Interview with Hurst guitarist Paulo Neta

One of the hardest working Canadian bands in 2005 has been Winnipeg, Manitoba’s Hurst. The band is led by former Econoline Crush leader Trevor Hurst and since the band released their debut EP Wanderlust late last spring, the band has been touring like crazy and winning over more and more fans. After recently getting an interview with Trevor himself, P.G.A. was fortunate enough to catch up with Hurst’s guitar player Paulo Neta before the band’s sold out gig with Theory of a Deadman at the Opera House on November 24th. Paulo let us in on what’s going on with the band right now, his favorite song on the Wanderlust EP, and what we can expect from Hurst in 2006.

How has the tour with Theory of a Deadman gone so far? How has it compared so far with the September tour the band did with Thornley?
Paulo: Um, I think the crowds are a little bit different obviously, both bands are great and they have a different following but we’ve seemed to have developed a bit of a following ourselves over the last few months with the shows we’ve been doing out west and out east here. We have a lot of repeat, you know, a lot of familiar faces that have come out but every time, every show we do, there’s a lot more new faces coming out and supporting us, it’s been really good. The crowds have been really receptive, just great all around.

The last time I spoke with Trevor, Mark had just joined the band and Derrick of course had just left. Now that you’ve had a couple of months of playing with Mark, how do you think he’s fit into the band?
Paulo: I think he’s fit in really well. Mark and I have worked together in other projects before in Winnipeg and um, it just seemed to click really well right from the get go. Him and Nik play together really well, I mean, for a drummer and a bass player to play together well and feel it, you know, right from the beginning is so important. They have to really gel, out of the whole band, I think it’s most important that they fit really well together and they do. So it’s been great, it’s been a real natural process to play and work together and we’ve been starting to do some writing together now and it’s just starting to come together as a tight project.

In a previous interview I did with Trevor, he mentioned that he was “itching to record some new stuff” and he had a bunch of new songs demoed with titles like “Wave and a Smile” and “Haunt Me.” Have you as a band had any time to get into the studio the last couple of months and record some new material or has it just been constant touring?
Paulo: As a matter of fact, we’ve only had, um, anytime we’ve been home or off tour, it’s only been for a maximum of three weeks so we really haven’t had any time to get into the studio or arrange anything like that but we have been writing new material and you know, tightening up the show and adding to it. It’s been really good, it’s been really productive, I mean we try to make the best of the time we have off, make the most of it and it’s coming along really well. Like I said, we’ve got a couple of new tracks we’ve been writing and stuff, um, nothing has made it into the set yet, but also we’re kind of juggling a lot of songs into 45 minute sets so we can’t really mess with the time slot, we just have to do what we do.

What would you say is your favorite song on the Wanderlust EP and why?
Paulo: Ahh, that’s a tough one. Um, I’ve got a couple for different reasons, I really like “Tin Cup” it’s got a great energy about it and I really like “Not Broken” I mean equally probably for different reasons because it’s got such a catchy melody, you can’t get it out of your head. And I can say that because I didn’t write it (laughing) so I have no inhibitions about saying it. I like “Clear Blue” as well, it’s got a really edgy sort of verse section and then the chorus is sort of a real Beatle-esque feel so I don’t know, I like certain songs on the record for different reasons, so I don’t think I could say that I have a favorite.

The songwriting process for all artists obviously varies. When you write a song what comes first, the music or lyrics? Do you ever just suddenly wake up in the middle of the night with a song idea?
Paulo: Um, yeah, it’s been really weird, I’ve had to pull off the road and write on receipts and stuff just ideas that come to you. I mean, there’s stories like that from everyone that you’ll talk to, different, funny things that just come up sporadically like that and you just gotta get them down. I’ve recorded ideas on my cell phone, on my voice mail and stuff like that. For me personally, I find the easiest is coming up with riffs and then trying to build songs around them. I’ve written dozens of lyrics just with nothing, with no real intentions of melody or anything, but I think for me, to piece a song together it starts with guitar riffs or something along those lines, or a certain chord structure. And it starts to just sort of implant melodies in your head and it just sort of becomes a natural flow. It’s different for everyone I’m sure, but that’s what it is for me.

Of course, Ross Childress helped Trevor write most of the EP. Have you ever had the chance to jam or play with Ross?
Paulo: No, actually it’s too bad, I’ve never really gotten a chance to meet him or talk to him for that matter. I know Trevor still keeps in touch with him, but I know he lives in Georgia and I don’t see him coming up anytime soon and I don’t blame him (laughing), it’s getting really cold and it’s not going to attract anyone from the South, that’s for sure.

You recently wrote on your My Space blog that some major labels have expressed interest in signing the band, but being independent right now seems to be working out well. If the right deal doesn’t come along and being indie continues to go well, would you consider just keeping the band indie for the future?
Paulo: When you sign something like that, it’s gotta be the right thing, you can’t sign away all your rights and make nothing and we all have to make a living. Nobody’s in this to get rich, but by the same token, we still have to make something. There are a lot of deals out there that get offered to bands and people who don’t know any better will just sign it and not realize that they are really getting absolutely nothing out of all the work they are putting in and everything. So, if something comes along that is in our favour to do, then yeah, we’ll definitely take it, but in the meantime, we’re doing well independently, we’re getting a lot of radio support, we’re getting a lot of tours that are just coming our way with Thornley, Three Days Grace, Theory of a Deadman, some really good stuff has come up. We’ve done shows with Default, um, you name it so the support is all there and if that continues and the growing crowd support… it’s looking to be ok.

Some people have argued that with Ipods and downloading, music has become just a product that is easily discarded. Do you feel music has become a throwaway commodity? For example it becomes something that is consumed, listened to over and over and supports people’s short attention spans.
Paulo: It’s definitely not what it was 15, 20 years ago, there’s no argument there. Um, downloading has its benefits, um, mostly in your primitive stages as a band, but it does do more harm than good I think to a major recording act, because, I mean, ultimately, you profit from what you sell and if you’re not selling anything, what are you suppose to gain? File sharing, like I said, I think it’s a good thing for mostly up and coming bands because it gets your name out there and it gets people aware of your music, but I think it comes to a point where you have to, and record companies have done this, you have to kind of, not maybe put a stop to it, but slow it down by any means necessary. A lot of record companies, you’ll know that if you try to download songs, the files are corrupt and they won’t play or whatever. So, I agree with that to an extent and I agree with the file sharing to an extent, it’s a really touchy subject, and I think at this stage, I mean, right now I’m sure people are passing our music along and that’s fine, for now, I mean we’re still selling CDs like crazy, so it’s good. But, I’m sure that a record company would have something to say to it.

We all know of course that before creating Hurst, Trevor played in the band Econoline Crush. With regard to yourself, what other bands have you been in before joining Hurst?
Paulo: Um, I’ve played mostly in Winnipeg, I played with an original act, but I was one of the song writers with another guy named Glen Davies out of Winnipeg, the band was called Blush, we did Canadian music week here last year. And ah, I was in the cover scene, you know, playing in cover bands for the last eight years or so, so I’ve just been playing professionally for years. I just started writing a couple of years ago and ah, it’s just, I don’t know, it’s not something that I had ever really made an effort at and now it seems to just come really naturally. Especially when you get together with someone who you can write with easily, like Trevor, it’s easy to write with him you know. And same with the guys in the band, it just comes naturally.

Do you personally get to have any input on the adjustments of some of the live songs in the band’s set?
Paulo: Uh, yeah, actually, we came together… basically when we first started out, we just learned the show for what it was, learned the songs and tried to adapt them to a live setting as much as possible with very little, um, with as little work as possible. We’ve really had a lot of time issues, we didn’t have tons of time to play together, but now actually, with a couple of weeks off and having played the show a few times, we’ve made changes, you know, extended songs, put in little solo sections, stuff like that. It’s all things that become a natural part of coming together as a band.

Your current tour with Theory of a Deadman of course goes right through until mid-December. What are Hurst’s plans for 2006? Any chance that we might see that debut full length album?
Paulo: Um, there’s a very good chance (you’ll see the debut album), it all depends on how much touring we have to do. I know that we’ve got plans in the early part of the year to go back home, we got some time off I think. Um, we’re going to do some more writing and it all depends on, you know, how everything goes with time and money.