Interview: Robotic Hawks take a power-pop trip to ‘Ansonia’
New Hampshire garage rock band’s new single, backed with a Graham Parker cover, is out now
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The ‘Ansonia’ music video is set to premiere on YouTube on October 13
HUDSON, NH. [October 7, 2021] -- The Connecticut city of Ansonia may or may not be a place you’d prefer to get stuck in, lost inside a land-locked triangular region within the more notable destinations of Waterbury, New Haven, and Bridgeport. The new Robotic Hawks single “Ansonia” takes its title from the industrial mill city near where frontman Tyler Pollard grew up in Southbury, and like his hometown, it’s also a space that’s tough to escape.
Following this spring’s breakout hit “Security”, a cover of the Otis Redding classic made famous by Thane Russal and Three, the New Hampshire garage rock trio release “Ansonia” to the streaming masses on Thursday, October 7. The official music video premiering on YouTube a week later, October 14. “Ansonia” arrives in tandem with a cover of Graham Parker’s 1982 post-Rumour effort “You Hit The Spot” as its b-side, keeping Robotic Hawks’ tradition of pairing new singles with their renditions of classic material that helped shape and influence the trio, the second of five such releases on the way.
But first, Robotic Hawks have to make sense of the situation at hand. So we asked bassist and vocalist Tyler Pollard all about this new track and video, the inspiration behind the cover, and what’s next for the trio.
publi*sist: So, what's ‘Ansonia’ all about?
Pollard: ‘Ansonia’ is about one of those relationships that keeps you holding on to hope that things will develop into more than just a friendship. The girl keeps sending mixed messages which just keeps him hanging on. It’s nice to dream, but as we all know it can be a pretty painful and demoralizing little vacuum. The trick is knowing when to move on and start fulfilling your own needs. I named the song ‘Ansonia’ after a town near where I grew up in Southbury, CT. ‘Ansonia’ always seemed so gross and mysterious to me, like some shady little industrial mill town. Plus, I thought ‘Ansonia’ fit the chorus pretty well and it’s just a fun word to sing.
How does this new single reflect the sound of Robotic Hawks in 2021?
A friend told me that ‘Ansonia’ sounds like a song from 1992, which is fair. It’s a radio song that uses classic rock guitars with big drums. ‘Ansonia’ was the first song we were able to cut as a group after resuming full band practices. This release represents a real shot in the arm for us. This feels like we’re back.
How does it fit amongst the new batch of music the band has coming out?
‘Ansonia’ + ‘You Hit The Spot’ is release number two of our planned five drop ‘singles series’. This entire project is basically a purging of Covid material. ALL of the songs are about relationships, good and band. Some relationships are with the self, some are with vices, some are with situations and of course with love interests.
Tell us about the video!
The video for ‘Ansonia’ was shot over a couple of nights in my practice space building with my friend Damien Pratt. The idea might be a little on the nose, but basically, when you’re trying to convert a friendzone relationship into a more connected relationship you find yourself doing ‘the dance’. When you’re trying to convince the other person they’re actually in love with you, you’ll do whatever you think they’ll want from you and you can’t flinch. You never know when or if things will change, but you’re committed to the dance. Fake it till you make it. You’ll notice that Brian and Shawn are not featured dancers in the video, but I assure you they were juuuust fine with me doing this one on my own.
Why did you decide to cover Graham Parker's 'You Hit The Spot'?
I worked at Record World during High School and pretty much left my paycheck at the door. I bought everything and anything, sometimes just for the cover art. The Graham Parker releases on Arista records in the early ‘80s have a consistent red and black theme and that drew me in. ‘You Hit The Spot’ is from his first release without the Rumour. I think the song is a total vibe. Brian and Shawn were on board immediately. The original production is very slick and quite controlled. The music is driving yet, a little dark, as is the character. The song details a smarmy and jaded man coming to terms with actually finding the right one. I thought it was a nice pairing with Ansonia. Unfortunately, I hadn’t researched his most significant album, Squeezing Out Sparks until I was in my early 40s. Boy, that was a mistake…
Between this Parker cover and the recent ‘Security’, why are covers integral to the Robotic Hawks new music rollout?
We decided to pair one original and one cover for each release. I think people can sometimes get a better sense of a band’s sound by hearing them through someone else’s song. I also think the act of picking a cover within a band can be incredibly empowering or thoroughly infuriating. I’ve definitely been in bands that just didn’t play covers because of all the stress it caused. However, when a band can agree upon a cover to deconstruct and rearrange it can be a great opportunity for growth. You get to discuss what you like about the song, what you want to fix and how. Working on covers makes listening to music a group activity, which I think is important for a band.
What does the band have coming up?
We have three more pairs of songs to go in this series. We’re a few weeks away from finishing up the next pair. I won’t spill the beans on what the next cover is, but I can say that I used to play this song in my band Chapter XI from 1991. The vocals are pretty much a duet and the guitar player from that band, Tom Simonalle is going to be joining me once again on this one. I am excited, we haven’t worked together in 30 years.
We might wait until the spring to start booking shows again. All of the fall and winter shows this year got booked way in advance while we were just getting our shit back together. We really want to be back in fighting shape before we go back out there anyway. However, if a kind band happened to offer us an opening slot in the winter, we could make ourselves presentable. We’ll see.
Contact michael@publisist.co or richie.tyler.pollard@gmail.com for more information.
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Robotic Hawks are:
Tyler Pollard - vocals, bass + harmonica
Brian Sturk - drums
Shawn Doherty - guitar + backing vox
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All songs recorded by Robotic Hawks in Nashua, N.H. - During 2020 - 2021
Mixed and mastered by Robotic Hawks and Andrew James King
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The music of Robotic Hawks has been heard and featured on:
Blood Makes Noise; Bay State Rock; Boston Emissions with Anngelle Wood; Your First Listen on KNNZ 89.1 FM (Fargo, ND); Christain’s Cosmic Corner and Original Music Showcase on Mark Skin Radio; BumbleBee Radio (Boston); Everything You Know Is Wrong on WMWM Salem State Radio; Garagerocktopia Radio with Robert Kreutzer, Rising with Skybar on WMFO Tufts Radio; Wave Radio Boston; and other fine shows and stations.
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‘Ansonia’ single artwork:
Single art and layout by Christian Cundari
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Media contact and all press/radio inquiries: michael@publisist.co or richie.tyler.pollard@gmail.com
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