Hungry Hearts

The influences are right there on the surface for everyone to see - the Springsteen reference, The Hold Steady-inspired riffs, the way frontman Adam Guidry's vocals skew slightly punkish at times.

But it's obvious after listening to the Hungry Hearts' new album, It's Love, that the band has created its own identity.

Even though they've folded those influences into their sound, the talented five-piece has still found a way to make something new.

The Hungry Hearts have been playing high-energy live shows in the region for the past two years and now they're poised to make a noise on a broader scale with the release of their debut 10-song (11-song if you include the hidden track) collection.

Featuring a mixture of jangly rock and roll and sing-along choruses, It's Love is full of straight-up rock songs like East Coast, Stepping Stones, and Shine and a few more melodic pieces, including the fun-loving Dirty Little Sinner.

Guidry, who factors prominently in the band's songwriting process, said he has a hard time nailing down the Hungry Hearts' sound, although he's happy that people often compare them to bands they deeply respect.

"We get The Hold Steady, The Gaslight Anthem, Against Me! - that kind of thing. I've got the kind of punk rock, alternative background and the other guys have more of a classic, rock (approach), like The Beatles, The Beach Boys, and maybe Weezer," he said.

"It's a rock album, but it definitely has that Americana, post-rock background. It's influenced by 1970s rock, by 1990s rock. It has a bit of everything on there."

The Hungry Hearts will host a special CD-release party tonight at The Capital Bar, alongside friends and tour-mates Oh No, Theodore!, before they head out for a tour that will take them across Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.

Guidry said he believes that his band, and other local groups like The Westerberg Suicides, are helping to rejuvenate the city's rock scene.

"I find that there is a little bit of a shortage of that in Fredericton, of straightforward rock bands," he said. "We still want to fit into that indie-rock crowd and I believe (the album) definitely has those elements to it, but I think it is a rock record. I think that's something that we kind of wanted to go for since day-one when we started the band."

He said the group has always tried to give fans an opportunity to let loose.

"When people come see us play live, everyone is like, 'It's such a fun show,'" he said.

"They don't say, 'Oh man, that was an amazing performance. The songs were so amazing.' They always say, 'That was a lot of fun. It was high-energy. It was tight and everyone looked like they were having a blast.' I think that's what we wanted to do - have these songs that were easy to take in; catchy choruses, fist-pumping rock."

- Adam Bowie - Adam Bowie - The Daily Gleaner

For today’s Music Monday I thought I would try my hand at an album review. Lucky for me Fredericton’s Hungry Hearts just released their new album It’s Love earlier this month.

You can pick up It's Love at any Hungry Hearts show or click here to get it from their bandcamp site.

I spoke to lead singer Adam Guidry on the phone from Montreal where he and the Hungry Hearts are on the last leg of their Never Let Me Go tour.

According to Guidry, the recording of It’s Love in November was reminiscent of the 10 second tidy up on the popular kids show The Big Comphy Couch.

“It all came together really fast,” said Guidry “I didn’t hear anything but the vocals and the drums after the recording process and then all of the sudden we got an album in the mail.”

Despite the speedy recording process, the songs on It’s Love were a long time in the making. As a band; Guidry, guitarists Ryan Gallen and Jake Sullivan, bass player Daniel Goyette and drummer Jeremy Hardy, have been playing the songs on It’s Love for two years.

“It’s a growing up album,” said Guidry who contributed his own life experiences to the lyrics, “shitty break ups, you know, things that everyone goes through.”

Songs like Show you the World and Shine (in my opinion the sing along anthem of the album), are tell tale of those familiar experiences.

The result is an album that feels well worn in, like your favourite pair of jeans. And not just in the lyrical sense.

“It’s something that’s not too hard to digest,” said Guidry. “There is a little bit of something for everybody, from rock to pop to a little bit more classic rock.”

Hungry Hearts are currently on tour and will be back in the maritimes this month..

The easy listening quality of It’s Love may also have something to do with the team behind it’s production. Brad Perry, who is known for his work on albums like The City Won’t Have Time To Fight by The Olympic Symphonium, recorded and mixed It’s Love and then passed the album on to J LaPointe to be mastered.



You may recognise LaPointe from his work with Wintersleep.

“It sounds like a record from front to back,” said Guidry, who was pleasantly surprised at how good the album turned out.

It’s Love is just that. A great easy listening rock album. It is something that can just as easily be popped into a stereo and listened to alone in your room or sang along to at their shows. Overall it is a perfect album to pop into your car and sing along to this summer. Perhaps get back in touch with your own growing up pains.

With the album released Guidry says the Hungry Hearts are ready to put the songs to bed and move on to new music. They will be continuing on touring the album through the rest of the summer and hope to get back in to record in the winter.

You can get of hold of It’s Love at a Hungry Hearts show or on their bandcamp site.

- Lauren Naish
- Lauren Naish

Close your eyes and picture Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young jamming out in your friend's basement. Now get your hands out of your pants, throw in a little Modest Mouse, and you've got Fredericton's Hungry Hearts.

"We're straight-forward rock and there are some indie influences, which gives us a fresh taste," says lead vocalist Adam Guidry. "It's basic rock-in-your-face and then it's over kind of thing, as if you were driving down a highway and you have the tunes playing and your head's bobbing."

The five-man band released their first three-track EP this past April and are gearing up to lay down tracks on a full-length album in the fall. The band started out as a side project of Guidry's, but word of mouth gradually turned them into one of his most successful musical ventures.

Despite his avid love for The Boss, Guidry's Hungry Hearts is not, contrary to popular belief, a Springsteen cover band. He says he was taken with the concept of a hungry heart, and thought it would make a wicked band name.

"Everybody does kind of have a hungry heart," he says. "Somebody wants something, be it a family, a job, playing music - everyone has a passion they're chasing to make their life mean something."

He says the band name reflects his own intentions in music.

"It's a good way to get something off your chest, to get through things," he says. "I love playing music, it makes me feel good at the end of the day, when you had a good show and people are singing along and letting go."

Guidry says live performances are the band's strong point; take him at his word and check Hungry Hearts out at their show on the 18th.

Hungry Hearts play Freddy's Capital Bar. June 18, 10:30 p.m. - Gilean Watts - HERE Magazine

See link - Elizabeth Sullivan - The Aquinian