We caught up with Girl with a Hawk and they answered our questions about their music and song writing process. Let’s see what they have to say!
First off, What’s up with your name? Is there a story behind it?
Linda Viens: The band name “Girl with a Hawk” came as a vision, after reading the novel Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell, and walking in the woods and seeing a red tailed hawk flying above and landing in a tall pine. In the novel, which is based on Shakespeare’s life as a young man, his wife, Anne Hathaway, was known in the village as a “witch”, an herbalist and healer who kept a pet falcon. The phrase came into my mind and stuck. It was only much later that I realized, like the Goddess Circe, hawks and birds of prey have always been associated with women who are fiercely independent and known to have minds of their own.
Tell us about your musical past, would you tell us about your early years?
I’ve always loved music with a passion, from the earliest days of lying in bed at night as a kid with a transistor radio glued to my ear, and most especially rock and roll. Everything about the beat and the sound of artists like The Beatles, Chuck Berry, David Bowie, The Rolling Stones, Traffic, The Allman Brothers, CSNY, (on and on) spoke of lust, and love, joy and freedom to me. Hearing We Gotta Get Out of This Place by the Animals for the first time made me lose my mind (in a good way!). My Dad brought home a beautiful nylon string classical guitar for me from Mexico when I was 13, and learning to play, songwriting and singing were on from there.
How would you describe your sound?
This is a challenging question, as there are five of us, and we all bring our individual set of influences to the music, influences that now span decades, and only keep growing!! It’s a mashup for sure. We like beauty AND aggression, grit and tenderness, songs that lift and inspire the spirit, bring you somewhere, and make you want to get loose and dance. I would like to think that most of all we groove, layered up with melody and enough unusual textures, sounds, and touches that make you want to listen closely to the story that the song is telling. Hopefully our sound, and our songs, act like medicine for the soul.
Which artists have the biggest influence on your sound?
Tom Petty is my favorite songwriter because his songs speak directly to our humanity and embody pathos, joy AND humor, but god, there are so many. The Pretenders for sure, Dylan, The Rolling Stones, Wilco, The Velvet Underground, Patti Smith, Fleetwood Mac, and more recently, Modest Mouse, Nick Cave, The Black Keys, and My Morning Jacket. I could go on!!!!
What’s the last song you listened to?
“Ride On” by The Nude Party – OBSESSED!!!
What’s your source for hearing new music?
I have a ton – I am so grateful to say! My bandmates – we share new songs we have heard with each other over text almost daily, college radio (God bless Boston!!), my 24-year-old daughter Ruby who has impeccable taste and plays me all kinds of stuff constantly, songs mentioned in conversation that I make a note of and search out to listen to. Music is a vast, never-ending source of joy and inspiration, and sometimes it hurts my soul that I will run out of time before I get to hear all of the great songs that exist, and all of the new ones being written!
Who is your dream producer?
Rick Rubin – love that man!!!
If you could collaborate with anyone, who would it be?
Paul McCartney. That man stays so fresh and on point it is INSANE.
What led you to music, and what motivates you to keep making it?
I went to art school in the early ‘80s – a time when art and music were completely entwined, and punk rock was being born. We had no screens or streaming yet, obviously, and all we cared about was being part of the great cultural conversation and being OUT, at galleries, clubs, loft parties, et al. The birth of punk allowed us to be utterly self-educated musically. In my first band, Children of Paradise, I played drums – with no experience whatsoever – what a blast! One night, having the wonderful choice before me of painting alone in the studio that Mass Art provided, or heading to a practice space to jam with friends, a light bulb went off: I liked collaborating better than creating alone and nothing was MORE fun than playing music with friends. That joy, that fun, that challenge, and the art of LISTENING is still what drives me – and being in a “gang” – it’s the coolest.
Tell us about the songwriting process. How does it all come together?
Songwriting is mysterious and mechanical simultaneously. Ideas can come from the ether fully realized, or be one inspired phrase, beat, hook, or snippet of melody. But once emerged, these ideas must be hammered into a recognizable shape, with a place and structure for all of the instruments and parts that the song requires. It also reminds me of sculpture: you bring a song to the band and at first it can feel like a massive lump of stone or clay, and bit by bit, it gets whittled into shape. It takes patience to stay in the group process of moving from a rough idea to something you think is beautiful.
How do you connect with your audience? What is the easiest way for them to connect with you?
It’s easy for me because I love people. I love faces. I would stare into the eyes of every single person in the audience if time allowed because I want to see them, look into their souls. I find people so brave, heroic actually. Being in a human body, with a feeling heart, that’s a lot, and we all have our physical and emotional challenges, obviously some much more acute than others. I hope that the easiest way for them to connect with me, with us, is through our songs, that they make people feel freer in some way, more confident, able to keep going through life’s good times and bad. Music is such a healing art form. It’s a privilege to make it and offer it up to the world.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/girl_with_a_hawk_band/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/77CVLefKF7xE9iIVQQQORW?si=dd8f15ad0d414fa7
Bandcamp: https://redonredgwah.bandcamp.com/track/same-stars
Press Release: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VWImOPEsgEJTakKm6jTlDzTHI-KzAZvwtBu738lJa84/edit?usp=sharing
What’s next for you?
Oh my gosh – gigging – being on Red on Red Records has changed our world!! Our good friend and the booking agent for ROR Dan Anklin is finding awesome gigs for us all over the place – and playing live is the thing I love most – we have a busy lineup of shows for spring. And in the meantime, finishing our next single for Red on Red, and getting a seven-song EP out by June. And of course, always, writing new music!
Anything else you’d like to add or let us know about?
I want to say that having the opportunity to play music with great people: my bandmates Richard Lamphear, Daniel Coughlin, Nancy Delaney and Dan Bernfeld, work with great people like ROR Label owner Justine Covualt, booking agent Dan Anklin, video director Joan Hathaway, photographer Kelly Davidson, PR guru Michael O’Connor Marotta, (etc!!) is a true honor and pleasure. Having lost a lot of peers at this point, simply being alive and healthy and able to continue to do what I love, is the greatest gift. Whatever happens next is all gravy!!
BIO:
Linda Viens began playing music with the gift of a classical Mexican guitar from her Dad for her 12th birthday. In college she got into punk rock. She played drums and sang in the punk band, Children of Paradise, went on to lead local roots rockers, Witch Doctor, sang cabaret with collaborator Catherine Coleman in Les Chanteuse Sorcieres, and formed the notorious funk orchestra Crown Electric Company with her former husband Wayne Viens in the mid-nineties. Linda was a founding member of Boston Rock Opera and has performed in many musical theater productions, including Sgt. Pepper, Jesus Christ Superstar, Abbey Road, Preservation, and Billion Dollar Babies vs. Aqualung. Linda has produced and recorded with some of Boston’s finest including Mark Sandman (Morphine), Richie Parsons (Unnatural Axe), Asa Brebner (Modern Lovers), Tanya Donelly (Throwing Muses), Jon Macey (Fox Pass), Adam Sherman (Private Lightening, Nervous Eaters) and released the album Powdered Pearls with Emily Grogan and their band together, Angeline in 2006. Linda went on to form Kingdom of Love, a studio project with producer and musical partner Richard Lamphear and released their EP Ghosts in 2017. Linda continues to work with Richard in her new band, Girl with a Hawk, formed during the Pandemic in 2021. Richard Lamphear is a songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist. His former bands include alt- punk band Amoebas in Chaos and Kingdom of Love. Daniel Coughlin is a guitar player and arranger. His former bands include Children of Paradise, Witch Doctor, Lazy Susan, and The Illyrians. Nancy Delaney plays drums. Her former bands include Willard Grant Conspiracy, Boston Rock Opera and Cold Expectations.
