Premiere: Vincent H.L. Drops Debut Single 'Up All Night' + Video

If you've been to enough Auckland shows over the past decade you've almost certainly caught Vincent H.L. tearing it up on stage alongside party loving hellcats Hang Loose, rockin' big band Magic Factory, pivotal alt-pop trio Teen Wolf, garage pop artistes The Conjurors and / or his own foot-stomping blues-rock group Whipping Cats. The artist's songwriting skills have aged like whiskey in the barrel, he's now unveiled the first solo single 'Up All Night' from his upcoming debut album Weird Days and it's a powerful statement of intent, H.L.'s drawling voice capturing the true haggardness of his subject matter to a tee. The accompanying video directed by Kate Tindall shows the artist doing his thing in a suburban backwater, playing his guitar next to a tractor, eating chips by himself in the kitchen, and sizzling up some skewers on the barbeque. With his album due out this May, and a show lined up supporting legendary US folk artist Michael Hurley at Golden Dawn Tavern next week, Vincent H.L. shared a few words on the new solo direction...

“The album's taken ages to make... with songs written from 2014 onwards. I performed everything myself, and recorded it at whatever house I was living in at the time. James Dansey (Hang Loose, The Sneaks) did a little bit of mixing just to tidy things up, but I did most of it, and it was mastered by Olly Harmer at the Lab. Album art is by Sewer Powers, a collaboration between me and my friend Charles Cumming. So it's mostly a solo effort.

Hariet Ellis (from Bozo) helped heaps by getting me motivated to pull a band together asking / telling me "you wanna play Gonerfest next year". She's rad, always down to shred. Dan Ward (The Sneaks, Droor, Cate LeBon) just got back from the States and in between doing Droor shows said that he'd be keen to do drums. And Matt Short? Well, he's Matt Short, after hanging out with him a bunch while playing in Magic Factory I asked him to join he said yep.”

Vincent H.L.'s album 'Weird Days' is out Friday 4th May via 1:12 Records.