HUNNY Return With Playful Indie-Pop Single “sidewaze”
Today, LA-based indie-pop project HUNNY share the vibrant new single “sidewaze”, their first new music since their 2023 album ‘New Planet Heaven’ and its subsequent live record out in 2024. Driven by an upbeat rhythm, the song calls back to the sunny sounds of their previous work, combining playful lyricism with plucky riffs and bursts of sleazy distortion. Revealing how the origins of “sidewaze” date back to a track from New Planet Heaven, frontman Jason Yarger explains:
“the main synth line from ‘sidewaze’ was written for the last chorus of ‘kick ur teeth in’, but ultimately i decided there was enough going on already so i scraped it from the album version but kept it in our live tracks just for fun. (you can hear it in the ‘live at paul’s’ version). one day before a tour i was going through the set and just thought it would be cool if that keyboard part kept going out of ‘kick ur teeth in’ into a new song, so i pretty much wrote ‘sidewaze’ just for that reason. i came up with that first line and it turned into a nice little track about two people playing games with each other. i thought a girl texting me the wrong address to meet up sounded like something that could’ve happened to me in high school.”
“sidewaze”
Since we last heard from HUNNY, there’s been some major shifts behind the scenes. As the lives of the band’s individual members take turns down different paths, they’ve announced a major lineup change that marks a new chapter for the group. After 10 years as a foursome, throughout 2 full length albums, multiple EP’s and a string of singles, HUNNY will continue on as the solo project of founding member and vocalist, Jason Yarger. They first broke the news via a heartfelt Instagram post on the band’s page HERE.
Providing insight into their thought process and the future of the band, the collective statement reads:
“when we started having these talks and what it all means for the band i figured i’d be starting up the solo career but i’m lucky enough to have these three friends who told me to keep building on what we’ve created. we’ve found such a loving community with all of u and im blessed that i don’t have to leave it behind. almost twelve years ago i wrote some shitty songs and asked my friends to play them with me and it turned into something so much more than i thought it could. now its come full circle and it leaves a hole in my heart to be going forward in this without my bros but im thankful for their support and excited for what’s next. i will actually straight up die before i stop making and playing music for whoever keeps showing up and listening.”
On the back of a shimmering blend of new-wave sheen, shoegaze gloom and angular guitar rock that is underwritten with cheeky, California cool sensibilities, the childhood friends that made up HUNNY propelled their careers with their self-released 2015 EP, ‘Pain / Ache / Loving’, and landed a deal with Epitaph Records. After releasing their Carlos De La Garza (Paramore, Best Coast) produced debut album (2019) and Homesick EP (2022), the band tapped into the wide-eyed excitement and energy of those early years for album #2, Hunny’s New Planet Heaven (2023). Hailed by AltPress as “another top to bottom win that leans more lofi and embraces a thoughtful array of classic Cali sounds,” their Summer 2024 print feature praised the album for “feeding into a spectrum of genres from gritty punk to a softer, electronic soundscape.”
Stay tuned for more HUNNY updates soon, including a final show with the full lineup and additional dates to be announced...