The Pour House Music Hall & Record Shop
224 S. Blount St.
Raleigh, NC
From the Facebook page:
Doors 7pm, Show 8pm.
$12 adv / $15 day of.
Emanating from the coastal dunes of Virginia, Freedom Hawk’s heavy riffs, rolling groove, soulful guitar melodies, and harmonic metal packaging to produce a sound that is distinctly their own. The quartet’s brand of heavy rock captures the best of the heavy ‘70s with touches of early 80s heavy metal and presents it in a way that’s unique yet very familiar. Inspired by their experiences that could only come from living close to the ocean, there songs speak to that lifestyle and conjure images of the warm sun, riding waves, cruising with the top down and partying on the
beach. Founding members T.R. Morton, Mark Cave, Matt Cave, and Lenny Hines formed the band in 2005 and played their first show as Freedom Hawk in January of
2006. Their debut album, Sunlight, was released in early 2008. In this debut, you can hear the beginning of the band forming their sound and writing style that would be expanded on in later releases. Songs “Executioner”, “Land of the Lost”, “Stand Back” and title track “Sunlight” embody their sound.
Their second release in 2009, Freedom Hawk (Meteor City Records), is a continuation from their debut in style and writing and captures a point in time that reflects the beginning of the bands musical journey. Being a popular choice as the soundtrack for videos, this ialbum is unique in that all 7 songs were picked up and used throughout the years on tv, movies, videos and games.
Building off the success of the first two releases, 2011 brought their third release, Holding On (Small Stone Records), a reflection of the band becoming more comfortable with each other musically and expands on their sound. “Zelda” and “Faded” are perfect examples them reaching beyond the boundaries they’ve set for themselves, while tracks like “Living for Days” and “Indian Summer” provides a heavier take on their original sound.
With the departure of Matt Cave, the band releases their fourth album, Into Your Mind (Small Stone Records) in 2015 as a three piece, without veering too far from their original sound and style. The songs embody the same slow groove and heavy rock anthem songs seen in previous albums, but a cleaner purer
package. The rhythm tracks were recorded with all three members together in one room, to help capture their sound in a more organic fashion, which was typically done in the early throws of rock ‘n roll. Tracks like “Beyond Our Reach” and “The Line” shows a more laid-back bluesy sound from the band, while heavy hitters “Blood Red Sky”, “Radar”, and “All Because of You” stay true to the bands form.
2017 was an exciting year and brought the re-release of the band’s first records, Sunlight and Freedom Hawk, by Ripple Music. Both albums were re- mastered and release on vinyl for the first time since their original release.
The bands fifth release, Beast Remains (Ripple Music), was released in 2018 and is a return to a four piece with the addition of Brendan O’Neill. The culmination of years perfecting and solidifying their sound, combined with the energy that can only be captured by a four piece, with songs like Solid Gold, Darkness to Light, Champ, and more the stage has been set for what is another reinvention and expansion of the sound they started ten years earlier.
2019 was a good year for the band continuing to tour on Beast Remains, writing new music and expanding their online/streaming fan base with 128k listeners, 840k streams reaching 79 countries on Spotify alone.
The band is currently working on their 6th long player and on schedule to record and release a new full-length album in 2020.
Over the years, the band have gone on 8 tours taking them across the U.S., Europe and UK. U.S. festivals include SXSW, Doomed Fest Maryland, and Stoner Hands of Doom. European festivals include Roadburn, Freak Valley Festival, Desertfest London and Desertfest Berlin with more
Check out Freedom Hawk's latest release, Beast Remains, on Digital, CD and Vinyl at www.ripple-music.com And look out for a new album in 2020 and live dates as they continue to expand their reach both in terms of music and fan-base around the world!
