Bio

Since their inception in 1998, three-piece Christchurch rock band Hooster have had more than their share of exciting moments. The band consistently garner support and accolades for their brand or approachable melodic power rock.

Forming from three friends with a similar interest in screaming guitars and powered beats, the band soon dropped their starter kit of covers for a quickly forming pool of originals which pleases their audience no end.

The first batch of demo songs were recorded by Failsafe boss Rob Mayes. With these demos bassist Kris Giles proceeded to entertain his fetish for entering competitions and before they knew it the band had won The Edge's demo competition bestowing on them the privilege to share stages with the likes of Stellar*, Garageland and Killing Heidi. Another result quickly followed from Kris's competition fetish; the band 'wins' a NZ On Air recording grant for their song Lucy.

The resulting recording satisfies the bands and producers need for something a little more solid and powerful, and the track was included on Indie Hit Disc 18.

The track also won the band a weeks high rotate on Channel Z as the first band on 'Unsigned', a segment for up and coming NZ artists.

Kris's competition addiction see the band with a More FM demo competition for their track JFK, winning the band studio time to record a song to single standard.

This track is subsequently re-mixed for inclusion on the bands Rotate EP, along with the NZ On Air version of Lucy, live favourite Blowtorch, and the band and producers new favourite track Rotate. This song was from sessions recorded at a disused meat packing factory for that big natural reverb sound.

The band then win themselves the coveted Christchurch slot for the Pacifier (Shihad) tour. The band enlists the services of London based Marc Swadel, veteran of many NZ video clips, to come over and film the video.

The band then release their debut EP and video, selling all the copies they had at their release party, and continue to work on their forthcoming album.

Rotate is submitted to NZ On Air and immediately gains a position on the Indie Hit Disc 21 and spends 2 weeks being Generator FM's most requested song. The Rock and Channel Z also came to the party, and played the more retro rockin' tracks off their pre EP demo's Blowtorch and Sweet 17.

The band continue with high profile supports, including Elemeno P and Blindspott, and also appear on Space. The band were also incredibly surprised one night after drinking Canterbury Draught at the practice room. A new local knowledge question under the bottle top asks "Which Christchurch band released the Rotate EP in 2002?"

As any good band knows, drummers have a short shelf life. After drummer Al Evans leaves for Wellington, he is replaces with new stick man Kayne Wilkinson.

Great headliners and supports keep coming, including Zed, PanAm and Eight, and Australian bands Grinspoon, Shutterspeed and Screamfeeder. An article in Rip It Up magazine gives the band a glowing review for the Rotate EP, stating it "would be a hard debut act for any band to follow".

The biggest event in the life of Hooster is yet to come. Kris sees a competition on the net run by Jack Daniels, giving bands a chance to play at the Big Day Out. All the band has to do is get the most votes on the Jack Live website. Hooster manager to take it out with the band "mail jacking"; using other peoples distribution lists to get the word around.

After apperances on C4 and TV3, and numerous write ups, the band open for the Big Day Out to a responsive audience. The band enjoy the rest of the day, with one band member rumoured to have chatted up Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas. The band also opened Green man's "Big Day After" the next day and drink a whole lot of Jack Daniels.

On return to Christchurch the band focus on finishing the Rotate album, with almost 6 years of input, the second single of the album, Throw, is produced by local movie stalwart Aden Shillito.

Band Members:
Kayne Wilkinson (drums)
Kristian Giles (bass, backing vocals)
Ed Loughnan (guitar, vocals)

Links

• Artist Website
• Facebook Page