Q&A: The Hails
“ADDITION BY SUBTRACTION” - The Hails continue to shape their groovy sound and always give us something new. The Florida based group brings a refreshingly sweet and catchy sound with their latest track “Situations”, opening up a new era for the band. Despite the weird times lately, The Hails tapped into the creativity and longing to connect with their fans by creating an audio-video for “Situations” via Zoom with some lucky listeners from all over the world. Read below to learn lead singer Robbie Kingsley’s take on “Situations”, their new music and more.
LUNA: How are you all holding up lately? Any fun new quarantine hobbies?
KINGSLEY: Holding up pretty well. Truthfully, my hobbies haven’t changed all that much. When I get bored, I shoot hoops on a tiny basketball hoop next to the pool.
LUNA: Congrats on your latest single “Situations”! How would you compare this track and perhaps some new music to your previous releases?
KINGSLEY: Why, thank you. For me, it’s simply a new adaptation of an ever-changing project. It’s a groovy track which is fun and exciting for a lot of people, I’m sure.
LUNA: Are there any sonic elements you’re excited to explore with new music?
KINGSLEY: We’ve been diving head-first into synthesizers. But, then again, who isn’t? I think the key for us when we write newer music is to learn how to subtract extraneous production. “Addition by subtraction” is the mantra people usually throw around. I’ve been fascinated with production videos on YouTube lately. The guy from Dayglow, I believe Sloan is his name, has been breaking down his album and it piqued my interest heavily.
LUNA: What’s been inspiring you lately? Any nonmusical influences shaping your music?
KINGSLEY: I just wrote some lyrics about living in quarantine, but I’ve got to find a way to make them a bit more tongue-in-cheek. It’s just that this situation is what’s on everyone’s minds, so it’s hard to escape it subconsciously.
LUNA: The latest track touches on disillusionment with social pressures - can you expand a bit on that?
KINGSLEY: I love that take. After leaving college, I think my demeanor has gravitated around the futility of acting a certain way and being socially normal. There’s just no point to taking things so seriously, but you have to find a balance where you don’t stop giving a damn entirely. So, in order to cope with that, I observe. People-watching, man, it’s quite the pastime.
LUNA: Is this a common theme or narrative you continue to touch on with upcoming music?
KINGSLEY: Definitely. I think it will be for a while. The five of us connect mentally and we all collaborate on music and lyrics. There’s a lot to explore when you’re talking about society at large.
LUNA: The audio-video “Situations” was filmed via zoom with some fans - very creative and a great way to make the best of everything! Can you talk a bit more about what this process was like and why you wanted to have some fan involvement?
KINGSLEY: We’ve been searching for ways to involve fans and that idea was one of my personal favorites. We had a lot of people from California, someone from Canada, someone from England. All over the place. At times, I feel relegated to Florida, but chatting with people over Zoom about music and other topics opened up my visions for what we can do going forward.
LUNA: During your creative process, how often are you thinking about the listener?
KINGSLEY: I feel like I could answer this in multiple ways, but the short answer is: most of the time. Obviously, our music is meant to be commercial, we want it to spread. But, we aren’t sacrificing personal taste for the listener. I’m a listener. I fall in love with each song as we work on them from their original ideas to the final masters.
LUNA: Is there something in particular you’d like people to take away from your music?
KINGSLEY: There’s no political message or anything of that matter (at least not yet). I just hope someone in the world can find our music and feel something. Feelings are so hard to convey, especially with the way music hits you. That’s why it’s special. Hey, if you hate it, at least you felt a little something.
LUNA: I know the world is kinda on fire, but do you have any upcoming goals/plans you’d like to share?
KINGSLEY: More music is 100% on the way. “Situations” was just the first step, and we’ve built quite the staircase.
