The Rob Hudak and the Hawtsies L to R: David Torkanowsky: Keys; Derek Dooms: Guitar; Michael Jenner: Sax; Lee Garcia: Drums (not pictured); The Rob Hudak: Guitar, Vocals; Morgan Orion: Backing Vocals; Alex Pianovich: Bass; Jo Morris: Backing Vocals;
The Hawtsies have been out on the road and in their home town of New Orleans promoting the release of their debut album, “Nine Lives”. The music pays homage to R&B from the 50’s and 60’s with a bit of modern glam and new wave attitude. The nine songs on the LP written by Rob Hudak are deceptively simple party songs crafted by the group into solid arrangements of bass, drums, guitar, saxophone and keys.
The Hawtsies honed their songs and tested them live before convening at New Orleans’ Esplanade Studios with Misha Kachkachishvili (Grammy winner for the amazing Jon Batiste album “We Are”) to record “Nine Lives.” They invited veterans David Torkanowsky (Hammond B3 organ, piano, keyboard/synths) and Brad Walker (alto and baritone sax) to play on the recorded arrangements, supplementing the album’s performances with equal parts of grits, grease and gravy. When playing live the group’s sound never fails to get people dancing and smiling.
Hudak notes that the songwriting process is one of his favorite parts of The Hawtsies, explaining, “I always hear the devil is in the details but I never knew what it meant till I started playing with the Hawtsies. The band is all over those details. The songs are simple in their overall structure and most are under 3 minutes long - but we come up with distinct moments in the arrangements and try to make every second count. When we play live it gets really exciting because we like to expand the songs, letting everyone stretch out and take a solo because we have such great players in the band.”
This past year has been a busy one for the Hawtsies. They have acted as ambassadors to New Orleans with shows at Nashville’s Americana Fest in Tennessee and at the Pabst Blue Ribbon sponsored festival Pabstolutely in Ohio. Everywhere they go the Hawtsies spread joy through the sound of New Orleans rock and roll. Just like their home town, the Hawtsies are good time professionals.
THE HAWTSIES ARE…
THE Rob Hudak: Guitar, Vocals
David Torkanowsky: Keyboards
Michael Jenner: Saxophone
Alex Pianovich: Bass
LEE GARCIA: Drums
Derek W. Dooms: GUITAR
Jo Morris: Backing Vocals
Morgan Orion: Backing Vocals
LISTEN TO THE HAWTSIES DEBUT LP
THE HAWTSIES DEBUT RECORD “NINE LIVES” COVER ART (AVAILABLE ON 180 GRAM VINYL)
FACTS About the HAWTSIES DEBUT LP
The Hawtsies debut LP was recorded in New Orleans at Esplanade Studios by Grammy Winning engineer Misha Kachkachishvili
It consists of nine original songs written by Rob Hudak and arranged by The Hawtsies
The songs contain stories about ghosts, skeletons, devils, romance, voodoo dolls, moral dilemmas, meditation, and quicksand.
The band includes world renowned musician David Torkanowsky on piano and B3 Organ
THE HAWTSIES DEBUT LP IS AVAILABLE ON 180 GRAM VINYL AT FULLTILTRECORDS.COM