For somebody reading this and hearing about the band for the first time, how would you describe your history ?
Steve – I think Hunted has a fairly standard history – similarly to most bands, Hunted started off as a covers band paying tribute to the likes of Iron Maiden, Metallica, Megadeth, and Deep Purple and after a while Hunted started to write its own compositions (I joined the band around this time, Jon in fact, is the only original member left!). Again, like many bands, we recorded some demos but experienced several line-up changes before recording our debut album ‘Welcome the Dead’. Our history then gets more exciting, with Chris G on vocals, Jon Letson on bass, Matt Thomas on drums, and myself on guitar, we recorded and self-released ‘Welcome the Dead’ receiving some initial reviews which were overwhelmingly positive! We then also recruited Dan Owen as our second guitar player - he seems to be have fit in really well with the band; we then received interest from a few labels but we decided to go with Massacre Records and we inked a deal with them. Things are definitely quite exciting at the moment and hopefully we can add some more pages to Hunted’s history!!

Jon - As Steve mentioned, Hunted has (in one way or another) had a fairly long history to this point but everything’s really started to pick up in the last couple of years. Being (like some mysterious artefact from the past!) the only original member left in the band now, it’s so cool to have seen Hunted grow from a bunch of young metalheads paying tribute to the music we loved to finally being able to get our music across to so many people who actually enjoy and appreciate what we’re doing... and hopefully this is only the beginning!

How has the band's sound evolved since the demo "Alone" ?
Steve – well, a lot of the evolution of our sound, I would describe as a ‘natural evolution’, for example, ‘Alone’ was recorded with average-equipment, on a very tight low budget, whereas by the time we recorded ‘Welcome the Dead,’ our equipment was better, we had more of a budget which meant more time to play around with tones in the studio, and naturally we were better players compared to when we recorded Alone. Not only that, but I think it was clearer to us what we wanted to achieve and sound like. Our sound definitely had matured since ‘Alone’ and as a band we were ‘tighter’ musically.
I think the ‘Alone’ recordings were always incomplete; we didn’t really have the studio time to try and achieve exactly what we wanted. With ‘Welcome the Dead’ we gave ourselves that time (even though we still would have liked quite a lot more!!!). Furthermore, for ‘Welcome the Dead’ we actually had a pre-production period where we studied the songs and considered all sorts of options to make them better; that was the first time we had done that and I think it paid off. We made riffs a bit better and more energetic, added more harmonies where needed, added melody lines for more feel… I think as time has moved on we now approach our music in a much more professional manner, and our sound will certainly keep evolving… we listen or read all reviews and take on board people’s comments and I’m sure this will make our music even stronger.

Jon - I think Steve and I feel pretty much the same way about the demo and how it compares to Welcome the Dead... and even about the direction our new material seems to be heading in (which we’re very, very excited about!). We’re all still very proud of Alone - I think it’s probably a fair representation of where we were as a band at that time and it opened a lot of doors for us but there are definitely things we would write/play/produce much better now (at least, i hope so!) if we had the chance. I think it’s useful to see albums and demos as steps along the the road, rather than creative ends in themselves so in that way I think that, while Welcome the Dead is a really good album that we’re all really pleased with and that seems to be doing very well on the whole, we already feel that the next album will feel a bit different and try to improve on the things that could have been better in Welcome the Dead. Hopefully, that’s a process that’s going to continue with every album and its successor and throughout our whole career as a band!

How would you describe the musical shift in direction on your 1st album ?
Steve – we certainly shifted towards a more ‘complete’ experience and representation of our tastes; the album includes tendencies towards traditional heavy metal but also thrash, progressive and some power metal. I believe we always had this sort of direction but ‘Welcome the Dead’ has captured it more fully. There is no doubt that we wanted ‘Welcome the Dead’ to be big, i.e. a huge sound, therefore we knew we had to incorporate some interesting riffs, loads of melodic lines to complement the vocals, and we also set out to include a certain degree of technical ability without taking it too far – the music is somewhat progressive but not too much!

Jon - I think, as Steve said, there wasn’t really a conscious shift in direction in terms of music or songwriting, it was just that we had a little more time to put everything together and we had got a little bit better as musicians in the time in between the demo and the album !

Are you satisfied with the promotional / distribution work of Massacre Records for this 1st contract ?
Steve – most definitely. The promotional work is ongoing and it’s a great feeling to see that ‘Welcome the Dead’ is being well received. Massacre Records thus far have done a sterling job and hopefully we’ll keep working together to push our music.

Jon - Yep, we’re definitely very happy to be working with Massacre - they’re doing a great job with the promotion and everything seems to be going really well with the album so far...!

Are you able to do music for a living, or do you still have day jobs ?
Steve – sadly not! Nope, we are all still in full-time jobs and cannot dedicate all the time we would like to our music. That would be a dream.

Jon - No, unfortunately we all still have to slave way at the day jobs for the moment (haha I actually quite like mine, but still...). Being able to make our music a full-on, full-time pursuit is definitely the goal though!

What do you think are the 5 best metal CD of all time who influenced Hunted ?
Steve – ha! It’s not easy man! There are a lot of influences in the band but if I had to have a go I would choose :
- Somewhere in time – Iron Maiden
- Awake – Dream Theater
- Master of puppets – Metallica
- Dead heart in a dead world - Nevermore
- Keeper of the seven keys (Pt 1 & 2) - Helloween

Jon: :-) good question! The following have all definitely had some kind of effect on Hunted’s music, but I’d have to say (for me) the 5 greatest metal albums of all time would probably be:
- Seventh Son of a Seventh Son - Iron Maiden
- This Godless Endeavor - Nevermore
- Rust in Peace - Megadeth
- Master of Puppets - Metallica
- Scenes from a Memory (Metropolis Pt.2) Dream Theater (I know this is probably more prog than it is metal but hey...!)

Do you have any final words for our readers ?
Steve – We’d like to encourage any readers to pick up a copy (or download) of our debut album ‘Welcome the Dead’, available at most online retail sites and for anyone who wants to, to feel free to get in touch at huntedrock@hotmail.co.uk with any feedback whatsoever. You can also find us at www.myspace.com/huntedrock or follow us on facebook & twitter for further information. Thanks for your time. METAL REGARDS!

Jon - Thanks very much for the interview and and cheers for taking the time to read it dudes! If we’ve got a show anywhere near you in the future, please COME AND SEE US PLAY!!! It’ll be a very metal night, I promise...

Philippe Duarte