in a positive way.
AH: Even though it’s early days for you guys but what are your short term and long term goals?
Jack: The motivation for forming this band was to just have fun and not take it too seriously, so we don’t really have any goals as such. We’re just going to continue writing music and playing shows when we can. We’re happy to see what happens rather than make things happen. Every band wants to play a headline show at Wembley though right?
AH: I’ve noticed you don’t have many live shows planned at the moment. Can we expect to see Bowhunter hitting the road anytime soon?
Jack: I think we all forgot how hard it was to start a band from scratch and go about getting gigs! It’s a different time to when we started our first bands and all you needed was a poorly recorded demo and a Myspace account, but we’re getting gigs here and there. We’re keen to hit the road once the EP is out. This music is so fun to play live.
AH: Any closing comments to share with the Already Heard readers?
Jack: Thanks for your kind words and support!
‘To Love Again’ EP by Bowhunter is out now.
Bowhunter links: Website|Facebook|Twitter|Instagram|
Soundcloud
Words by Sean Reid (@SeanReid86)
