INTERVIEW: Hàn Gắn discuss their ambitions and influences alongside new single ‘Pull The Pin’
In recent weeks, US duo Hàn Gắn delivered their eagerly-awaited new single ‘Pull The Pin’, their first piece of new material so far this year.
Brimming with broad and emotive post-punk textures, the pair have been quick to cement themselves as one of the more explorative names on the rise right now. So we caught up with them to find out more about their ambitions and influences over the years.
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What was the first rock song or artist that made an impact on you?
Brian: I can’t answer with just one song or artist, but I can set a scene. Growing up in the mid to late eighties and carrying through to the early to mid-nineties, my main opportunities to hear new music came from the MTV buzz bin and the shows 120 Minutes and Headbanger’s Ball. In my tweens, I loved the first wave of breakout punk and post-punk artists, like Ramones, The Clash, and Talking Heads, because they were on college radio and sometimes mainstream radio, along with bands like The Cure and Depeche Mode, but as post-punk and new-wave were turning into “alternative” in real-time on MTV, that’s when I became hyper-aware, because as a teenager at that moment it felt contemporary to me for the first time.
Matt: Growing up, I really didn’t have any other choice than to listen to whatever my parents listened to. My dad really loves Elvis, so naturally that was my first exposure to rock music. He had a ton of compilation records on vinyl, and I listened to them a lot. To this day, I still love the rawness of the drums on “Jailhouse Rock,” and I quickly learned all of the songs that D.J. Fontana played while I drummed on pots and pans. I love the rockabilly swing of his playing style. He was like Ringo Starr – you knew a song he played on almost instantly.
Who are some of your biggest musical influences within the rock genre?
Brian: Of course, when Nirvana’s, “Smells Like Teen Spirit” broke, that was a huge moment, as well as the release of the documentary, “1991: The Year Punk Broke” that followed Sonic Youth’s 1991 European Tour, but the exposure to music that moved me on to a musical exploration was being introduced to the regional hardcore punk music scene in Virginia in the very early nineties, which of course was very heavily influenced and overshadowed by what was happening in Washington, D.C. with the Dischord Records bands.
In the last decade or more, I’d say my influences have merged those late eighties and early nineties hardcore punk sounds with hard rock, proto-punk, and progressive rock of the sixties and seventies. My private playlists oscillate randomly between artists like The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Black Sabbath, King Crimson, and Frank Zappa.
Matt: My biggest influence as a songwriter and general fan of music is Genesis and Phil Collins. My favorite album of all time is “Invisible Touch.” It’s a perfect pop and rock record with hooks, rhythm, and song craftsmanship. Genesis in their eighties era and beyond walked, so a lot of popular artists could run, and I’ll die on that hill. I am also a product of the later nineties wave of indie and emo, so pretty much everything on the Jade Tree label I listened to incessantly like Lifetime, The Promise Ring, Jets to Brazil, and Texas is the Reason. I think you can hear influences of all those bands in some Hàn Gắn songs.
Are there any non-rock musicians or genres that have also influenced your music?
Matt: I still regularly listen to a lot of early nineties hip hop. I love A Tribe Called Quest’s “Low End Theory” and Arrested Development’s “3 Years, 5 Months and 2 Days in the Life Of.” Those records have a flow and a social conscious that clearly translates to what we do. Cary Rae Jepson’s “Emotion” is a perfect pop record from front to back, sorry Swifties. And lastly, the entire genre of Japanese City Pop is so groovy and fascinating. I just put on a playlist and feel like I am in another era or in a film. It’s amazing.
Brian: Eighties and nineties hip hop for sure, Boogie Down Productions and KRS-One, Gang Starr, Public Enemy, Wu-Tang Clan, and Beastie Boys just to name a few. I came up on a lot of the punk and post-punk as well, and there’s just too many great bands who launched between 1975 and 1980 to name. I know very little from a training standpoint about classical music, but Beethoven, Mozart, and Bach, among others are a go to for me, and I often analyze the emotion of the movements and how classical pieces feel and how the composers get you there.
What is your main inspiration when looking to write new music?
Matt: There are infinite combinations to make music work. Usually the music comes first, but Hàn Gắn always has a central focus in mind when we are deep into the songwriting process. It’s important to have that focus and to keep an eye on the central theme we are shooting for. I think that really impacts what I’m playing and how I am playing it.
Brian: I or Matt create a central musical idea to work through, sometimes it’s a bass line or a guitar riff, sometimes it’s a sample, or a piano or synth line one of us has put together that we work from, and that is the sound expression of the feeling we want to convey. I am not a lyrics first song writer, so Hàn Gắn always starts with the feeling, then the lyrics materialize to capture the ideas around that feeling.
What do you enjoy most about performing live and do you have any memorable live performance experiences you’d like to share?
Matt: I love the first few moments before the music starts and then the first twenty or thirty seconds while you start playing. It doesn’t matter whether it’s to a bunch of people or a handful, that nervous energy is like a rush of dopamine every time. I also love the economy of live music. Back in the day, everybody had to bring giant half stacks and other huge set ups. I love how that has changed, and you are always “mugged” by the other artists for the equipment you bring. As a two-piece that plays with a backing track, I think the few times we have played out as a duo have scratched a few heads. Have to always keep them guessing, right?
Brian: The first few moments of starting a set with a live audience is sheer terror that I have to hide away and work through, but soon the audience disappears and it’s just the music, then at some point I see the audience again, and they are there with us, a part of it all, and that feels like magic. To Matt’s point, we decided more than a few years ago that we wanted to play as a duo, and that’s a different composition as ostensibly a “rock” group. Our songs incorporate a lot of electronic elements and layers as well as guitars, bass, and drums. We recorded our first set of songs completely with an electronic drum kit, and many of Matt’s beats are a mixture of live and electronic percussion sounds, which is unique for a rock group, but not unheard-of.
What has been a particularly rewarding moment in your musical journey so far?
Matt: I firmly believe in the phrase “no critics, no success.” If somebody comes up to you and says it was a “good set,” that means nothing. If somebody goes out of their way to critique you after you have finished playing, you are onto something. Other than that, I truly love looking back and seeing a grainy cell phone recorded video of an idea turn into a polished product. Our new single began as an idea late at night recorded with my dog sleeping at my feet and ended up as this loud, boisterous anthem. I fucking love that.
Brian: Any time anyone resonates with a song or a lyric and they tell me about it. That’s it, that’s what it’s all about.
How would you define success as a musician?
Matt: In today’s streaming age, it’s very hard to define success as a musician. Throughout my musical career, I’ve played for huge crowds and I’ve played for just the other bands more times than I can count. I’ve had people sing the lyrics to the songs that we played, and I’ve had people sigh in relief that we were finished. The only common denominator in all of that is self-worth and self-satisfaction. I feel successful now because I am playing music with somebody who I genuinely enjoy playing music with. It’s an honor and pleasure to play these songs with Brian with lyrics and topics that mean something and send a message.
Brian: Every time I am asked about what success means to me, I immediately think of Iggy Pop’s song, “Success” – “I’m gonna go out on the street and do anything, Oh, shit.” But it is truly a privilege to write and perform these songs with Matt, and that is success. I’ll also say whether it’s 1,000 or 10 million streams for a song, we’re going to keep doing it, so that’s success to me too.
What advice would you give to aspiring artists who are just starting out?
Matt: Don’t play for anyone else. Play for yourself.
Brian: Matt’s got it right!
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Listen to Hàn Gán’s new single ‘Pull The Pin’ below.