HVNTER – Cardiff, Wales
Describe your music to the uninitiated
I make electronic pop music and I hope it makes you wanna sing along and dance to. That’s pretty much the goal. I also love a song that you can dress up with crazy production but sounds equally as good stripped back.
Tell me a little more about your journey, how you formed Hvnter and some of your notable achievements so far.
I began releasing music as HVNTER to shed the skin of my younger acoustic-guitar-playing-youtube cover-video self. My music taste started changing and so was the music I made. Starting a new project under a new name just felt right. I’ve been super lucky to support some cool artists that have toured in Cardiff. Supporting fellow gay-welshman Bright Light Bright Light as incredible, it was the most connected to an audience of strangers I’d ever felt.
What new projects do you have on the go and when can we expect to see them? Can we see you live any time soon?
I have a few songs in the bag and a few I’m yet to have in said bag. I have a few other ideas kicking around too, that I hope I can bring to life too. I wanna focus on getting all the music together first, I’ve played a few new songs live to test them out and I’m super excited to get them out now.
How has being a part of the LGBTQ+ community formed your identity as an artist (if at all)?
I think my music is widely influenced by a lot of LGBTQ+ favourites. Charli XCX, Troye Sivan, Years & Years. I think that electronic pop music has always been such a large part of our musical identity as a community.
What do you think of the barriers that LGBTQ+ artists face in the current music industry? Have you come up against any of those barriers yourself?
I think the music industry on small and larger scales are typically very hetero-normative. Something unapologetically queer would often feel alien in the wash of straight bands, artists, managers, promoters, etc. You’d think being different would help in this industry, but I feel in this case it hinders.
Do you think the local music scene does enough to support LGBTQ+ artists? What do you think they could do better?
I can’t say I’ve seen the support from local LGBTQ+ music organizations for our local LGBTQ+ artists. There are opportunities for them to work with us. But that just hasn’t happened, fingers crossed for 2020?
Who’s your LGBTQ+ hero and why?
For me personally, Troye Sivan. I watched his videos from way back when, and when I posted his ‘Coming Out’ video it hit me so hard. I’ve been a fan for so long, since before he even released music, and to say him achieve his level of success whilst being openly gay has been so fucking cool to see.
Where can people find you & support you?
Twitter: @iamhvnter
Facebook: HVNTER
Instagram: @iamhvnter
