Who are The Hawks (of Holy Rosary)?!

The Hawks (of Holy Rosary).  Photo credit Angela Michelle

I've been catching up on a lot of music listening now that I actually have a few weeks' breathing room between festival shows. I've even set up a spreadsheet to help keep better track of initial thoughts as I work my way through the musical back log. Every year I intend to keep track from January 1 on through to December 31, but this is the first year I've even started a spreadsheet so I'll take that as a huge step forward!

A lot of bands are starting to sound the same to me—2014 is definitely the years some younger bands discovered '90s indie rock and other discovered the groovier strains of psychedelia—but one band that immediately vaulted over the mix was San Antonio's The Hawks (of Holy Rosary). Here is a band I really want to see live. Wait, let's consult my hastily scribbled notes, captured on a train platform, upon listening to their album What Team Am I On? for the first time.

Songs have one lead singer but lots of gang vocals. Loud but fun, almost a sense of the whimsical at times, but also seriousness. I dunno, what if you mixed loud emo bands that actually knew how to have fun with the exuberance of The Format, only with sloppier guitars? This? That'd be good. So this is good.

Yup, seems right. What Team Am I On? does it's best to keep from being easily pigeonholed, but that doesn't make it feel scattered, it just makes it feel like the band is constantly looking for new ways to engage you and themselves. I have a feeling these folks are a blast live so hopefully they make it up to Chicago sometime soon.

Stream their whole album below and if you dig it, go ahead and buy yourself a copy.