Saturday, December 20, 2025

Huntsman

ORIGINS: Sydney, NSW
GENRE: Punk, Post-Hardcore
YEARS ACTIVE: 2003-2007
 
MEMBERS:
RELEASES:
  • Demo (2004)
    • 1. Motion Toward
    • 2. Mouth the Words
    • 3. Kiss Me I Have Money
  • It's Just Four Songs (2006) - Download Here.
    • 1. Get In Get Out
    • 2. So Jaded
    • 3. My Crime
    • 4. You've Got Nothin'
  • Unreleased Album (2007)
SUMMARY: Beginning as a four-piece band and playing around Sydney and in Melbourne, Huntsman later developed into a trio with the release of their EP It's Just Four Songs in 2006. The band eventually called it a day in 2007 while in the midst of recording an album.
 
SHOWS: 
  • The Marquee, Sydney - 8th October, 2004
  • Vic on the Park, Marrickville - 30th October, 2004
  • Lansdowne Hotel, Sydney - 15th January, 2005
  • Green Square, Zetland - 12th February, 2005
  • Spectrum, Sydney - 9th March, 2005
  • Arncliffe Hotel, Arncliffe - 20th May, 2005
  • Lansdowne Hotel, Sydney - 17th June, 2005
  • Annandale Hotel, Annandale - 23rd June, 2005
  • Empire Hotel, Annandale - 4th February, 2006
  • Sandringham Hotel, Newtown - 16th December, 2006
  • Manning Bar, Sydney - 17th February, 2007
  • Vic on the Park, Marrickville - 17th March, 2007
  • Empire Hotel, Annandale - 29th September, 2007

ORAL HISTORY:
BRUZ: After I left Toe to Toe in 2000 I started working as a guitar tech and touring with bands in Australia and overseas for a few years. I wasn't really interested in playing at that point. I met Adrian Shapiro (ex-Muta) at shows as we were hanging around similar circles at the time, he hit me up a couple of times to jam and we started from there. 
Brendan 'Bruz' Newnham (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

ADRIAN: I was producing a couple of music videos for Frenzal Rhomb at the time and Bruz was working with them. We got on really well and spoke a lot about music. My band Muta had broken up and Bruz's last band Toe to Toe had also finished up a few years before. So we decided to get together and have a jam. Hence Huntsman was formed. We threw a few names around and we all felt 'Huntsman' was fitting. 
Adrian Shapiro (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

DARRIN: I met Adrian through work. He was working for an ad agency and I was at a post-production studio. We had similar music taste, bands like The Nation Blue. So we conspired to do something together one day. Then he and Bruz were getting something going and he asked me to come in. We started rehearsing at Troy Horse studios, back when it was located above FBI Radio.  
Darrin Hanley (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025


BRUZ: It's too hard to pinpoint exact bands that influenced us but we were all into hardcore and heavier bands. Punk and post-punk music. Bands like Dag Nasty, Descendants, Avail, Face to Face, Hot Water Music. We really just combined our own styles and that's what fused together. I also loved Downtime - they were a three piece and they were active when I was in my first band. I looked up to them and my first band got to play a support with them around 1995 in Cronulla, which is where I grew up. Lyrically, Huntsman was based around society, and deep personal struggles (without the emo bits or the look). Some of our lyrics didn't mean anything at all - does it have to?
Brendan 'Bruz' Newnham (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

ADRIAN: I knew Ben from when he was in Badanga. Muta and Badanga used to play a lot of shows together and I always loved his drumming and his voice. And he's just a legend of a dude too. 
Adrian Shapiro (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

DARRIN: The first show as at The Marquee supporting The Nation Blue and Blacklevel Embassy. We also did shows at Spectrum supporting Grand Fatal, a random afternoon show in Bexley, a cracker of a show at The Annandale, and then went down to Melbourne with The Nation Blue. That Melbourne tour started on a Friday night, and it was such a killer show that we over-celebrated. Because of the state we were in the next night, we only managed a 12 minute set. Worst show I have ever done, haha. 
Darrin Hanley (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025


BRUZ: We began as a four piece and had a couple of different drummers before finally landing with Ben Brady (ex-Badanga). A guy called Darrin Hanley from the Northern Beaches was the vocalist. We wrote a bunch of songs and played a few shows, then Ben moved up to the Blue Mountains so no more band for him. 
Brendan 'Bruz' Newnham (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

DARRIN: There was one time when we played a free show at The Lansdowne and Rose Byrne was there. Rose left before we finished our first song, haha. 
Darrin Hanley (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

ADRIAN: We went through a couple of different members, including Darrin on vocals for a few shows before we settled on it being a three piece with Bruz singing and me on backups. 
Adrian Shapiro (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

BRUZ: I asked my old mate Seed (ex-Drawback, etc.) to fill in on drums after Ben left and we played a bunch more shows and recorded some demos at Jay Frenzal's house.
Brendan 'Bruz' Newnham (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025


SEED: I was mates with Bruz - he asked me to join and be part of the project, through which I became good mates with Adrian too. The drumming was a little different for me as I'm always trying to approach drumming in the most creative way possible - as opposed to just playing time. We played quite a few shows - with bands like Grand Fatal, and The Nation Blue. 
Alcides 'Seed' Stowe (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

DARRIN: We recorded a three song demo at Jay Whalley's house. I was still in the band when we started recording the EP.
Darrin Hanley (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

BRUZ: After we did the demos, we hit the studio to lay down our EP. The EP sessions weren't going to plan and we became a three-piece halfway through the recording. I took on vocal duties last minute and we released the EP as It's Just Four Songs. 
Brendan 'Bruz' Newnham (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025


DARRIN: I really enjoyed my time in the band. At the time my main band (Many Are Here) were more of an indie band in the vein of Sonic Youth and My Bloody Valentine, so for me Huntsman was a way to be a little more direct as a singer and frontman. Nowhere to hide - stand at the front of the stage and engage, write less ambiguous lyrics, and create honest and assertive messages. I saw it as a challenge. I may not have fit everyone's expectations but I took a lot of positives from that short time. Bruz is a good drinking buddy, and Seed was a killer drummer. 
Darrin Hanley (Vocals), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

SEED: Recording was pretty straightforward - no issues, a fairly quick process from what I remember. 
Alcides 'Seed' Stowe (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

ADRIAN: A friend of mine from work at the time, Chris McMullen, and his girlfriend Loren Reed - they did the illustration and the design of the EP. We were exploring the imagery of kids threatening their parents in a place like a playground. Funny, I just had a look at it now and it's pretty dark.
Adrian Shapiro (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025


SEED: I left the band around this point due to musical differences, I guess. It made me want to leave the band as I was interested in doing a different band and style of music. Huntsman were a great bunch of guys, I was stoked to jam with them and release a CD. Still good mates with them to this day.
Alcides 'Seed' Stowe (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

BRUZ: Not long after the EP was released, Seed left the band I'm pretty sure Ben Brady came back for a short time. Then Mick Anderson (Irrelevant, Last Nerve, No Apologies, etc.) was recruited. Mick was my flatmate at the time.
Brendan 'Bruz' Newnham (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

ADRIAN: Bruz and me were mates with Mick so we asked if he wanted to join. I think Irrelevant might have been on a break at the time. All three of our drummers had different vibes. We were super lucky though as they were all super solid and good guys. 
Adrian Shapiro (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

MICK: I was mates with Bruz and Adrian and I may have been the last man standing so I got the call up.
Mick Anderson (Drums), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

Drum Media, 2006

BRUZ: We continued writing and playing some good support shows with Dropkick Murphys, Avail, The Nation Blue, NOFX, and others. We played the Metro in Melbourne a couple of times with local Melbourne bands, and The Palace (that was with the Dropkick Murphys) in Melbourne another time as well. We also played with Avail at the Arthouse, in Brisbane and Gold Coast with The Nation Blue, and some punkfest at a pub in Brisbane. Other than that we mainly played Sydney shows. 
Brendan 'Bruz' Newnham (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

ADRIAN: We were the main support for NOFX at Manning Bar, which was like a life goal for me. Dropkick Murphys tour was also a really great run and were our biggest shows. The tour with Avail was pretty special, in particular one show at The Arthouse (RIP) with Avail and Mid Youth Crisisa. I was pinching myself there.
Adrian Shapiro (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025


BRUZ: We demoed an album's worth of songs, with intent to record the album in the studio. However, not long after, the wheels fell off for various reasons and the album demos have never been found or heard to my knowledge. Adrian had someone he knew from work record us in a rehearsal room and studio as part of a project she was doing. Adrian was the real driving force of the band. We did have a lot of fun. 
Brendan 'Bruz' Newnham (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

ADRIAN: A friend of mine, Emma, recorded some demos for us at Stage Door rehearsal studios. We later recorded some vocals for them at another studio in Redfern - it was seven tracks. 
Adrian Shapiro (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

Huntsman shirt designs, c.2007

NEWS: Currently, the band are writing the final tracks to their debut album and look set to enter the studio sometime this winter, or if things carry on as usual, a winter this decade!
Huntsman News Update, Myspace Website, 2007

BRUZ: It was a blurry period for me and I was going through a few challenges. We were all working and developing careers and there were personal relationships and family as well, just life expanding, really, and we started going in different directions. Mick had Irrelevant going - pretty sure they were recording and around this time. Mick and my other band, Last Nerve, had finished. So we were playing shows and then Huntsman kinda just fizzled out off the back of all that, along with my lack of enthusiasm and commitment. I was working on major construction projects and had met my wife-to-be. Life changed and I decided to pull the plug on music at that point. Meanwhile, Adrian was kicking goals as a producer (and continues to) and he started jamming in the band that would eventually become Lo!
Brendan 'Bruz' Newnham (Vocals, Guitar), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025


ADRIAN: Unfortunately Huntsman finished up due to frustration and irritation. We'd been demoing new songs for quite some time, and wanted to get in and record but there was just a lack of movement and progression to get things happening. I remember we had a rehearsal early in the week for a show that coming weekend and it basically got to a point at practice where we were saying, "What are we doing this for?", and decided there and then that the show on the weekend would be our last show. It was pretty disappointing. 
Adrian Shapiro (Bass), Noise Levels correspondence, 2025

RELATED BANDS: Irrelevant, Barriers, Homeward Bound, Drebin, Bent, Toe to Toe, Last Nerve, No Apologies, Muta, Doomsquid, Lo!, Spasm, The Hassle Brigade, Offset, Badanga, Strength Within, Easy Company, Drawback, Elias, Bleeding Face, Betray the Day, Friar Rush, Moonshine, Sounds of Sabbath, Back to Funk, FAF, Dragonsclaw, Lapis Sky, Panorama, War Rages Within, The Prehistorics, Stu G's Cloak and Dagger, Junkdogz, Old Heathens, Happy Jacks, Avatar, Many Are Here, Kill the Motive, One Take... Earthquake







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