(Photo by Joel Faurote)

This band spotlight is part of a special ZapTown series in correlation with the 2009 Broad Ripple Music Fest: http://www.broadripplemusicfest.com/

Other BRMF interviews:

Heavy Hometown

Daniel Fahrner

WHO: Thunderhawk
WHERE: Locals Only, sponsored by Transpanther/Standard Recording/Joyful Noise
LINKS: http://www.myspace.com/thunderhawkband

SAMPLE MP3:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (6.5MB)

Josh Hall has been playing music as Thunderhawk long enough to turn ’90s indie rock upside down. With various line up changes throughout the years, Hall and the band remain a constant within the Muncie, Indiana, music scene.

With Thunderhawk VI to be released soon, the band is ripping its way into Indianapolis. Hall discusses the latest album and their first time at the Broad Ripple Music Fest.

How long have you been around as a band, specifically? How do you think you have progressed together?

Doug Market (drummer) and I started playing as Thunderhawk in 1998 and have used several line ups over the years. I don’t think we’ve progressed at all over the years. We still sound like a 90′s indie rock band because we are a 90s indie rock band. We’ve been playing all the same local venues since as far back as I can remember to mixed or no reactions.

Tell me about your latest release and about the garage pop elements you bring into it?

Well, I did an album called Gravity Wins! and I sort of “lost it” and couldn’t play music for a while. But last year I wrote and recorded 5 albums and was planning on self releasing all of them. But Standard Recording Company down in Indy showed interest in putting out an album, so we are releasing an album called Thunderhawk VI on Standard Recording as a vinyl only release. It has a bunch of country songs on it and some punk rock and classic indie rock for good measure.

Indianapolis Versus Muncie? We are seeing an increased relationship between the two and the music that affects us daily. How do you see that relationship and do we need the two geographic locations to exist?

Muncie is a weird place, a lot of good bands came out of there, Margot and the somethings, Arrah and the Ferns, Everything Now! and The Dead Beats just to name a few. But there’s really no where to play in Muncie so all those bands out of necessity have gravitated to Indy. So I would say that Muncie bands need Indianapolis but I don’t know how much Indianapolis needs Muncie.

How important do you feel the Broad Ripple Music Fest is to you and what will you be bringing in regards to your performance?

This is the first time we’ve played BRMF and I’m pretty excited, but I’m not really sure what to expect. We’re just gonna play our asses off and then get loaded after the show.