As mentioned in my fall concert preview, this Saturday, November 22, Ha Ha Tonka will be sharing the stage with The Avett Brothers, David Grisman and many others at the Congress Theater for the Chicago Bluegrass and Blue Festival. This will surely be a rocking evening, so get some tickets and get ready to stomp some feet on Saturday.
Ha Ha Tonka’s drummer, Lennon Bone, was gracious enough to answer a few questions about the bands past, present and future…
Word on the street is that HHT is heading back into the studio to record the follow-up to Buckle in the Bible Belt. What is the writing process like for HHT and has that changed since the last album?
Such accusations are true. We are headed back into the studio. We go in on Sunday after the CBGB fest with producer Jason McEntire at Sawhorse Studio’s in St. Louis. As far as songwriting goes, writing for us has always been a very collaborative effort. I was still fairly new to the band when we started writing the songs for “Buckle” - so there was some trial and error things. It was a learning process, I think, for all of us to kind of figure out how to approach each other. Now days we lock ourselves in someone’s basement and just go at it for hours, hashing and re-hashing idea’s until we all come to the conclusion that the tune is at the best possible place it can be. Some tunes come as more complete idea’s - others start as just a drum groove, while others are just a few chords… so it’s been really interesting seeing where these new songs have ended up. This is the first time that we’ve had quite a few tunes that nobody has even heard yet, and our first opportunity to have a producer that’s been able to give input on the songs as they’re growing. So, it’s exciting to finally get them down. We’re hoping the new record has some surprises on it for everyone.
With 2008 coming to an end, what are some of the highlights from the past year?
Wow… this year has been a lot of fun for us. We started it off with the Sundance Film Festival in January. Then of course SXSW. That was a real treat for us, as it was the first time it felt like people were starting to talk about us a little. I know we have a long road to go, but it’s always neat seeing the progression. Then the biggest highlight for us, probably even in our entire career as a band was Lollapalooza. Just the status of that festival alone was enough to make it worth while. Turns out, we had a great show, and have seen a lot of people since that ended up catching or set, or hearing of us from there… so it was obviously the right move. 
What does 2009 look like for HHT?
Well, the plan at this stage is to get the record done in time to release a 7″ vinyl around February. Then we’ll of course be hitting SXSW again in March, and have set a tentative release for the new record in May. We’re all hoping that with the new release this will be the most exciting year yet for HHT. We have a couple of tours in the works, but nothing that is solid enough to talk about just yet. In the music business, it seems as though nothing is set in stone until it’s actually finished. So, we try to be cautious about what we let out of the bag too soon.
The holidays are upon us and touring slows down this time of year. What do you look forward with your time off from the road?
Personally, I love touring, but I do love down time as well. Gives me actual time to practice, which I’m not so good at when we’re on the road. I spend a lot of time with me wife and dog, and also quite a bit of time tinkering with my own tunes. So, even when we’re off I spend as much time as I can doing music. Brett and I even have a cover band project that we’re trying to kick into gear here in the Kansas City area with our friend Kyle from Antenna’s Up, and Wayne from a band called the Abracadabra’s. It’s been a lot of fun playing music with some different folks, and it also helps get me geared up for touring again when that time come’s back around.
What’s the last album you listened to? What albums have HHT been listening to on the road?
This could sound incredibly nerdy, but last album I listened to was portions of “Einstein on the Beach” by Phillip Glass. I’ve been given the opportunity to try my hand at instrumental composition for a friend of mine, so I’ve been diving into some minimalist artists, and Glass was one of them. It’s some supremely weird and hypnotising stuff. I highly suggest it. As for the band spins… we’ve been listening to Fleet Foxes a ton lately. Also the new Coldplay. You’ll appreciate this one - the new Kings of Leon… there’s a lot of stuff that gets pumped through those crappy van speakers… but more often than not you’ll catch us listening to NPR.
