While some bands have epic origin stories of members uniting, other groups simply consist of people who found each other in the right place and at the right time.
Madison band Hired Rivals are definitively in the latter group. Bassist Zach Salvat explained original members Brandon Hembrook, guitarist, and Matt Hertenstein, drums, had known each other through their time working together at Full Compass, a retail music gear supplier.
Soon after, Salvat was also working at Full Compass when he saw an advertisement for someone to jam with posted by the Hembrook and Hertenstein in the company newsletter.
“They developed a couple tracks together,” Salvat said. “Then they put out another ad looking for a bassist. So I started talking to them, and I tried out, and that’s how that happened.”
Eventually the band added a singer in 2013, and for a while Hired Rivals operated as a hard alt-rock band. That singer at the time, Salvat explained, had experience in punk rock and its derivatives, which suited Hired Rivals’ more aggressive sound at the time.
In 2015, however, the band decided to go in a different direction, and let their singer go in hopes of forging a different musical path.
They found their current singer, Kodiak McMountain Lion, through the always intriguing method of Craig’s List, Salvat said.
Salvat said while Hired Rivals would have eventually made the shift to a more melodic style of song-writing, similar to the one they have today, McMountain Lion was crucial in kick-starting this shift due to her knowledge in more contemporary styles of music, such as soul and R&B.
Anyone who listens to Hired Rivals is likely to agree their self-description of playing “space rock” is entirely accurate. Their music has a certain aesthetic and atmosphere that captures both the magnitude and fantastical elements of outer space.
Salvat explained that the secret behind Hired Rival’s extraterrestrial essence is Hembrook’s obsession with tinkering with his guitar pedals.
“He’s a pedal junkie,” Salvat said. “He messes with his pedals like people play with video games.”
Through this tinkering with effects like reverb and delay, Salvat said Hembrook is able to create the band’s spacey soundscapes that are perhaps the most noticeable facets of Hired Rivals’ sound.
Hembrook’s guitars are also essential, Salvat said, in that they are often the jumping-off point for the group’s songwriting process.
Salvat also emphasized, though, the role that the diversity in each group members’ musical origins have in forming their unique sound. Salvat himself has roots in hip-hop and works on production on the side.
This mix of influences has allowed Hired Rivals to create a sound that has a vintage quality while still sounding fresh.
This is perhaps more evident on their newest, unreleased material. Salvat said the band actually recently discovered that McMountain Lion can play the guitar as well as play it and sing at the same time.
This has opened up a new world of musical possibilities for the group, Salvat said. On a new song they’ve performed live, McMountain Lion plays the rhythmic guitar, intertwining her guitar patterns with those of Hembrook’s. Salvat said this makes their songs more dynamic.
For a listener of Hired Rivals, this is a fantastic development. Giving the already robust guitars of Hired Rivals an added boost should allow the band the reach even greater heights.
It will be exciting to see how they are able to manifest this in future releases.
