PRESS

Album Review - Energy Czar // Jan 2006

With a sound resembling what might happen if grizzly bears formed a band, Hunting Lodge (residing half in Bristol, half in Southampton) have the air of a frightening force unleashed, their name already spoken in hushed tones. Whilst the similarities are clearly accidental rather than deliberate, the oft-cited Birthday Party comparison is apt, conveying both the chaotic, unhinged violence of the Hunting Lodge experience and the more lithe, perverse structures underlying their aggression. Rather than shock therapy goth throwbacks though, Hunting Lodge remain as unadorned and down to earth as it’s possible to get, their style birthed in the mud and constipated filth of British outsider hardcore, sharing aesthetic territory with the intimidating likes of Penthouse, Bilge Pump and Part Chimp. And in Seth Cooke, they have the most perfect drummer a rock band could ask for, his awe-inspiring battering giving a gleeful joy to proceedings that prevents the band’s catastrophic racket from ever collapsing into nihilistic stupor as the rest of the band stomp across whatever space is available to them, axes raised and eyes closed as if imagining themselves in combat with invisible beasts... Rah! Debut album ‘Energy Czar’ out now.

STEREO SANCTITY




LIVE REVIEW - HUNTING LODGE @ THE JOINERS W/ MELT BANANA (1) // DEC 05

Hunting Lodge, the noisiest bastards around for miles, really show why they’re almost top of tonight’s bill with their ferocious and livid noise attack. Despite recently losing a guitar player, the assaulting instrumentation and vocal gushing are enjoyed by all and even though they’re not headlining, the shouts for an encore are genuine – it’s easy to see why this band have been supporting Melt-Banana for most of their UK tour. The bearded, overweight drummer pounds his kit with the intensity of a soldier while the guitarist and bassist hurl themselves around him. Accenting every track with piercing feedback and thunderous bass rumbles, Hunting Lodge’s set is nothing short of manic.

James Vella - CDREVIEWS.COM




LIVE REVIEW - HUNTING LODGE @ THE JOINERS W/ MELT BANANA (2) // DEC 05

Hunting Lodge have often impressed me - their sheer noise for a start - and tonight was no exception. I was interested to see how the group worked with it’s weightloss of one guitarist, especially due to the spazzy nature of the often all-at-once, all-over-the-place music which could well have been left lacking. But not at all, the sound was just as fat, in fact they seemed even louder. And the performance was impeccable. The bassist’s screams to the walls, the drummer’s unsettled stand-up/sit-downs, the guitarist’s jerks and the singer’s lurching presence. Musically, think Chinese Stars and The Birthday Party - your ears being mashed up and the strange desire to dance; loosely played off-beat polyphonies, punk and disco beats, dirty pounding bass and crazed howled vocals. The songs often sound only completed in the moment, part-created in the chaos and randomness of the performance.

PHILIP HOILE - Zap! Bang!

LIVE REVIEW - Hunting Lodge @ the Croft w/ Lydia Lunch & Male // Date: 18-04-2005

At the other end of the gender spectrum, Hunting Lodge are an exaggerated, almost cartoon-ish, version of maleness (rather than Maleness – that would be Itchy and Scratchy Play the Kim Gordon Songbook) that might be fairly labelled ballscore, or maybe spunkrock. They wear the mantle of sweaty, balding, yelling hardcore devotees with a kind of pride that suggests that they scoff at the at the pretty-boy feyness of a Napalm Death or a Pantera. You feel queasy at the thought of what might go on in the kind of hunting accommodation these boys frequent – on tonight’s evidence, 12-bore shotgun russian roulette combined with a cannibalism cook-off would be a good bet.

The band’s genius (and I don’t use the word lightly) is to produce a sound of distilled aggression so pure that a couple of notes will contaminate everything in a 50 mile radius. The on-lookers at The Croft are not completely sure what to make of this Berlin Wall of noise that threatens to collapse upon them at any minute. Their puzzlement is scarcely noticed by Hunting Lodge – they are wrestling with very private demons. Apart from the bare-topped drummer solemnly thumping his skins like he was beating time on a Turkish slave-galley, the group have forsaken the stage to assume their stances on the dancefloor. It's as if to say, “this intensity is not staged for your benefit: if you want entertainment then go the circus. This is the dark corners of our souls on display and creating a venomous noise just happens to be the best way we can think of to alleviate the despair right now. Watch if you like/dare – it is of no consequence to us”. This indifference is underlined by the bassist going walkabout at one point, threading his way erratically through the crowd while swinging his instrument over his head and narrowly avoiding caving in the skull of my friend with one of his dervish twirls. When not threatening to brain the fanbase, his bass-playing technique is something to behold. To say that he ‘plays’ the bass is like saying that Mike Tyson is a bit handy with his fists – he pummels, pounds and slaps the fretboard like it had just jumped ahead of him at the taxi-rank, waving it over his head and behind his back Jimi Hendrix-style, and, in short, re-inventing the instrument as a percussive one. If ever something so rudimentary could be dubbed as a ‘virtuoso performance’ then this most surely was it.

Carl Dolan - www.decodemedia.com



REVIEW - Hunting Lodge / Mugstar – Split 7” // Date: 01-02-2005

I will save you some time here if you like, why don’t you go and visit www.hunting-lodge.org/music_htm ..... You can order this from there, and frankly I urge you to do so.

Mugstar are a fucking frightening sonic beast, they kind of sound like Mark E. Smith looks, know what I mean? A piss and booze stinking wiry mass of rage that may, and as far as you’re concerned, will explode at any minute, certainly not someone that you would want to befriend you in a pub, or anywhere for that matter. Mugstar would probably buy you a pint, but after would drag you into a darkened alley way a kick your head in……

I’m painting a rather bleak view, but I can assure you what along with the drunken kicking comes a musical quality (again like Smith) that has assured this a place in my top 10 7” of 2004….

So, picture the scene, you have suffered a bloody good pummelling at the hands of Mugstar, your pride is bruised and frankly you could do with a brew and a long sit down, but no, Hunting Lodge have come along to continue the sound kicking, that now you realise was only started with Mugstar, and after they have administered about all you can take, this side of death anyway, they turn and beat the shit out of Mugstar, cos they can, and to be honest they are a lot bigger, scarier and more menacing than Mugstar could ever be…..but in a more Chinese Stars / Arab on Radar kind of way.

Fucking ace…..who wants a fight…. Hmm?
Drew Millward - www.tastyfanzine.co.uk

REVIEW - Hunting Lodge / Mugstar - split 7" // DATE 29-01-2005

Listening to Southampton’s Hunting Lodge is like being yelled at by an alcoholic in an indie disco, which is something I’m sure we can all relate to. Somewhere between The Fall and falling over, this is wilfully deranged noise-mongery of utterly thrilling proportions. Driving rhythms courtesy of the drummer mean you can still bogle even when what the rest of them are doing is completely tuneless. Instead of becoming tiresome, the lack of any tangible melodic niceties is thoroughly adrenalising, especially over the too-short course of a 45 rpm 7”.

On the flip, Liverpool’s Mugstar, who have done a Peel (R.I.P.) Session in the past, initially present a much less wilfully abrasive proposition, before finally showing their true colours by letting rip with an ungodly howl backed up by buzzing, scuzzing guitars. More riff-based than the Lodge, their brand of hectic indie-punk is endearing and immense fun. We’re back at that club, being hectored in the coat queue. I bloody loves it.
Kunal Nandi - www.collective-zine.co.uk

REVIEW - Hunting Lodge / Mugstar – Split 7” // Date: 05-01-2005

Intense-looking heavily tattooed gentleman from, seemingly, a bygone era, represent each band on the cover. Holligans? Pugilists? Who knows? It’s an ideal photographic representation of each band's music though. Mugstar, like a smash and grab raid, a theremin looted in the crime spree, with 'Object' showing their calmer, but infinitely more threatening side. The Lodge go straight into it, elbows like a blur, with 'Trout Mask' reedy sax strangled after the fact.
Skif - www.vanityproject.co.uk




REVIEW - Hunting Lodge EP // Date: 02-12-2003

"If there was a genre for Hunting Lodge’s music it would probably be something like Antimusicnihilisticdeathhatemetalgrungerockpunk-music! This music (I use the term loosely!) has mutated directly from the fires of hell and whether you love it or loathe it, you’ll be
engrossed until the very last deafening squeal of distorted guitar feedback fades out. You’ll then subcontiously feel like you want to commit ritual sacrifice. Slow, down-tuned riffs in the style of The Melvins accompanied by the Devil himself shouting, screaming, crying and generally providing the sort of sonic choral equivalent of the entire residency of a mental institution. The lyrics are relatively inaudible, but the titles alone are enough to set the scene. The delivery even more so.

I love this CD. It is everything music shouldn’t be and yet beneath the musical eqivalent of the climax of Apocalypse Now there is an intelligence and creativity here that belies belief. Amazing arrangements (think The Residents refining the arrangements on Pink Floyd’s attonally dischordant ‘Ummagumma’ LP) and a suitably raw and totally epic production. Hunting Lodge are NEVER going to be very big or universally loved, but for those odd few of us that embrace such unique and mind-boggling music, there is an outlet to safely vent our inner demons!!!

Right, I’m off to slit my wrists now… "
Mike Spall - www.southscene.net





REVIEW - Hunting Lodge EP

"Nice to get a self released CD with a bit of care taken over presentation and Southampton Based Hunting Lodge pull all the right
strings even before hearing any music. Hunting Lodge is out there, on the edge of the musical world, quite possibly falling off it as we speak. They won’t go quietly though, innocent bystanders will be dragged down with them kicking and spitting. This sounds like some
serious therapy session for the vocalist, pictures spring to mind of
him causing GBH to himself as he spews out his black bile. Titles like
‘Berlin, 1936’; ‘The Reminder Of Another Man’s Fuck’ and ‘Weakling’ are soundtracked by some of the most vicious driving bass dirges I’ve heard since the early days of Psychic TV. It’s relentless, it’s some kind of punishment but it’s punishment you are begging for on your knees. When they pick up the speed on ‘Kneel To The Boss’ it’s like a killer blow to the side of the head, just for good measure. Damn, it feels so good to be left bloody and broken."

Grebo - www.vanityproject.co.uk