Rolling Stone: Husky interview
Melbourne indiefolk quartet release debut, still don’t shave…
Husky is both the man and the band
Husky Gawenda (frontman): It’s my Polish grandfather’s name. I get asked all the time ‘do your parents love dogs?’ I was already playing solo as Husky and then I got this band (his cousin and keyboardist Gideon Preiss, bassist Evan Tweedie and drummer Luke Collins) together to play some shows. Now we’re past the point where we can change it.
They built their own studio
Husky’s debut, Forever So, was recorded at Gawenda’s home: “We sound-treated the bungalow in my backyard by getting foam and boards and watching Youtube videos. We ran cables through the garden and into the dining room which we used as the tracking room.”
Gioden: Some times we’d use the kitchen, dining room and lounge room to record the entire band. I even recorded some forest whistle in the toilets.
Forever So is inspired by the classics
G: We’d start the day listening to records we loved, like Neil Young’s Harvest and Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds. There’s just a magic about those albums that we had no idea how to capture but we were hoping to capture.
The band lived and breathed the album
H: We borrowed money, worked day jobs, borrowed gear from friends and recorded the album over eight months. Gideon was sleeping in the bungalow a lot.
G: It felt like we had one shot. We’d never be in the same position where we had a bit of money, a lot of time and nothing to lose to make our definitive record.
Husky didn’t shave once
H: I decided not to cut my beard until I finished the album. I wasn’t expecting it to take nine months.
