[Photo courtesy of Megan Young]

By Shyann Morrow, Contributor

Hueston Woods is a Cincinnati-based indie rock band who recently performed at ACRN’s Punk Prom. The band is composed of four members: Mary Klein on lead vocals and guitar, Lucas Vanderpool on drums, Cooper Cunningham on lead guitar and Adam Flem on bass. Using their many musical tastes to make a collaborative sound, Hueston Woods offers a unique experience for audiences. I spoke with Mary before the group’s performance at Punk Prom.

[This interview has been edited for length and clarity]

Shyann Morrow (SM): What are you excited to bring to ACRN prom?

Mary Klein (MK): I’m really excited. I thought we were going to be playing Athens a couple months ago, but that ended up falling through. That was really unfortunate because I’ve really been wanting to play Athens. I haven’t been to Ohio University since I toured there for college, like four years ago, and obviously ended up in Cincinnati instead. But yeah, I’m really excited. The other bands in the lineup are cool. I think it’ll be really fun. I love a prom theme. I was in high school during COVID, so I never got to go to prom. We have a couple unreleased new songs that we’re going to be doing that I’m really excited about. I think the show comes at a good time because of our future music. I’m trying to lean more into the punk elements.

SM: What does the prep look like for this type of show?

MK: For any show we play, we have to plan out what we’re bringing, mostly are we bringing drums? Because that’s a really big undertaking. For an out of town show, we kind of have to coordinate when we’re going to leave to get there on time, account for traffic and all that. And a lot of us have to make sure that we don’t have work the next day, or that we can get off work early enough that day to go. Specifically for punk prom, we’ve been planning our outfits a lot. Also we just try and coordinate practices ahead of a show, which can be difficult because all of us, except for Adam, are in school right now. And of course, we all have jobs as well with wildly different schedules, so it can sometimes be hard to get enough practice in.

SM: How do you feel when you’re actually playing shows?

MK: It’s so fun. It’s just so fun. I’ve always said that playing music with other people is like an adult playdate. It’s literally just so fun, and it’s so fun when the crowd is into it, especially when we play in cities like Cincinnati or Dayton where a lot of people know the words to our songs and they’re singing along to them. It’s such an empowering experience and it just feels so fulfilling. 

SM: You released your self-titled debut album in October last year, what was the writing process like for that?

MK: So our first album, it’s just called Hueston Woods because it’s kind of just a compilation of all of our songs at that moment. It’s not really a concept album. It’s just the music that we’ve made so far. I write all the lyrics, and then we all write our own parts, because Cooper is a much better guitarist than me, Lucas is a better drummer than me and I can’t play bass. So everyone just writes their own parts. I think that we all have pretty unique music tastes and when they come together it gives a good blend of sounds to our music. It’s not strictly adhering to one genre.

SM: How do you draw inspiration in your music and performances?

MK: I am most inspired by live performances that I go see, and even just videos of live performances of bands from before me. I think this is so basic, but I saw Stop Making Sense last year, which is the Talking Heads concert video. That just kind of changed my idea of what a live show can be. Same with this band called Daisy Chainsaw. They weren’t around long, but their live performances were just so amazing. Their lead singer would just jump. She was a girl jumping around looking gross, very inspiring to me. But honestly, just seeing the small touring bands that we play shows with really inspire our performance. When it comes to writing our music, I never sit down and decide I’m going to write a song about this one thing. I think that sometimes there’s several meanings in one song, or sometimes I just write something and I don’t know what it means until later. Sometimes I write things that, at the time, don’t really mean anything, and when you are constantly singing the words and performing them, it can almost have a manifestation quality. I always say that we have some songs that have literally become more true the more that we’ve sung them. Like this lyric, I just thought it sounded cool when I wrote it, and now it’s mirroring this thing that’s happening in my life. Songwriting and performance are really powerful in that way. Currently, I’m really inspired by movies and just other mediums of art and how people react to them and how I react to them.

SM: Is there a song that you are most excited to perform?

MK: Polychrome. I think it was like our first song. And it’s one of our most popular songs. People really like that song. I think it’s easy to sing along to. I also think that the lyric “nobody needs it like I do” is a very memorable lyric. Whenever we play that in Cincinnati or Dayton there’s people singing along to it, which like I said, is the best feeling ever. So I always love performing that one.

SM: You mentioned wanting to incorporate more punk elements in your music. How did you all land on the genre and sound that you did?

MK: I think that I started Hueston Woods with Adam because I wanted to start a shoegaze band. Before we even had a name, I was like, ‘I want to start a shoegaze band.’ And I don’t think we’re a shoegaze band, but I think there are certainly elements of shoegaze. I still sometimes refer to us as a shoegaze band. I think the genre that fits us best is indie rock, just because it’s so applicable. I think that we all know what kind of music that we like, and it all kind of joins together. Cooper really likes Midwest emo stuff, and he plays a lot of very twinkly and mathy guitar parts. I’m still, in my heart, holding on to shoegaze. So my guitar parts are a lot more simple and have a lot more reverb and distortion effects on them, usually. I think it combines to make a really unique sound. Sometimes I catch myself writing music or making a song and I’m like, ‘this is going to be a punk song. This is going to be this genre song.’ And I don’t think that people should hold themselves to a genre. I think it’s limiting. You should just make music you think sounds good and makes you feel good.

SM: What do you hope to take away from playing at ACRN Prom?

MK: I hope we get more listeners in Athens, you know? Because with the way that music is now, it’s hard to gain an audience unless you blow up on TikTok. So the way a lot of smaller bands are gaining audiences is by playing out of their towns and going on tour, even if they don’t have a lot of money or they’re not signed to a label. Contrary to what people believe, with social media and everything, it is a lot harder to get people to find out about and care about your music, so I’m excited to play out of town more. I really hope Athens likes us.

SM: Is there anything you really want people to know?

MK: Please dance, that’s my message.