Interviewee: Johnny Houmark
Year: 2008
Website: powderhog.dk
MySpace: myspace.com/powderhog
Label: Trechoma Records
Featured on: Loucifer Speaks Exclusive... So far!
Are you looking for a decent rock band to get all obsessive over? Well, look no further! This guys hail from Denmark and play the kinda rock to get your head bangin', ears bleedin' and toes tappin'. I present to you... POWDERHOG! ...Weird name, great tunes!
Lou: Hi guys, thanks for taking the time to answer my questions! How's things with you today?
Johnny: Things are fine, thanks.
Lou: Would you mind introducing us to the band? Who does what?
Johnny: Well I'm Johnny and I play the bass and do the singing. Jeppe is the guitarist. Peter is the drummer and Jesper is also handling the guitars.
Lou: How long have you each been playing your instruments?
Johnny: I don't know actually, but we have been playing our instruments for the most of our lives. 20 years and then some, would be my guess...
Lou: How long have you been together?
Johnny: We have been playing together since 2004. We teamed up in our hometown, Esbjerg in Denmark during the summer of 04. And we have been playing ever since.
Lou: Where does the name Powderhog come from? It's rather unusual, if you don't mind me saying!
Johnny: Well the name is a coming together of two ideas that we were playing around with, when we had to decide on a name for the band. I came up with the "Powder" bit and Peter was really keen on name for the band that had the word "hog" in it. So finally we just went for Powderhog... That's pretty much it. And I guess that is why the name is a bit unusual. But it really depends on the music. The name of the band is not that important, it's the music that is the most important.
Lou: Which bands have been your biggest influences?
Johnny: There are a lot of bands that have inspired us. Basically if it is great music, we dig it. We have a very broad taste in music, which means that a lot of different genres appeal to us as well. So I wouldn't be able to drop you any specific band names.
Lou: How would you describe your music? For me, based on what I've heard on your MySpace page, it's straight-forward, no nonsense, rock.
Johnny: Yeah, that's pretty much what we go for. It's old school with great energy and yet there is a kind of freshness to the feel of the music as well. It's rock as we see it, feel it and do it.
Lou: What made you want to form a band?
Johnny: I had a bunch of rock songs that I had great faith in back in 2003. I had just left my old band and was looking for something new... a different kind of band. So I decided to form a new band, with the intention to play these songs that I had laying around. I teamed up with Jesper and eventually we got Peter to play the drums in 2004, which was the same year that Jeppe joined the band.
Lou: Do you have any albums or EPs available for us to buy?
Johnny: Yeah, we have a record out on Trechoma Records which is distributed by VME in Denmark and Twilight Vertrieb in the rest of Europe. It is called "Powderhog" and it is our debut album. It can also be purchased on Itunes and amazon.com worldwide.
Lou: Ok, I've got a few questions now that all seem to follow a particular theme...
Which Powderhog song is the best to get drunk to?
Johnny: That would probably be all of them... haha. No wait, that would be "Fuel To Burn"... It's pretty much about booze and women. So there you go, ha ha.
Lou: Which Powderhog is the best to sing along to at the top of your voice?
Johnny: Maybe that would be "A Thousand Ways Out Of Here?"... hmm... yeah, I think so.
Lou: Which Powderhog song is the best to 'get jiggy' to (if you know what I mean!)?
Johnny: what's up with these questions?... ha ha... erhm... I would have to say "Fuel To Burn" again.
Lou: Which Powderhog song is most likely to lift your spirits at the end of a bad day?
Johnny: Hopefully all our songs have that quality. They all work like that on me, but you should probably ask the man on the street this question.
Lou: Which Powderhog song is the most popular at your gigs?
Johnny: That would be our single "A Thousand Ways Out Of Here?".
Lou: Do you have any gigs coming up in the near future?
Johnny: No, we are laying low in the Spring, to concentrate on the songwriting for the next album, which should be out at some point next year.
Lou: What can we expect from a Powderhog gig?
Johnny: Energy, great songs, a tight band and a good time for all.
Lou: Which bands would you most like to tour with?
Johnny: Well there are many bands that we would love to tour with. I would love to tour with a band like Backyard Babies. And I would probably go for Monster Magnet, The Cult, Motorhead, Queens Of the Stoneage and a bunch of other bands as well. As I said earlier. We like many different kinds of music and bands. The list seems to go on and on.
Lou: I've seen the video for "A Thousand Ways Out of Here" on MySpace. Do you have any plans to make more videos?
Johnny: The budget for our debut album was very limited. And we didn't have that much money to spend on videos. But I'm sure that there will be more videos out when we release the next album in 2009.
Lou: If you could get any famous actor or actress to star in one of your videos who would it be, and why?
Johnny: I couldn't think of one right now. Maybe Marylin Monroe, but I mean... She's probably not looking that great nowadays ha ha...
Lou: What are your top 3 albums for this year?
Johnny: Well, speaking on my own behalf, I would go for Hermano "Into the exam room". We just played a gig with those guys in Hamburg, and they are a serious rock band. Great tunes, great energy and great feel. I would love to do some more stuff with those guys.
I also think that Kings Of Leon's new album is great. And then there is the new album by Backyard Babies.
Lou: Please feel free to take this opportunity to plug your websites, merchandise or anything else....:
Johnny: Well, you should probably go and check out www.myspace.com/powderhog for music, news, pics and stuff like that. We are also on Facebook, if you dig that kind of crap. Besides that you can buy the music from the Trechoma Records Online Shop at www.trechomarecords.dk and new merchandise will soon be obtainable through our myspace site.
Lou: What's next for Powderhog?
Johnny: Well as I said earlier: We are writing a bunch of new songs, which we are to record in 2009 for our follow up album. No dates have been set for the release of the record yet. But be sure to check up on our myspace site for news on this matter as we enter 2009. Work has begun on a European Tour in 2009 as well, so we hope to see a lot of you people out there on the road for some killer shows!