Hangtime reminisce in "One Nine Nine Five"
Get to know Canadian pop punk band Hangtime
Toronto, Ontario pop punk band Hangtime are a throwback to a pop punk sound thought long gone. Taking cues from mid-90s punk, Hangtime's sweet harmonies and DIY aesthetic are on full display on their recently released 7-song EP Invasion. Tracks like "A Thousand Years Ago" and the terrific "She" bring back a flood of memories when you discovered great punk bands on the old MP3 dot com site (even before MySpace!). Invasion is a reminder that pop punk- good pop punk- can be timeless.
The band recently debuted the video for the track "One Nine Nine Five". We wanted to get to know Hangtime and so we had a chat with guitarist/vocalist Warren Gregson about their new video and their EP. Be sure to check out the video for "One Nine Nine Five" above. You can listen to and purchase the band's new EP on Bandcamp.
I love the feel of the video- what was the idea behind the video? Where was it shot?
Thanks! It was actually filmed back in February. We played a show at a venue in Peterborough ON called “218 Live” that was actually a house. It worked out well because that was to be the basic idea for the video, a house party vibe.
What's "One Nine Nine Five" about?
Welllll, it may seem sappy, but it’s about the year I met my wife and some of the experiences we share from 1995. Most of the lyrics are very personal, but hopefully people can find a way to relate to them.
Share with us a little bit of history about Hangtime- how did you guys get together?
Hangtime itself has been around since 2008. Rick Burns and myself have been playing in bands together since 1989...December this year will be 30 years since our first show together, so ridiculous! We started Hangtime several years after the demise of our 90’s punk band Shortfall. Like lots of bands these days, we took a hiatus for a few years to deal with life, marriage, children and growing up. We actually found our bass player Danny Sciccitano on Kijiji in the lost and found musician section, he’s been around ever since [laughs]. Our current lineup has been the same since the amazing addition of Enzo Suppa on drums in 2013.
You just released a new EP- it's a little bit of a throwback to that great 90s melodic stake punk- what were some of the bands that got you into punk and ultimately shaped the music of Hangtime?
Yea, we released Invasion in March of this year. We’re super happy with how it turned out. There’s no escaping the 90s sound I'm afraid, that’s just who we are. Actually, our biggest influences go back further than that. Most of us were first listening to bands like ALL, Misfits, Dag Nasty, Big Drill Car, Bad Religion, Doughboys, Nils... etc, back in the 80’s. I suppose that’s where the 90s sound for many other bands originated as well.
What are your plans for the rest of the year?
We plan to keep doing what we're currently doing...playing live as much as possible. It’s been a very busy year so far and things are going great. There will be a couple more videos coming out soon before we head back into the studio in the fall to record another EP or maybe more if all goes well. Beyond that, our goals continue to grow larger. Hopefully we can make touring in Europe and Japan a reality in 2020.
You can stream and purchase Hangtime's EP Invasion on Bandcamp.