Hungry Kids Of Hungary

Artist Information

Biography

Brisbane, Australia – it’s a city that’s never really had a ‘sound’. It’s always been a fusion town, a place where bands ignore convention, smash ideas together, and make some pretty exciting music in the process. And you’d be hard pressed to find better exponents of the art than Hungry Kids of Hungary.

To call them a pop band is too easy, too neat. Their brilliantly bent take on the genre has a little bit of everything. Yes, there are those melodies that worm their way in, the harmonies that soar, the hooks to burn. But there’s also that hint of unpredictability that makes them so exciting. Most of all, perhaps, listening to these guys play feels good – it’s fun. People smile at their shows…and that’s just the band.

Little wonder then that in an impossibly short space of time they’ve graduated from local lads who can pen a tune, to serious contenders for Australia’s most exciting new prospect.

Like most bands, the birth of HKOH was simple enough – a bunch of friends drawn together by a love of writing simple, honest tunes. Rather than trying to make waves straight out of the box, the four piece sat back, honed their craft and emerged with 2008’s breakthrough self-titled EP. One of the best debuts of the year, they quickly landed rotation on national broadcaster triple j and embarked on a relentless touring schedule that’s never really let up.

Within a year, their second EP – Mega Mountain – hit and took things to another level. Armed with the stellar track ‘Scattered Diamonds’ and follow-up single ‘Let You Down’ the band started making good on the promise they’d always shown, and then some.

With growing support from Australian radio and an increasing reputation as a ‘must see’ live band, their army of supporters started to grow rapidly – helped by tours with the likes of Washington and Philadelphia Grand Jury and slots at a run of festivals including the Big Day Out.

2010 though was the year the dam broke. Kicking things off with highlight sets at the major Woodford, Sunset Sounds, Falls and Southbound festivals – alongside quick jaunts to the UK and USA – the band wrote, recorded and released their debut long-player Escapades. More than just a great record, the album HKOH coming into their own as artists. All those shows, all those demos, all those songs written and discarded culminated in an album as infectious as it is interesting. Clever without being pretentious, simple without being dull – it’s packed with ideas, like all great debuts should be.

Making a top 25 entry on the Australian album charts, Escapades quickly became one of the years most talked about – and loved – local releases. It chalked up ‘Album of the Week’ status on triple j with the station’s listeners naming it in their Top 20 albums of the year, while also voting single ‘Coming Around’ into the annual Hottest 100 music poll. That kind of response was echoed across the nation’s music press with uniformly glowing reviews greeting the album’s release. It was no surprise really when commercial radio juggernaut Nova developed a taste for the band, adding them to rotation soon after.

And it’s not just radio and press taking notice – HKoH tracks have made their way on to television screens across the globe through placement on a run of shows including Grey’s Anatomy and Cougar Town.

So as we enter 2011, we find HKOH a band well and truly on a roll. While the early stages of the year will be dominated by a host of North American shows - including Canadian Music Week (Toronto) and the epic South by South West (USA) – this is a band with one eye clearly on the future. Recently expanded to a five-piece, they’re already making some serious headway on a brand new batch of songs that will ultimately form the backbone of the next HKOH release.

How exactly that new record will sound is anyone’s guess. But that’s the fun part, right?

Instrumentation

Kane Mazlin - keys
Dean McGrath - Guitar
Ben Dalton - Bass
Ryan Strathie - Drums

Discography

'Escapades' Album
Released October 1 2010
Features high rotating radio singles 'Coming Around', 'Wristwatch', 'Scattered Diamonds', 'Let You Down' and 'Set It Right'

'Mega Mountain' EP
Release March 2009
Features single 'Scattered Diamonds' and 'Old Money'

'Hungry Kids of Hungary' EP
Features single 'Set It Right' secured high rotation on triple j radio station

Links

• MySpace

Audio

• Coming Around
  Listen   Download
• Scattered Diamonds
  Listen   Download
• Wristwatch
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• Set It Right
  Listen   Download
• Old Money
  Listen   Download
• Arrest This Heart
  Listen   Download

Lyrics

• All You Need To Know
• Set It Right
• One By One
• Arrest This Heart
• Tell Me Twice
• Lenny
• Two Stones
• Scattered Diamonds
• Old Money
• Good Times

Video

Coming Around.mp4

Photo Gallery

Press

• Bite It - J Mag Article [+ Show ]
  

  “For anyone who plays in a band in Brisbane, Powderfinger are obviously held in pretty high regard”,...“For anyone who plays in a band in Brisbane, Powderfinger are obviously held in pretty high regard”, reckons Dean McGrath, guitar vox with Hungary Kids of Hungary. On a lunch break in his day job as a graphic designer, the ‘Set It Right’ muso is discussing Brissy’s rock ‘n’ roll history and the local band who’ve left their mark, Hungry Kids of Hungary had better be fans of the ‘My Happiness’ outfit – the recorded their self-titled debut EP in Airlock Studio, owned by PF guitarist Ian Haug.
  
  “It’s more about what they’ve achieved that the actual music itself”, continues Dean, “and the fact that they’ve remained quintessentially a Brisbane band throughout it all. I used to work at this supermarket and Bernard would come in all the time. I was always interested in the periods he would drop by: if we got a visit I used to say to myself ‘Alright, they must be home from a tour.’ But it’s also the fact that he’s completely normal, yet up onstage the hold band hold an audience really well, they’re very charismatic. Bernard used to trot into the store, go about his business, always extremely polite.” Lessons on how to become a rock star part one?
  
  It mightn’t be too long before Dean and his bandmates find out how it’s done. Formed in 2007 and having just wrapped up the triplejunearthed.com-presented “International Relations” tour of the East coast alongside Philadelphia Grand Jury and Washington, the toe-tapping Hungry Kids also have a new EP on shelves, titled Mega Mountain, while track ‘Scattered Diamonds’ is on the airwaves.
  
  Despite their MySpace describing them sounding like “Meatloaf punching himself in the dick” (I’m not sure who’s responsible for that little gem,” Dean says drolly), a more apt feel can be summoned from the Kids’ various listening habits. Think a love of Beatles and Beach Boys’ melodies crossed with the modern pop of The Shins and Spoon, plus a dash of soul thrown in. Earlier in the year they kicked off the Gold Coast leg of the Big Day Out (courtesy of a triplejunearthed.com competition win), an experience Dean reckons they won’t soon forget.
  
  “It was surreal,” he chuckles, “I go to the BDO each year as a Spectator, and going through a different gate, seeing the behind-the-scenes working of it all was pretty unusual. Building up to it we were wondering how we were going to deal with our nerves, but it ended up being surprisingly calm. The most stressful part was just getting there and making sure we had everything.”
  
  With two indie EPs under their belts, Dean says the Kids aren’t in a hurry to force stardom to come, “When we first started playing together back in early ’07, we worked on songs for about eight months, before even looking at booking a show,” he points out, “we wanted to be well and truly ready, to have a set that’d be worth punters money – and the same goes for any album.”
  
  Now that they’re home from their first proper tour, the band are settling down to concentrate on songwriting, “we’re keen on recording an album later this year, but first we want to get back into the creative process,” Dean says, “We’re still fairly inexperienced – I mean it feels like we’ve done a lot in a short period of time, but compared to band who’ve been doing it for years, we’re still fairly green. Compared to Powderfinger anyway!”
  : Samantha Clode
  

• Mega Mountain Review - Single of the Week [+ Show ]
  

  Brisbane’s Hungry Kids go some length to reclaiming their hometown as the rightful headquarters of q...Brisbane’s Hungry Kids go some length to reclaiming their hometown as the rightful headquarters of quirky indie-pop, something that has been sorely lacking in recent years. Their sound is sometimes piano driven, often pushed along by acoustic guitars and drenched in a lush instrumentation that sounds like a million bucks – somewhat more than they probably spent on the recording. The pop hooks are sophisticated without being wanky, grabbing the listener’s attention and making enough twists and turns that they won’t let go right away. The group sound similar to something like The Shins, and if this was a new release by that particular act it would be lauded as a genuine progression and people would eat it up. I hope that same crowd still do if they’re lucky enough to get a chance to hear this.

• Mega Mountain Review [+ Show ]
  

  Not content to sit back and grow fat, Brisbane Indie darlings HKoH have popped out a follow-up to th...Not content to sit back and grow fat, Brisbane Indie darlings HKoH have popped out a follow-up to their 2008 self-titled debut with a spanking new EP. These four tracks will lead listeners to wistful heights, weaving their way through yester-lands of indie pop and classical orchestral enchantment. It’s like a Magical Mystery Tour, without the acid. HKoH deliver worthy compositions and demonstrate dizzying musicianship in a very tidy little package. Keynote track Scattered Diamonds will be on high rotation, taking your stereo to other worlds with harmonic and heavenly nostalgic vocals, rolling bass line bridges and kitsch keyboards. Old Money cashes in on simple riffs and tightly combined vocals and takes up where Sgt. Pepper left off. Closing track Good Times is a Wonka Factory of sounds and scales – sweet and silly, but still sincere. Never trite or contrived, these guys have scaled the mountain to claim a place as a classy fresh cohort. They only reach so high because they stand on the shoulders of musical giants, but after all, there’s nothing new under the sun. Check it out.
  
  

• Mega Mountain Review [+ Show ]
  

  Well yes, of course they’re getting reviewed on the basis of the name. But get past the novelty, for...Well yes, of course they’re getting reviewed on the basis of the name. But get past the novelty, for this Brisbane thing knows its way around a pop tune. A lot of pop tunes actually. The ‘60s harmonies seem a constant, but each song of this somewhat oddly sequenced EP all echo different things: Opener Two Stones all piano jaunty, designated ‘focus track’ Scattered Diamonds guitar jangly. Then maybe the pick of it, Old Money – where Augie March refl ectiveness
  rubs up with some early Blur in the choruses. Quizzical.
  
  

• Mega Mountain Review - Noel Mengel [+ Show ]
  

  So far so good for Brisbane pop-quartet HKoH, whose second EP features bouncy pianos, sunny harmonie...So far so good for Brisbane pop-quartet HKoH, whose second EP features bouncy pianos, sunny harmonies, la-la-la and oooh-ooh-oooh hooks and some thumping drums. Scattered Diamonds is the first radio single, but it’s the broader sophistication of Old Money – think surf’s up era Beach Boys – and the giddy pop thrills of Two Stones and good times that announces a band with some real meat on the bones as well as tunes you can whistle.

• Escapades Album Review [+ Show ]
  

  ????? - TIME OFF “A meticulously crafted, stunningly accomplished endeavour, Escapades is the kin...????? - TIME OFF
  “A meticulously crafted, stunningly accomplished endeavour, Escapades is the kind of debut album that deserves to be discussed almost exclusively in glowing terms. From the cascading guitar lines and swooning harmonies of opener Coming Around to the Rubber Soul-esque balladry of six-minute closer The Window Shopper, the record is a near-flawless work of pop-rock perfection.”
  

• Escapades Album Review [+ Show ]
  

  ???? THE BRAG - Album of the Week "That they sing as well as they play is a bonus, that their song...???? THE BRAG - Album of the Week
  "That they sing as well as they play is a bonus, that their songs never tire is a plus, and that their album shows an impressive diversity of styles without ever losing its character earns extra points"
  

• Escapades Album Review [+ Show ]
  

  ???? - SYDNEY MORNING HERALD “They should be called Restless Kids Of Hungary because this is an al...???? - SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
  “They should be called Restless Kids Of Hungary because this is an album of exuberant exploration into as many corners of pop as they can manage. You name it and chances are the Hungry Kids are trying it”
  

• Escapades Album Review [+ Show ]
  

  DRUM MEDIA - CD Of The Week "Escapades proves and exciting and enthralling debut from another of Au...DRUM MEDIA - CD Of The Week
  "Escapades proves and exciting and enthralling debut from another of Australia's finest newcomers."
  

• Escapades Album Review [+ Show ]
  

  ???? – MX “Our latest and greatest purveyors of pop have emerged, their tremendous talents bursting...???? – MX
  “Our latest and greatest purveyors of pop have emerged, their tremendous talents bursting forth, hooks and all, to make Escapades one of the local releases of the year.”
  

• Live Review [+ Show ]
  

  "Undoubtedly one of the tightest, strangest and downright entertaining sets that Jive is likely to w..."Undoubtedly one of the tightest, strangest and downright entertaining sets that Jive is likely to witness for quite some time to come." - Rip It Up

• Live Review [+ Show ]
  

  "If you like your music loud, fast and unbelievably entertaining, hit up a Hungry Kids of Hungary gi..."If you like your music loud, fast and unbelievably entertaining, hit up a Hungry Kids of Hungary gig next time they’re in town." - Luna Magazine

Setlist

Small Talk
Two Stones
China Will Wait
Set It Right

Let You Down
Seventeen
You Ain't Always There

Scattered Diamonds
Old Money
Arrest This Heart
Good Times
All You Need To Know

Sets are generally 10-11 songs long and include a range of up-beat pop songs a few slower numbers and the occasional cover.

Basic Requirements

Calendar