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Sound Circuit

Releasing the Hounds

8/9/2016

 

 

Holy White Hounds

Holy White Hounds play the Iowa State Fair Bud Light Tent on Saturday, Aug 20.

Holy White Hounds has been on a solidly upward trajectory for the past year. After the enormous local success of their album “Sparkle Sparkle” and its lead single “Switchblade,” the Hounds signed with New York-based label Razor and Tie, toured with The Cult, and have played a slew of dates around the country. The band recently returned home to headline one of the free stages at this summer’s 80/35 Music Festival, and soon they’ll be back in Des Moines as the only hometown act booked on the Iowa State Fair’s Bud Light Stage.

“Playing at home feels good,” frontman Brenton Dean said in a phone interview from Philadelphia. “Coming back for 80/35 was amazing. People were singing lyrics off the album and dancing to the music. Being accepted in your own hometown is something that bands maybe don’t admit is as cool as it really is sometimes.”

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Hometown shows are something that have become increasingly rare for The Hounds. Not only have the band members spent more of 2016 on the road than in their own beds, but when they do find themselves back in the capitol city, there’s always more work to be done.

“Yeah, when we finally get to come home, that’s our time to write,” Dean said. “It’s kind of ironic. Because we started playing shows in the first place in order to get out of the basement and get into the world. But now, when we come home, we don’t play a lot of shows because it’s back to the basement to work.”

The Hounds’ follow up to “Sparkle Sparkle” will be its first new release under the Razor and Tie banner. It would be understandable if the band is feeling pressure to prove themselves to the cynics and to give a follow-up album that is worthy of all the attention. But Dean says the band is approaching the album pressure-free and with a unified front.

“Our label has been very kind to us,” he said. “Our whole team has been great. We have a ton of friends in our corner. Now (guitarist James Manson and drummer Seth Luloff) are part of the writing process, where before it was just me and (bassist Ambrose Lupercal). We have our own style, me and Ambrose, of what we like to play, and now those guys are our equals in the band. The next stuff you’re going to hear is going to be from everybody.”■

 

 

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