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Radio Hayah spoke to Geoff Hunker, frontman of the Dream Records band Satellites & Sirens
The release of an outstanding new album by Nashville's Satellites & Sirens really completes the circle of eight years of toil and creativity for the band. Right from the off they were creating modern rock that with its liberal use of loops and beats and touches of '80s synth flourishes was a perfect antidote to the increasingly stylised guitar-driven pop rock which was clogging up US Christian radio. Their digital EPs 'All We Need Is Sound' and 'Breaking The Noise' got them snapped up by CCM giant Word Records, their radio friendly songs, many penned by frontman Geoff Hunker, a breath of electro-rock fresh air.
By the time Satellites & Sirens' self-titled full-length debut was released in 2010 things were looking good for the band (for instance, in July 2010 they were prominently featured as MTV's Needle In A Haystack artist - the first time any Word Records act had been pursued by MTV) but then things went pear-shaped for the innovative music makers and by January 2011 they found themselves without a record label after a shakeup in management at Word had left them on the cutting room floor. Unwilling to accept defeat the band raised money for a new record via Kickstarter and the resulting independent album 'Frequency' got Radio Hayah airplay.
2012 found the band working harder than ever as they toured all over the USA and even found time to record 'The Covers' album featuring the band's radical re-imaginings of songs by Taylor Swift, One Direction, Skillet, Chris Tomlin and others with the band even putting out a video on YouTube for every song on the record. Satellites & Sirens then signed with Los Angeles' Dream Records and in between times on the road began to put together what they determined to be their best ever release. Critical response to their fourth album 'Tank' would indicate they've achieved their aim. We spoke to Geoff Hunker about his music and ministry.
Radio Hayah: It's been quite a slog to get 'Tank' completed and released.
Geoff: Yeah. It's been a longer process; we put a lot of work into everything that we did, taking songs apart, rewriting at certain points. We're really proud of this record.
Radio Hayah: Critics have noted in the past that Satellites & Sirens have a strong British band influence.
Geoff: For sure. I grew up in the '80s and my brother listened to the Pet Shop Boys and Information Society. It became a part of me, so when I sit down and write music I love the synths - pulling up all that kind of stuff to build songs from.
Radio Hayah: But you have resisted having electronic drums on all your tracks.
Geoff: I never thought that I was a pop singer. I wanted to be a band. I think our sound developed from the different tastes of all our other guys. Our drummer is influenced by Dream Theater, bands like that. We wanted to get all of those pieces into what it is that we do, and I think that's how the Satellites sound came together.
Radio Hayah: Tell me about the themes of some of the songs. It's a lot more thought-provoking than your previous work.
Geoff: I'd say so. Since it took so long with this record, we really wanted there to be something being said in each of these songs instead of regurgitating the same ideas. We really spent time taking those songs apart. We wrote one song three different times before we ended up with it where it's at. One of the songs I love is "Chasing Photos". We just wanted to tell a story with that song. As a society we chase after capturing the moment instead of living the moment. I think that happens with social media; you take 35 pictures before you find the one you want to post. At concerts I'll be on stage and I'm seeing people's phones not their faces. I understand wanting to capture that moment to have it on your wall, but let's also live that moment, let's do that and have that memory instead of the picture and remembering I took 75 pictures to get there.
Radio Hayah: When you sit down to write lyrics, do you think about the audience - whether the song will be aimed more at someone who has faith or someone who hasn't?
Geoff: Absolutely. On the last record, it was almost like a 50-50 split - 50 per cent hopefully connected to anyone and 50 per cent worship songs. I'm now at a church - a little over a year and a half - and had a chance to write some music for the church. When I sat down to write this record, I had an outlet for the worship stuff. Everything is obviously from a Christian perspective. The song "Old Souls" is, "Let's take a step back and remember when we were kids. Remember when we could be anything, we had dreams we thought were attainable. Let's get back to that time where we really believed that we’d do anything, that there were plans for our lives instead of the ruts that we live in now." It's kind of a Christian perspective, but I think everybody can understand that idea.
Radio Hayah: Do you ever feel you need to kick-start your faith?
Geoff: I'm questioning some stuff right now in my life. I'd been on the road so long, more than one place and I used to see the affected lives nightly. Now it's every weekend we see people affected by the music and the ministry. God's working in different people's lives all over. Now I'm seeing it constantly. You've got to continue to maintain your relationship with Christ, have your time with God; you've got to fill up to be able to give out. It's a constant battle for most Christians to continue to find that time to spend with Christ.
Radio Hayah: At what church do you minister?
Geoff: I just moved to Arizona. I'm in Chandler at a church called Chandler Christian Church. My wife and I came out here and it's been awesome. We love the church and the people at the church. I didn't know what it would be like stopping what I was doing - on the road constantly to being at a church - but they have been so supportive of what we do, just allowing me to still be creative at work. We wrote an EP and released it with the church, which was a really cool thing too. It was fun to do for the church, and the church really gravitated towards those songs. It's been fun; I've loved it.
Radio Hayah: Are you still intending to do a major tour each year?
Geoff: We're still doing stuff, so we're waiting to see what pops up right now. We've been working on this record for a while. We did some stuff last year, went to Australia and toured out there. We've done some things like that. We've actually been getting plugged into the Arizona scene, which is really cool. We've done the Phoenix Suns basketball, a Faith & Family night they did; this next hockey season we're playing for the Coyotes. Alice Cooper has an outreach here where they bring in bands and do this big competition. The winner gets to record some songs and to open for Alice Cooper. We were asked to be judges for the competition and to play a couple songs for one of the last nights. We're doing some different stuff in town. It's been cool.
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