Flying Fox and the Hunter Gatherers

FLYING FOX AND THE HUNTER GATHERERS
Hans my Lion
(Head In The Sand Records)

Few bands would choose to release an ambitious, folkloric concept record as their full-length debut — but then, Flying Fox and The Hunter Gatherers have always been exceptional. Hans my Lion is a highly theatrical, operatic pop epic about a lion cub born from a woman’s womb, struggling to understand his primal urges while trying to fit in a human world — and, front to back, it’s a roaring success. Songwriter/vocalist Jesse Krause’s vocal gymnastics on this record are truly a thing to behold. This is an incredibly dynamic band that knows exactly when less is more.
— Jen Zoratti - Uptown Magazine

FLYING FOX AND THE HUNTER GATHERERS
Hans my Lion
(Head In The Sand Records)

Few bands would choose to release an ambitious, folkloric concept record as their full-length debut — but then, Flying Fox and The Hunter Gatherers have always been exceptional. Hans my Lion is a highly theatrical, operatic pop epic about a lion cub born from a woman’s womb, struggling to understand his primal urges while trying to fit in a human world — and, front to back, it’s a roaring success. Songwriter/vocalist Jesse Krause’s vocal gymnastics on this record are truly a thing to behold. This is an incredibly dynamic band that knows exactly when less is more.
— Jen Zoratti - Uptown Magazine

Flying Fox's Jesse Krause is a master when it comes to
crafting a good song. He's also got a heck of a wide vocal
range. Witness Hammer, in which he channels both Tom
Waits and a drunken opera singer caught in a musical
landscape of raucous gypsy jazz. Winter sounds a bit like
an ominous relative to Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody, with a
kooky solo section that can only be described as “Klezmer salsa.” This ambitious album
plays out like a rock opera, most notably in the Hans My Lion trilogy, which chronicles
the life and times of a troubled lion-child hybrid. These carefully orchestrated songs
allow each band member to show off their individual talents while contributing to a
wholly unique musical vision. This is an album with no shortage of imaginative material
that is bound to become a classic.
– Phil Enns - The Uniter (University of Winnipeg)

"Said Nimbus [Recording School] instructor Futch of the band, 'Not since the invention of the cell phone have I seen a room where EVERYONE was looking at the stage.'"

"Winnipeg’s FLYING FOX & THE HUNTER GATHERERS took top honours at the 2nd Nimbus Showcase Event, held April 5th at The Biltmore Cabaret."

Full Text:
It comes as no surprise that these guys won the prize given by Nimbus Recording. The prize consists of recording studio time. The night was chilly and was dressed as Monday, but the Biltmore was full. The Nimbus crowd was hovering around when I got there. I was just in time to see the Flying Fox and the Hunter Gatherers and I must say I was impressed. They started with a mix of a Zappaesque jazz with operatic gypsy melodies to move to a fragment of their rock opera playing with giant mascot heads and banging the drums on the dance floor as you can see in the photo. The influence that the book Where The Wild Things Are by Sendka and its subsequent movie is notorious. The other bands were good and tight, but everybody from Nimbus that I talked to were impressed with the Flying Fox and by the strange grim in their faces I could guess they were excited about the possibility of working with the band. Nimbus darling Nihilate showcased the night. I was delighted when I talked to a couple of the Hunter Gatherers and told me they were playing a show the next day in my neighbourhood. They were guests in my radio show last time they were in town but I never seen them play live before, maybe because they are from Winnipeg. They also rocked Falconettis, although the small stage limited the performance but the crowd could enjoy a larger set.

Winnipeg’s FLYING FOX & THE HUNTER GATHERERS took top honours at the 2nd Nimbus Showcase Event, held April 5th at The Biltmore Cabaret. The band was awarded recording time at Nimbus, for a minimum of 3 songs. Said Nimbus instructor Futch of the band, “Not since the invention of the cel phone have I seen a room where EVERYONE was looking at the stage”. Nimbus Production students look forward to the challenge of capturing that on-stage energy in the studio.
- Vanmusic - Vancouver’s indie scene newsLetter

"Flying Fox and the Hunter Gatherers outdo themselves on their full-length debut, the ambitious concept album Hans my Lion"

"The music is just as ambitious and grand as the narrative it surrounds. Hans my Lion boasts lush arrangements and dense instrumentation — but the album isn’t an ethereal wall of sound; each instrument serves a purpose. The arrangements are like the painting on the cover — detailed, focused, vibrant — as opposed to a blurry watercolour."

Full Text:
Everything you need to know about Hans my Lion — the arresting full-length debut from Winnipeg baroque pop outfit Flying Fox and the Hunter Gatherers — can be gleaned from its striking cover art.

A painting by local artist Seth Woodyard, the album cover features the Biblical figure Samson prying apart the jaws of a magnificent lion. Both boast impressive manes of golden hair — and equally impressive male appendages. The colourful, mythical image evokes dominance, primal sexuality and violence — but also fantasy and romance.

"Sam did this triptych of Samson that sort of explored the same things that Hans my Lion explores lyrically," explains primary songwriter/vocalist Jesse Krause, 25, over the phone from his parents’ farm in Langley, B.C. "Obviously, the painting on the cover with the lion was most relevant." (There was some debate about which paintings would be used; "There were some very erect penises," Krause points out.)

Indeed, it’s the perfect cover for a concept record about a lion cub born from a woman’s womb, struggling to understand his violent animal urges while trying to fit in a human world. (As our feline protagonist laments on Hans my Lion I: "As Lion,?I am predator/a beast of dread and death/but Mother sees what mothers want; she holds me to her breast.")

Flying Fox and the Hunter Gatherers have often drawn inspiration from folk, fairy and children’s tales — see: last year’s The Wild Things, an original rock opera based on Maurice Sendak’s iconic 1963 picture book Where The Wild Things Are — and Hans my?Lion is no exception. This time, Krause was taken with the Brothers Grimm fairytale Hans My Hedgehog, in which a wealthy merchant desperately wishing for a child — even a hedgehog — comes home to discover that his wife has given birth to a baby boy who is half human, half hedgehog.

"I adapted it to be a lion — they’re cooler than hedgehogs," Krause says with a laugh.

There’s also something more manly about the image of a roaring lion with mane ablaze. The lion’s implied manliness is important; in addition to being a theatrical, whimsical pop-meets-jazz-meets-classical album, Hans my Lion is also a thoughtful rumination on male sexuality.

"I’m hoping the lyrical themes running through the record are a good representation of what masculinity and healthy male sexuality is," Krause says. "That fathers are important parents and that male sexuality isn’t inherently violent." (The liner notes are worth a read; Krause, a calligrapher, rendered all the lyrics by hand.)

The music is just as ambitious and grand as the narrative it surrounds. Hans my Lion boasts lush arrangements and dense instrumentation — but the album isn’t an ethereal wall of sound; each instrument serves a purpose. The arrangements are like the painting on the cover — detailed, focused, vibrant — as opposed to a blurry watercolour.

"I grew up on jazz and classical music and, in jazz and classical music, it’s a lot easier to visualize where the sounds are coming from," Krause explains. "You can put on an indie rock album and it’ll be a great sonic experience, but I find I can’t focus on a particular sound because I can’t tell what’s making it.

"I really like instruments," he continues. "I like simpler textures, but more complicated music. The big, Arcade-Fire-wash is effective, emotionally, but I like to see the details."


FLYING?FOX AND THE?HUNTER?
GATHERERS CD LAUNCH
April 16, 8 p.m., West End Cultural?
Centre
w/ Bean - Uptown (Winnipeg weekly)

More akin to a musical than even a concept album, Flying Fox and the Hunter Gatherers' hans my Lion runs the gamut from maudlin and pensive to bombastic and blustery. It will come as no surprise to the denizens of Winnipeg—where the band hails from—that Flying Fox and the Hunter Gatherers would take on a project of such a scope: the band previously wrote and performed a rock opera at the Winnipeg Fringe Festival inspired by the Maurice Sendak story Where the Wild Things Are that won the "Best of the Fest" award.

Effort is not its own reward, however, but luckily for Flying Fox the album's effort is matched by its execution. The vocal acrobatics of songwriter Jesse Krause are what stand out on the surface: his voice is expressive and dynamic, nuanced when it needs to be and almost perfectly suited for the frantic cacophony that plays under him but never fights for space.

It's that cacophony that could be the album's greatest strength: it is exuberant when necessary, measured when required—no small feat considering the number of musicians and instruments crammed into the less-than-45-minute runtime. In addition to 15 musicians playing a total of 24 instruments—two people play the "trash can" while one plays "beer bottles in trash can"—there is a male chorus of 13 people. Three-piece punk bands can feel like herding cats, let alone the circus that this must have been. Yet it is mixed with such care that potential disaster has been turned into perhaps one of the greatest parties you've ever been to.

The album falls down at times when the story turns serious but the tone of Krause's voice remains melodramatic. When that happens, hans my Lion risks veering into parody and feels ironically detached, something that doesn't serve the rest of the music. Nevertheless, hans my Lion is a smart and joyful record, daring in scope and exemplary in its execution. V - Vue Weekly (Edmonton)

8. Flying Fox and the Hunter Gatherers, The Main, May 12:

It's not every night that you walk down Main Street and see a brass section blowing into the windows from the sidewalk.
A pleasant surprise of a great band from Winnipeg. Well worth seeking out online.
- The Province (Vancouver)

5 out of 5 stars
Winnipeg’s own weirdos have created a rock opera based on the children’s book Where the Wild Things Are. To listen to The Wild Things is a one-of-a-kind experience. Flying Fox take us on an amazing journey to the wild and back, in only eight tracks. Drawing from opera, indie and jazz (see three-part instrumental The Wild Rumpus) it’s all about meandering piano, blaring horns and shouted choruses, with vocalist Jesse Krause clearly channeling Freddy Mercury on acid. This album is so far out to lunch that it’s brilliant. Highlight: Monster Island, a clinking, clanking stomper about eating children, which references Martha Stewart, Dr. Seuss and The Joy of Cooking.
- Robin Dudgeon (Culture Reporter) - The Uniter (U of W Newspaper)

Flying Fox and the Hunter/Gatherers have the longest band name I have ever typed. And I don't think I'm going to try again. I made a whole lot of mistakes thrying to get it right and now my spellcheckomatic is smoking.

Let's try that again, shall we. . .

Flying Fox are from Winnipeg. And there are six of them. And I cannot define their sound and do them any justice at all. I can say that there is some west coast cool jazz. And some pop, but not that vacant idol pop, oh no. More like if Cole Porter was still alive and he hooked up with Nick Cave. They define it as "musical tones based on the equal tempered tuning system arranged to reflect a bit of jazz, funk, and some pop/rock, and a bit of scientifically fictional biology." Their influences run from Fred Penner to Sinatra to Coltrane to Modest Mouse.

What I can say for sure is that they have a really unique and cool sound. They have horns and they swing, but they are not a swing band. They write brilliant pop songs, but they are not a pop band. They rock out, but they are not a rock band.

Do your soul a favour and check out Flying Fox when they play. Your soul will thank you for it.

- Rob Slack - Lopticulations

Flying Fox and the Hunter Gatherers's "The Cardboard EP" was slotted as #3 on the top 10 local albums of 2008 in the January 7th issue of the Manitoban. - The Manitoban

Like Nothing You’ve Ever Seen, Flying
Fox and the Hunter/Gatherers played for a small but enthusiastic crowd at Thunder Bay’s Kilroys. From the moment you walked into the building and the sound of horns hit your ears it was clear this was going to be a treat. This six piece band has the presence of twelve on stage and it’s clear they enjoy what they’re doing. One can’t help but be pulled in by the band’s passion; they will have you moving in no time to their catchy tunes and lyrics, which can be slightly dark but always fun.

Their sound is a solid mix of jazz, folk, alternative and pop, which produces something that everyone can get into. Front man Jesse Krause’s vocals are stunning and have a distinct Hawksly Workman feel to them. Each song they played seemed to surpass the last which resulted in a ton of Ican’t- believe-I’m-seeing-this-right-now moments. One of the many highlights of the night was when the band did a cover of Michael Jackson’s, “Billie Jean”. A lot of bands tease you
with snippets of this gem during a set but Flying Fox delivered with a stunning rendition. The band’s second last song, “Anthony Milton Quits His Job” has a bass line smoother than silk, vocals that will send a shiver up you spine and is like a train that keeps building momentum and culminates into something so catchy you’ll be humming it for weeks. The show closed with the sing a long friendly “Nurse”. If you can remain still during this song there may be something wrong with you. If the words Flying fox and the Hunter Gatherers only draw vague flashes of brain numbing high school lesson to mind I suggest you get a hold of their music. It’s bands like Flying Fox that renew faith in the music industry, but also have you scratching your head, wondering: how can Girlicious have a million dollar record contract and these guys can’t? It’s sad but sometimes real talent accounts for nothing.

(www.myspace.com/flyingfoxandthehuntergatherers)

- Derrick Monty - Northern Rocks

FLYING FOX AND THE HUNTER/GATHERERS
Flying Fox and the Hunter/Gatherers
Independent
LOCAL!
5/5

This brilliant, self-titled debut by Flying Fox and the Hunter/Gatherers is guaranteed to leave you wanting more than just the five tracks it’s composed of. It has everything a listener could ask for: breaks and regular tempo changes, creative lyrics, odd instrument solos and solid variation from one track to the next. Lead vocalist and musical mastermind Jesse Krause really switches it up with the second track “Advent,” which blends romantic longing with a dash of theological symbolism. It sounds like a mix between a Calexico song (very brassy and Mexican sounding) and a modern day musical. “Nurse” starts with a kind of 1920s mobster brass sound with back-up shouters, but quickly turns into a danceable funk beat. Their influences are evident from their sound. Hawksley Workman, Blue Rodeo and Modest Mouse and the band members’ classical training get rolled together to create these five unforgettable tracks.

— Melly Ozubko - The Uniter

Flying Fox and the Hunter Gatherers establish themselves as serious ones-to-watch with this winning five-song EP. Comprised of six classically trained musicians (two of whom are also Liptonians), this outfit effortlessly blends jazz, pop, rock and folk to create a bombastic sound that has no shortage of swagger. Vocalist/guitarist Jesse Krause has the pipes of an old-school crooner, and he's backed by a band that has no limits when it comes to energy and diversity. Be sure to check out the sexy, jazzy Nurse (which actually sounds like a lost Hawksley Workman track) and the dreamy, downright adorable Sparrows. More please.
— Jen Zoratti - Uptown Magazine

Flying Fox and the Hunter Gatherers establish themselves as serious ones-to-watch with this winning five-song EP. Comprised of six classically trained musicians (two of whom are also Liptonians), this outfit effortlessly blends jazz, pop, rock and folk to create a bombastic sound that has no shortage of swagger. Vocalist/guitarist Jesse Krause has the pipes of an old-school crooner, and he's backed by a band that has no limits when it comes to energy and diversity. Be sure to check out the sexy, jazzy Nurse (which actually sounds like a lost Hawksley Workman track) and the dreamy, downright adorable Sparrows. More please.
— Jen Zoratti - Uptown Magazine

Not many bands take hundreds of years of musical history from diverse genres and present it in a way that packs dance floors and makes any musician in the audience run back to their teacher in tears, but Winnipeg’s Flying Fox and the Hunter/Gatherers have proven to be such an act.

Formed in 2004 under the moniker The Mutherfunkers, the group got its start playing instrumental jazz standards and cover songs.

“We were kind of more of a fun, party band [that] happened to play covers, ‘cause that’s sort of the thing to do when you’re just starting out,” bassist Lindsey Collins said by phone last week. “We were not trying to get in the bar circuit or anything, just playing for friends and parties. That was essentially it.”

Two years ago, the group solidified its lineup (Collins, Jesse Krause on lead vocals and guitar, Darren Grunau on bass, Bucky Driedger on drums, Paul Schmidt on trombone and Steve T. Kay on trumpet), ditched their old name and began playing original material that’s an infectious and ingenious combination of classical, jazz, big band, funk and pop. At first listen, it’s obvious that there’s a considerable degree of sophistication at work in Flying Fox’s music.

“Most of us are coming from some sort of post-secondary musical education,” said Collins, who teaches guitar at Long & McQuade.

The majority of the writing is handled by Krause, who in addition to playing in roots quartet House of Doc, is currently finishing his Bachelor of Music degree at Canadian Mennonite University. Krause said he typically writes out charts for the rest of Flying Fox and often notates melody lines for the horn section.

“The amount of paper we look at is maybe higher than [the] average [rock band],” Krause said.

Perhaps most impressive about the sextet is their ability to straddle the line between pop accessibility and high-brow jazz and classical tendencies. “Nurse,” for example, features an impossibly catchy chorus amidst a bold brass section, cycling chord progressions and numerous twists and turns. The balance between accessibility and complexity is a precarious one, Krause said.

“It’s a real balancing act to try to make sure that it’s interesting enough for us to play, but also that it’s accessible.”

He added that the band’s early, largely instrumental songs were often complicated for the sake of being complicated. Since that time, the band has refined its approach to writing and concentrated on creating good songs, rather than complicated ones.

“Lately we’ve been moving in the direction of musical theatre. There’s this sort of typical western art music complexity in it but also there’s tons of good pop songs in that, and I think that’s sort of the blend we’re trying to achieve,” Krause said.

Indeed, Flying Fox and the Hunter/Gatherers have etched out a sound that is musically challenging, easy to listen to and hard to pin down. Whether they’re playing a three-minute pop gem or a jazz-tinged epic, Flying Fox and the Hunter/Gatherers’ careful musical tightrope act is joy for anyone in the audience.

“That’s something we’re juggling right now and probably will continue to juggle with,” Collins said.
- The Uniter

When we cobbled together the Manitoba edition of the Great Canadian Mixtape, we were stuck waiting on a few songs and the deadline kept getting delayed ... and delayed again. Luckily, Ricardo Lopez pointed us towards a few bands he’d played or worked with, and the last couple of songs – courtesy of the Liptonians and Flying Fox and the Hunter Gatherers – were two of the best on the compilation.

The FFatHG track we featured - Nurse - is from their debut, self-titled EP and the song swings with the late night energy and recklessness of gin joint during prohibition. The sextet builds smooth lines before exploding into stabbing horns and group shouted vocals on the chorus. They recreate the same big band energy and intensity on the opening track on the EP (Molly).

Thankfully though, the band is just as comfortable slowing things down, showing restraint and a soft touch. Advent starts with a jazzy intro, but even when Jesse Krause starts singing and the band starts swinging, the song is reeled in with terrific horn work. Feverish highs and surging pace are terrific, but when a band refuses to take a foot of the gas, it becomes hard to keep involved in the listen. Sparrows lets the listener catch a breath, and the measured, sophisticated cabaret pop song lets the band show off a bit of their classical training and mature song writing skills.

The band saves the biggest surprise until the end. Anthony Milton Quits his Job starts with some pseudo afrobeat horn work, but instead of exploding into the tribal beat you might expect, they explore a more modern, darker sound. The song constantly shifts shape - Krause’s vocals and the infectious xylophone offer up another quirky transition, as do the the Beatles-ish horn and drum work 2/3rds of the way through the track - and FFatHG playfulness teases the listener, but the biggest surprise is the funky Jaco-inspired bass line that picks up the last minute of the track, sending the EP hurdling towards the finish line with a well timed runners kick. - herohill.com

Flying Fox and the Hunter/Gatherers
If you’ve ever thought of turning your weekly music jam session with a couple of buddies into a bona fide rock band, Flying Fox and the Hunter/Gatherers is proof that it’s possible. The Winnipeg six-piece decided to swap their weekly instrument swap for a something a little more serious in 2005 and have slowly become a unique group with jazz-influenced, folk-rock pop sensibilities. Drawing comparisons to other bands with slight throwback styles, like Beirut, FFATHG consist of Jesse Krause on bass, guitar, and lead vocals, Lindsey Collins on bass, Darren Grunau on keyboards, Bucky Driedger on drums, Paul Schmidt on trombone, and Steve Kay on trumpet.

FFATHG’s sound and songs are definitely playful and joyous. Their most well-known single, “Advent,” features a seductive yet playful Spanish guitar-sounding riff. With the addition of horns, the song erupts into a sexy, Latin-inspired number about waiting for a girl. Another single “Molly,” on the other hand, almost has a honky-tonk sound, showing Krause’s vast baritone to falsetto vocals.

If you’re looking for an evening of playful, throwback songs, catch FFATHG on their August-September tour. For a complete list of tour dates, visit the band’s MySpace. - Gloss Magazine (glossmag.ca)

Not many bands take hundreds of years of musical history from diverse genres and present it in a way that packs dance floors and makes any musician in the audience run back to their teacher in tears, but Winnipeg’s Flying Fox and the Hunter/Gatherers have proven to be such an act.

Formed in 2004 under the moniker The Mutherfunkers, the group got its start playing instrumental jazz standards and cover songs.

“We were kind of more of a fun, party band [that] happened to play covers, ‘cause that’s sort of the thing to do when you’re just starting out,” bassist Lindsey Collins said by phone last week. “We were not trying to get in the bar circuit or anything, just playing for friends and parties. That was essentially it.”

Two years ago, the group solidified its lineup (Collins, Jesse Krause on lead vocals and guitar, Darren Grunau on bass, Bucky Driedger on drums, Paul Schmidt on trombone and Steve T. Kay on trumpet), ditched their old name and began playing original material that’s an infectious and ingenious combination of classical, jazz, big band, funk and pop. At first listen, it’s obvious that there’s a considerable degree of sophistication at work in Flying Fox’s music.

“Most of us are coming from some sort of post-secondary musical education,” said Collins, who teaches guitar at Long & McQuade.

The majority of the writing is handled by Krause, who in addition to playing in roots quartet House of Doc, is currently finishing his Bachelor of Music degree at Canadian Mennonite University. Krause said he typically writes out charts for the rest of Flying Fox and often notates melody lines for the horn section.

“The amount of paper we look at is maybe higher than [the] average [rock band],” Krause said.

Perhaps most impressive about the sextet is their ability to straddle the line between pop accessibility and high-brow jazz and classical tendencies. “Nurse,” for example, features an impossibly catchy chorus amidst a bold brass section, cycling chord progressions and numerous twists and turns. The balance between accessibility and complexity is a precarious one, Krause said.

“It’s a real balancing act to try to make sure that it’s interesting enough for us to play, but also that it’s accessible.”

He added that the band’s early, largely instrumental songs were often complicated for the sake of being complicated. Since that time, the band has refined its approach to writing and concentrated on creating good songs, rather than complicated ones.

“Lately we’ve been moving in the direction of musical theatre. There’s this sort of typical western art music complexity in it but also there’s tons of good pop songs in that, and I think that’s sort of the blend we’re trying to achieve,” Krause said.

Indeed, Flying Fox and the Hunter/Gatherers have etched out a sound that is musically challenging, easy to listen to and hard to pin down. Whether they’re playing a three-minute pop gem or a jazz-tinged epic, Flying Fox and the Hunter/Gatherers’ careful musical tightrope act is joy for anyone in the audience.

“That’s something we’re juggling right now and probably will continue to juggle with,” Collins said.
- The Uniter