PRINTHipster + redneck = The HipNecks
Midwest music maestros blend urban and rural sounds in their musical jambalaya
April 28, 2005 | 12:00 a.m. CST
The HipNecks float among the definitions of hippie, hipster and redneck. The band members are small-town Midwestern guys with serious musical training, and their genre-bending tunes pay as little attention to pigeon holes as they do.
“A lot of our sound comes from the fact that we blend a lot of different musical tastes,” says Scott Anderson, co-vocalist and rhythm guitarists. “Everybody in the band draws from different inspirations.” Elements of bluegrass, rockabilly, hard rock and the blues find common ground in The HipNecks’ songs.
“I kind of like to think we take the better aspects of different kinds of music and try to put everything together in a format that your average listener can key into pretty quickly,” says Pat Kay, who is co-vocalist and plays the rhythm guitar and harmonica.
Band members cull inspiration from a diverse list of artists that includes Phish, Ryan Adams, Dave Matthews and Led Zeppelin. Many of them also play a variety of instruments and have training in various musical genres. Anderson and Zach Harrison, lead guitarist, both studied the piano for more than a decade before switching to the guitar. Kay started playing music when he was 12 and has dabbled with the mandolin and banjo. Bassist Ryan Renne has a background in jazz.
Harrison explains that the band’s upbeat music is written collectively so that no one style dominates.
“It’s kind of like a jambalaya,” Harrison says.
Since The HipNecks released their CD, Just Another Fine Day, Columbians can help themselves to this melodic stew whenever they want. The group recorded the CD this year in Columbia. The release party was held at The Blue Note on April 12, where The HipNecks drew a rowdy crowd of 300. Both Slackers and Streetside Records sell the CD. Kay and Anderson will play a two-piece acoustic set at Shiloh Bar and Grill tonight, and the whole band will play at Whiskey Wild in Fulton tomorrow night.
Five years ago Anderson and Kay were making rounds on the Fulton bar scene as a duet. Since then, they’ve joined with Harrison and also recruited Renne, drummer Zach Stubbs and hand percussionist Jake Allen, whom the band affectionately refers to as “the caveman.” They first took the stage together during a battle of the bands at the Bagnell Dam at the Lake of the Ozarks in July 2003. The band, then known as The Farmhouse, won that contest and has since garnered a sizeable local following.
The HipNecks will focus future efforts on compensating for production costs and publicizing their CD, as well as getting gigs at larger venues. The band submitted Just Another Fine Day to local radio stations, and the CD’s first track, “Takin’ Out the Trash,” has already been played on KBXR 102.3/FM. The band’s music continues to be characterized by the easy camaraderie that first motivated The HipNecks to play professionally.
“It was a really fun job during school to go out at night, play in bars and essentially just hang out with all our friends and get paid for it,” Kay says.
- Priya Ratneshwar
