ROBBY HURRICANE

Who the funk is Robby Hurricane?

From the rockin’ pedigree of front man Bryan Crouch, bassist Dave Benedict, and drummer Daryl Ralph — from Default, Hail The Villain and Sons of Butcher — comes the funktastic grooves of a Canadian trio that owes as much to funk masters Sly & The Family Stone and James Brown as it does funk to mayhem-ers Red Hot Chili Peppers and Jamiroquai with the pop sensibilities of Maroon 5.

The forthcoming debut album, OGR (due early 2024), produced by Default drummer Danny Craig, kicks off with the paradoxically pleasant “Demons,” and slides into the fabulous kiss-off funk of “Girl Face” and first single, “Same Old Shit,” a singalong sure to become a Robby Hurricane anthem. Then, there’s the swirling soul of “The System” and quirky “Back To School” (complete with a little rap).

“It’s hard to describe what we were going for,” says Dave, who still tours with Default. “We all come from a rock background, but we wanted to do something different. It still has the rock elements, but we just wanted to have fun. We still take the music seriously. It’s new territory that we hit on.”

It started with Dave, inspired by Betty Davis, James Brown and his favourites RHCP, telling the guys that he “wanted to do something funky.” The three of them were all in another band, Bonds of Mara, which never properly got off the ground because covid hit and members left. They were restless, had time, and wanted to be productive during lockdown.

“When I mentioned it to the guys and sent them a bunch of music that I really dug, they were like, ‘This is cool. We can get on board with that.’ We took all of the songs that we had in Bonds of Mara, and put them aside, and said, ‘Let’s just tear it all down and start anew.’ That’s where all these songs came from.”

Bryan, who led Hail The Villain for almost a decade, said the pandemic afforded him the time to grow musically. “I took this time to learn how to play guitar again, learn a whole new approach to singing, and fall in love with an entirely different genre of music.  Funk, pop and ‘feel good’ music was all I was listening to, which, in turn, was all I wanted to write,” he says.

But don’t let the fun vibe fool you.  He admits he struggles with expressing positive or cheerful emotion in his lyrics, “even when I feel great and am genuinely enjoying my day-to-day life, which is very much the irony of this album,” he says. “It’s the happiest sounding thing I have listened to this year, but unintentionally one of the saddest albums I’ve been a part of creating.”

Subjects include “Demons,” about his disappointment in those that fall into a misinformation echo chamber; “Girl Face” about power imbalance and flexing in the workplace, but vowing to stand up for yourself in the future; “Miracle,” about evangelical “nutjob” Kenneth Copeland and the evil behind religious call-outs for money; and “Same Old Shit,” a personal reflection on manic behaviour getting in the way of a healthy life.

“Overall, I didn’t plan this album to be about the lyrical content,” Bryan says. “I was losing myself in music that I hadn’t ever taken the time to appreciate or understand and just wanted to create something I could put on in my car and sing along to.  From The Weeknd to Lewis Capaldi to Curtis Mayfield and Rick James or The Tragically Hip, and Angels & Airwaves, I missed out on a lot of music that I’m glad I had the time to get over myself and soak in the talent.”

Which brings us back to the all-important question: Who the funk is Robby Hurricane? Well, like Max Webster and Billy Talent, there ain’t no one in the band of that name. The name strangely popped into Bryan’s head one day and it stuck.

“As soon as he said it, the wheels just started turning in my mind, and I just saw this character and I saw the logo, and I just saw these other different scenarios that could go along with the name,” says Dave. “Everybody knows a Robby Hurricane. He’s a likable guy, but he’s a doofus, a ‘70s John Travolta character, that’s how we saw it. But, the beauty of the name Robby is it could be a girl too.”