Interviewer: Daniel Snowden

How did you guys meet each other?

Hunter: Me and Christian have known each other since we were 14, we met each other in our hometown of Commerce, TX and then we both ended moving to the Austin area about two years ago. We both moved there to further our own music careers, and then we ended up forming Christian Sparks and the Beatnik Bandits when we met Sam through a producer in the studio while he was a sound engineer. He was actually in a different band at first when he helped mix our first EP, and then he ended up joining.

How would you describe the sound of your music?

Christian: The type of sound we were going for, or I guess the biggest genre umbrella you could place us under, would be folk Americana. From there we feel like we throw in a little hobo folk, maybe a little jazz and some old-school country influences.
Who are your biggest musical influences?

Hunter: As a drummer, back in my hometown my mentor gave me an old Buddy Rich DVD about how he got to where he was and what he does, and it really made me think of him as my biggest musical influence, at least on the drums. I had never really been introduced to “the greats” or anything yet back then and it really left a mark.

Christian: I definitely have a lot of different influences from different kinds of artists. My biggest influences I would have to say would be Johnny Prine, Johnny Cash, the Lumineers, I think they’re all great artists.

Sam: Punk rock dude. Like Green Day, Sum 41, Blink-182… but I also definitely had other influences growing up. Guitar-wise, I’d have to say AC-DC, Guns n’ Roses, Led Zeppelin.

What is the coolest venue that you’ve played in so far?

All: White Oak Music Hall! However, we’re about to play in a show at Gruene Hall in New Braunfels. It’s a really historic venue for Americana and Country, it was Texas’ first dancehall. Lots of legendary Americana, Folk, and Country artists have played at Gruene so it’s going to be a real honor getting to play there. We also get to open for Bob Schneider, who’s been a huge influence to our band and our style of music so it’s going to be pretty cool that we get to open up for him.

Photos by: Caleb Gomez