Hunters of the Alps on expansion of band

Photo by Natalie Bojorquez/FIUSM 

Junette Reyes/Entertainment Director

In collaboration with WRGP Radiate FM’s program titled Local Radiation, FIUSM has had the chance to interview several up-and-coming as well as established acts on the Miami scene. Some of these artists include Panic Bomber, Smurphio from the local electronic funk band known as Afrobeta, Jean Jacket, The Cornerstoners, Flight Williams from the collective rap group known as Outta This World, Juan Turros and Michelle Forman of ¡Suénalo!, DJ and producer Jesse Perez, The Halfways, Millionyoung, Eagle Chief and vocalist Juan Rozas from Tremends.

This time around, FIUSM got to sit down and interview lead vocalist Mario Giancarlo Garibaldi and guitarist Jorge Velásquez from Hunters of the Alps.

Who are the other members of the band?

Mario: We have Juan Manuel Garcia, who is playing the guitar and he is also playing some keyboards, and Alex T who is helping us on drums and percussion. I also take care of the sequences and little things here and there to make sure the overall sound is good to go.

How did Hunters of the Alps form?

Mario: This came about a couple of years ago. I had four demos that I showed Jorge. We wanted to work together for a while but it just hadn’t happened. I sent those demos to see if I could be the opening act for Twin Shadows who played at a local venue. To my surprise, the answer was yes. So at that time, we hadn’t even practiced or played together. It was just based on the demos. We decided together, scrambled to find a name that would be suitable and then we started jamming out. We felt that there was a chemistry. Jorge is an amazing musician and also a songwriter.

What is the story behind the band’s name?

Mario: Hunters of the Alps is a reference to a bunch of guerilla type people that lived in the Alps at some point that were trying to unite Italy in the 1800s. It has something to do with my last name. I was reading the biography of one of the heroes of the Italian revolution and I just came across the actual Hunters of the Alps. Cacciatori delle Alpi is the Italian name and when I looked up the translation, I liked it. I thought it made sense.

You seem to be big history buffs. Does that have a way of making it’s way into your music?

Mario: Yeah, I think so. Everything of course. It’s all relevant.

How do you come together for songwriting?

Jorge: Basically, Mario already had ideas before we even started the band because he likes to play with softwares and create little textures and then put vocals and stuff. I love to record guitars, basslines and beats. Simulating realities, let’s say simulating real musicians because we’re not deejays or we don’t intend to be. Therefore, the sound is starting is to become a little more electronic but still with the energy. That’s Mario’s job. He listens to the track and he just throws lines and melodies with some lyrics that are stuck in his head and songs are created. I do write lyrics and I like to write vocal melodies. My English is good but I’m more of a Spanish speaker, so I try to let Mario do most of the lyrics. Now we have two extra musicians that make it a lot more pleasant, having someone else to rely on for certain things.

Mario: The first leg of Hunters of the Alps was actually a duo. It was a lot of sequences that we already had pre-selected and our performances was just two people, similar to Tanlines. It worked for a while. But he comes from a band background as well. He has played in Peru with a very well known outfit over there, Autobus. I was in a band for ten years here locally, Modernage. I guess we missed the band chemistry. We tried out bringing those elements in. It’s still Hunters of the Alps in the sense that it’s still something that had an electronic, dark new wave spirit to it but it feels very good when you’re hitting that spot with the live drums.

How has the growth of the band influenced your music?

Mario: I think it has actually expanded it. We are no longer kind of just stuck on one pattern musically. We can expand organically, if that makes sense.

Jorge: The show experience changed drastically for me, and I guess for Mario as well. Just the fact that we can now improvise during the show, which is something I enjoy a lot. Or lets say the computer crashes, we still have the band going on or we don’t depend as much on technology. In my opinion, it doesn’t allow me to enjoy the show as much when technology is a problem. In this case, more real musicians kind of allows us to feel more free to improvise and feel the songs. The whole show changes. There’s music between the songs, there are intros and outros. Some parts are longer than before because we felt like it. The whole concept of having a band is that, communication within the members not only musically speaking but physically or mentally, whatever you want to call it. It’s definitely a thing of communication. It becomes funner by having more members in the band.

junette.reyes@fiusm.com