High Noon Kahuna from the Frederick area of Maryland is a fairly new band although the three members are seasoned veterans. At the time of writing they were about to release their debut 'Killing Spree'(November 18th), so I thought the time was right to sit down and have a chat with Paul Cogle, vocals and bass guitar, Tim Otis, guitar, and Brian Goad, drums.
What brought you guys together?
'Well,' says Tim, 'when Paul showed up at my house for Akris rehearsals and was sometimes early, I would show him some guitar stuff. Immediately he grabbed my Fender VI bass guitar and we jammed. It was a magical moment right away and then when we connected with Brian, it was the gas on the spark and things really set off with his style and passion.'
How did you come up with the name, High Noon Kahuna?
'It takes a village to make a good name,' is Tim's initial response. 'Our music is a blend of surf rock and punk with a spaghetti western vibe added to it, so the music fed into the name. It needed to be a kind of aggressive name and after weeks of bouncing ideas back and forth, we decided on High Noon Kahuna.' 'It's a great name,' injects Brian. 'It is and we're very happy about it, especially since it's so hard to come up with great names these days,' Tim continues, 'besides, 7 of the names we considered were already taken.'
Was there a set plan what your music was going to sound like and subsequently, how did 'Killing Spree' come to life? And is there a specific theme running the songs?
'The songs and the music basically formed from us jamming around loose ideas,' offers Paul, 'and cream rises to the top, you know. So we picked the best ones and rolled with it. And each song stands alone well and works well together. 'Yes, definitely,' Tim continues, 'it's all from the heart. We never set out to make any specific styles and box ourselves in. It just comes out when we jam.'
One of my personal favourites is 'Black Lodge' and apart from being a great song, the title tickled my senses. Is it a reference to the excellent show 'Twin Peaks'?
There are a lot of instrumental parts on 'Killing Spree', was that intentional?
Paul picks it up saying, 'I've always thought if you're writing lyrics to a song, get to the point and make as much as possible a conversation. And I've always tried to not oversing and we allow the music to speak for itself. It comes in and does what it needs.' Brian chimes in, 'the instrumentals work well as instrumentals, so there's no need for us to change them.' 'For me' I offer, 'instrumental music, when done right, is an amazing headtrip.' Tim responds, 'it's interesting how instrumental can be a headtrip. That's an interesting perspective I never conceived before. Without lyrics your mind follows the music better. We were jamming as usual one day when Paul suddenly out of the blue starts to sing and we all thought "this really adds to the song". So when it adds we use it, but if we don't need it, we don't need it.' 'Less is more,' I say. 'Correct!' Paul answers immediately.
Throughout 'Killing Spree' there's a big sense of Maryland Doom, especially the bass guitar and drums and especially in 'Black Lodge'. Tim picks it up, 'we ask ourselves all the time if it's a general feel or a specific instrument that brings the doom.' Brian continues, ' 'Black Lodge' is so much fun to play and it's a good song to play. It has so many different emotions and aspects which makes the song, all of our songs, change every time we play. I think that, in combination with our musical past, brings out the doom. Regardless, it [the music] keeps evolving.' 'It's living art,' Paul says.
Stepping away from High Noon Kahuna for a little bit. Are you all active in other bands still, or is High Noon Kahuna your only focus these days?
'Paul and I are still very active with Akris with Helena Goldberg. In fact, we have a 22 minute jam coming out in 2023 accompanied by a comic book,' Tim offers and continues, 'and apart from Akris my old band Admiral Browning are also active despite logistical issues. But we're working on stuff so check this space!' Paul adds, ' on my part Ben Proudman and I are still flying the flag with Black Blizzard, while Nagato where Brian and I played in is sadly on an indefinite hiatus.' Brian states that High Noon Kahuna is his only serious jam at the moment.
How is the Frederick scene these days? It was vibrant when I lived in the area 2007-2011 but started to feel congested.
'It is alive and kicking for sure with Caustic Casanova leading the way and kicking up a storm,' Tim says. 'Everything goes in cycles and things are on the up.' Brian adds, ' when I graduated high school in 1987 we had so many NYC hardcore bands come through here, Sheer Terror and the like, so there's always been a heavy underground scene here which also brought on the doom scene. Right now it's very vibrant and exciting.' 'And that's why the climate is perfect for High Noon Kahuna,' quips Tim. 'And regarding that,' Paul injects, 'we're never going to stop, we're lifers, it's what we've always done and always will. It's part of our livelihood and our DNA, so it will never run it's course. And that's part of what Tim said about music coming and going in cycles.'
To me, Tim is a drummer and Paul a guitar player, so you switching instruments is interesting. But in that regard why doesn't Brian play guitar and sing instead?
A collective roar of laughter erupts before Brian, still laughing, says, 'I hate it when drummers switch to guitar!' 'Yeah, don't let drummers near guitars,' counters a laughing Tim. 'I tried to play guitar in my early years, 'adds Brian,' but it never worked. Picking up the drum sticks was a revelation...so me playing guitar in this band was never an option, hahahaha!'
Finally, you've played a few shows so far and, not including your release show, what does the future look like on the live front for High Noon Kahuna?
We have a couple of local shows in January so far and then we have a tour lined up in May hitting Lexington, KY; Knoxville, TN; Harrisonburg, VA, and Asheville, NC,' Tim explains.
-Swedebeast
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