Today is a great day to share the latest single and music video from indie rock duo, Hunter & Wolfe, called “Famous Friends.” The song comes from their forthcoming LP I Deserve This, out everywhere music is sold this Summer, and showcases their vibrant contributions to the indie rock genre. The band shared, “‘Famous Friends’ is about mixed emotions, that awkward middle ground between happiness for, and envy of, the successes of others. We fight the urge to measure ourselves against others – especially when our social media are flooded with their accomplishments and good times. Ultimately, ‘Famous Friends’ is about coming to terms with those mixed emotions and arriving at self-acceptance.” I was also able to catch up with the band for a brief interview below.
Who are some of your musical influences? Do you both find that you have different influences or are they similar? How do you combine the influences that are different?
Michael Maffei: Elliott Smith is my biggest influence, full stop; there’s a piece of him in every song I write. While making this record, I had The National, Dijon, Phoebe Bridgers, Hamilton Leithauser + Rostam’s collab, and The Strokes’ Is This It in heavy rotation too.
Sundeep Kapur: I’d say Michael gravitates more towards the singer-songwriter types, which makes sense because he’s writing the lyrics. I’m more influenced by people that can take a song and add meaningful parts to it. Speaking as a guitar player, I think David Gilmour is one of the best at this. But I’ve also really been into synths lately, so there’s some pop dance music influence in this record (maybe even some K-Pop…). As different as our influences can be, we’ve worked together for so long that we’ve developed similar intuition on what is or isn’t working for a song. The songs are strong enough that they could be released as just “vocal + acoustic guitar” arrangements, so anything additional has to really elevate the track. When we disagree on something, it goes back to the drawing board until we’re both happy with it.
Can you tell us a little bit more about the lyrical inspiration for “Famous Friends”? Is there a specific story behind the track?
MM: I wouldn’t attribute “Famous Friends” to any one story, more a confluence of events. Some talented folks in my life started to see some well-deserved success, meanwhile I was struggling to finish writing a single song. This song is an examination of my mixed feelings of happiness and jealousy. There’s a self-awareness that life isn’t a zero-sum game (“cross your arms and even rising tides will pull you down”), but it can be difficult to see that when those around you achieve your goals before you do. Ultimately, I’d like to remind folks that the successes of others are not your failures – do your best, do things for yourself, and you’ve succeeded.
What are you most excited for with the release of I deserve this.? Can we expect any music videos or shows in the near future?
SK: I’m really proud of all of our past releases but I think this one really exemplifies our sound and songwriting ability. We put a high bar on anything that was committed to tape and I think it resulted in a great record. I really hope y’all love it. Or at least lie to us and say you do anyway.
MM: I am legitimately excited by every track on this record; it is by far the best we’ve ever made. As for videos, we have what I might call a “lyric video on steroids” for “Famous Friends,” and a “proper” music video coming for our next single. We’re discussing a release show in the NYC area and some supporting shows thereafter – nothing firm, but details to come! I’d also like to give a shoutout to the team – Asher Kurtz, Anders Kapur, Sean Mullins, Jeremy Nakamura, Shae Broussard, Aymann Ismail, and Rocky Gallo – for helping this record meet its potential.