HOLLY CULP
Arts Editor

If the beautiful stylings of Hooded Fang has yet to grace your ears, that’s okay. They’re here to help you understand. The seven-piece outfit out of Toronto is heading westward on its first national tour with fellow Torontonians, the Rural Alberta Advantage. The Sheaf had the opportunity to talk to lead singer and producer for the group, Daniel Lee.

Perfectly melodic and highly instrumental, Hooded Fang has a raw, refreshingly fun sound. With the release of their full-length debut, Album, Hooded Fang was surprised at the overall reception of the release.

“We released it in November and it’s been going pretty good. I mean, better than we ever expected,” said Lee. “We didn’t really know what to expect. You’ll hear from random strangers ”˜Oh my friends really like your band,’ or ”˜I heard you on CBC.’ It gets other people excited because you’re like ”˜I know them.’ It was unexpected.”

One of the first things that caught my eye about Hooded Fang was that they listed in their bio that they had played with one of my longtime favourite groups, Bishop Allen.

“We didn’t make it up! They’re all really cool people,” said Lee. “That kind of stuff works, eh? Listing who you play with, I wasn’t sure if it did.”

Well it worked on me. Call me a sucker.

The band is heading westward, sans trombone player Julia Barnes, to play across the country with RAA.

“It should be fun,” continued Lee. “We toured with them a few years ago actually. They’re really nice people. We’re excited to see all of our friends along the way and seeing places we don’t get to see very often. This is the longest trip we’re doing. Test out the road.”

Like any travelling band, it is always worthwhile to have a good rapport with your band mates, something that Hooded Fang has in spades.

“We get along through hate,” he laughed. “One of those repulsion relationships. Just kidding, it’s a ”˜friends first’ kind of thing.”

When they can’t stand the sight of each other, they make kick-ass records. Produced by Lee himself, the process has proven valuable for the band.

“I just never knew any other way to do it,” said Lee. “It’s kind of amateur still I guess. I’m kind of a stickler with what happens. Probably another reason we didn’t go to someone else [to produce it] is because it’s really cheap, we didn’t have to pay anybody. We’re not in the hole, which is a big plus. And as a kind of control freak perfectionist it kind of works in my favour, although it also drives you crazy, you’ll be thinking, ”˜Ahhh! I don’t know if it sounds good anymore!’”

The band is already almost done their next project, which may or may not be broken into two separate releases.
“This next one’s going to be called Tosta Mista, which is a Portuguese grilled cheese. We might break it up though since the sound is a little different between the two,” said Lee.
Delicious.

Hooded Fang play Amigos April 1 with The Rural Alberta Advantage