An alternative-indie rock band hailing from Austin Texas, multi instrumentalists Will Taylor and Charlie Martin joined forces nine years ago under the musical moniker Hovvdy and have been creating music together ever since.
“We were both born in Dallas and actually didn’t meet until we were both in school in Austin,” Taylor said. “We met around the local music scene and started to get to know a lot of bands that were more or less our age that had kind of that fun energy. We just kind of got the bug to start writing songs…We had songs that we had written individually and when we put them together they just kinda fit.”
According to Taylor, the duo continued to make music, which developed them a following, and they eventually began touring well beyond the Austin city limits. Hovvdy has released four studio albums to date, and in addition to Taylor and Martin on vocals, keyboard and guitar, the band consists of a drummer and a lap steel bass player who round their desired sound out.
When it comes to their songwriting, Taylor explained that it’s a 50/50 collaborative effort, an aspect he feels sets them apart from other alternative-indie rock bands.
“For me personally it’s just making sure that the song speaks for itself no matter what the arrangement ends up being,” he noted. “I know a lot of artists function that way but sometimes you find indie-rock bands who prioritize the production but for us it’s a fun challenge to write the songs. I feel like what sets us apart is the fact that our songwriting is pretty 50/50 and we each write the songs that we sing. We write our songs separately, get together to record them and then we’ll collaborate on how it sounds. A lot of the collaboration comes together kinda after the song is written.”
Currently, Hovvdy is on the road touring and on Wed., April 19 they will caress the District Live stage. Taylor added that a fifth album is also on the horizon.
“We are working on a new album right now,” Taylor noted. “We’re pretty far along on it but we took a little break to get out there to play some shows. This tour isn’t too long, it’s about 17 shows and three weeks all in. Usually we do double that, but this is a short spring tour just to get out there to meet fans and play some places we haven’t before like Savannah. We’ve heard it’s beautiful so we’re excited to come there, and we would love to see all of you indie-rock fans at our show!”
For the love of music, Taylor has a few words of advice for bands out there trying to make it in the industry.
“Even the artists who feel like they're lightyears ahead of you, they’re not,” he said. “Anything is obtainable, and if you write the songs you believe in and make the music you love, it should fall in line at some point.”
Hovvdy will hit the District Live stage at 7 p.m. with special guests comedian and voice actor Whitmer Thomas and indie rock artist girlpuppy. To purchase tickets to the show visit ticketmaster.com.
