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RockFit Founder Hannah Hawkey on Rock, Fitness, FanGirling Jonathan Davis, and Download [w/ Audio]

RockFit took their services to this year’s Download Festival, and we spoke with founder Hannah Hawkey backstage about rock, fitness, fangirling Jonathan Davis, and Download Festival 2022.

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With so many struggling through the global pandemic, both mentally and physically, RockFit founder Hannah Hawkey found a way to build her brand and inspire others to keep fit whilst enjoying their favourite music. Who needs the likes of Joe Wicks when Hannah is around?

RockFit took their services to this year’s Download Festival, and V13 spoke to Hannah backstage to find out exactly how thousands of hungover rock fans reacted to being invited along to a high-energy festival fitness workout.

So we’re back. Download 2022. The sun’s out…

Hannah Hawkey: “Amazing. We’re just a bit suspicious of why the sun’s out, I think we’re waiting for the clouds to come over, but they aren’t. It’s great.”

It looks like it’s going to be good all weekend, which is absolutely spectacular. Now my first question is, you are one of the more unusual aspects of Download, just my opinion, considering it’s not really a live act, it’s something where you’re trying to get the audience involved. Well, it is a live act, but you’re trying to get the audience involved.

Now it was 2019 when you first came to Download, wasn’t it?

“Yes, Download 2019, we were there in the mud, had a great time, but it was, yeah, it was a challenging year that year for a lot of people, I think, and that was my first time here, and we’re back three years later, raring to go.”

So how did Download come about? How did it happen? As I said, it’s kind of unusual, and how do you motivate people that have been hammered all weekend? Firstly, how did it come about you getting to Download?

“Well, I started RockFit in 2016 and ever since then, you know, I’ve had people saying to me, this is the best thing I’ve ever done, the best fitness class I’ve ever done because it’s an amalgamation of rock music, dance, and fitness, we use a lot of metal, a lot of rock, only metal and rock in fact because it’s the best music there is in my opinion. I contacted Download and said you really need to have us there because, you know, it’s an unusual thing, and people were asking me for years; basically, people kind of kept on at me until I did it, which is great, a really good compliment.

So I contacted them, and they were well up for it. They already have had other acts here that were doing health and wellness, and Download has got quite a health and wellness ethos about it, despite, you know, the beer-swilling and the washing and stuff. So, yeah, I thought, you know, join them, great, and it’s been brilliant for us.”

“I was a very, very sensible secondary school teacher teaching dance. And I was teaching burlesque classes and the school basically pulled me in on my day off and said, you’re either a teacher or a businesswoman and that stuck with me and I was like, ok, you’ll have a resignation on Monday then.”

To be fair, let’s be honest, a good mosh is an excellent workout…

So, how successful is it drawing folks in from around the campsite at 10:00 in the morning when probably most people haven’t been to sleep yet? I mean, how does that work? Are people into it? Are they awake? Or do you just get the sober ones? I’m interested…

“You know a lot of people have said that this week; how on earth does that work at Download? What is this doing at Download? All I’d say is come and have a look. This morning we had about between 100 and 130 people at 11:00 in the morning, rocking out with us doing a 45-minute fitness session when you would think actually, you know, bugger off, I’m drunk. I’ve had guys walk in with a can of cider in each hand! Full on Download ethos, you know? All we ask is that, no matter what you’re doing, just do it full-heartedly, and they do. People really do get out of bed early; we’ve got a big following across the UK now.

During lockdown, RockFit went online, which has made it expand exponentially. So everyone’s now dragging their friends along, they love it, and they drag their friends along. It grows every year, and this year, we had huge amounts of people doing it this morning; we’ll send you some videos in a minute. It’s epic.”

This all leads me to the next question because there has been a huge push, not just from the Government, but just in general, about a healthier lifestyle. Do you think this is tied to people trying to keep fit amongst everything else?

“I think people naturally now, especially after we’ve all kind of been alone at home for such a long time, with the whole health and wellness thing, there’s a big movement towards it. In fact, RockFit fits in really well with Download because we’re not just about eating kale and doing yoga five times a day; it’s more about fitting it into your lifestyle and using the music you like, but at the same time having a burger afterwards because that’s what we enjoy here.

You’re not going to come to Download and eat salad and just work out and do nothing else. You’re going to come down, you’re going to have your beer, you’re going to have your burgers, it’s about balancing things out and actually having a workout that’s really fun, and you don’t even realize you’re working out because it’s what you do normally when you see bands, it’s just more choreographed.”

It’s funny when I go to the gym; I always thought how wonderful it would be to have a live band playing, and then I thought, do you know what, it’s a good idea but, economically, I don’t think it would work out somehow. If you could pull it off, would you do something like that?

“We’ve actually been asked by several bands, and I can’t tell you the band that I’m working with this year, but we’ve got a performance coming up tonight in conjunction with one of the bands playing, a fairly big band. So bands are actually paying a lot of attention to us and thinking this is awesome and asking how do we get you involved with us; it’s just brilliant. It’s just confirmation that what we’re doing is something people really enjoy. So yeah, I think the whole Download thing is a real experience, and I want to be part of it definitely every year.”

That’s really cool, actually, because that literally means what I was thinking could actually be on the cards at some point.

“Well, there’s the UK’s number one Rammstein tribute band Rammlied in Plymouth where we’re from; we’ve got a huge following now; obviously, it’s our hometown. I went to one of their gigs recently, and there were about 100 of us, and of course, because we have choreographed routines, everybody broke out the routines in the middle of the gig, and the band was going, ok, what’s this? Now they want to collaborate with us and do a live gig with us doing routines to their songs. They’re a tribute act, but other bands, as I said, are asking can we choreograph something to this song for us, which is amazing.

I’m a choreographer; it’s what I do, so yeah, it’s starting to make waves, which is awesome. And that totally can happen a lot. So, any bands out there listening to that want choreographed routines to their songs, just hit me up. I’m happy.”

Amazing. Now, how did RockFit actually come about? I know, you sort of touched on that, but this is something where there was a hole in the market, and when I first looked at this, I thought, interesting! So what drew you in, and what made you go for it?

“The long and short of it is I was a very, very sensible secondary school teacher teaching dance. And I was teaching burlesque classes, and the school basically pulled me in on my day off and said, you can’t do that, and I said, it’s just a burlesque class, there’s no nudity, there’s nothing like that. They said you’re either a teacher or a businesswoman, and that stuck with me, and I was like, ok, you’ll have a resignation on Monday then.

So I quit, and then I thought, ‘What do I want to do with my time?’ My business is to combine everything that I love, rock, metal, fitness, dance, music, everything all together. And with my friends saying I want to go to a fitness class but they don’t play the music that I love. It kills my soul every day. So I thought, ‘What if I merge Metallica, Korn, Rammstein, Limp Bizkit, new metal, old metal, progressive, classic all together into a fitness class; would anyone come?’ And the first session I did, I had 40 people. So yeah, that’s brilliant.”

Hannah Hawkey Rock fit

So it was successful, right from the offset, essentially. Just looking at what you’ve created so far, and again, I think you’ve touched on this, but what are your aspirations for the brand going forward? Do you see RockFit becoming a bit more of an international thing?

“World domination is what is on the cards, I feel. Actually, because we’ve gone online over the pandemic, we’ve had people from other countries already signing up, which is insane. I was watching at home, sat there on my little computer, in my one-bedroom flat, and I had people from America signing up, and I was like, ok, that’s interesting. Then Australia, then Germany, then Europe, then Tokyo, and Japan. So we’re not promoting to those countries yet, but people are still finding us and going this is amazing, when are you coming here. So I’m having to organize how we now do an American and Australian, and German instructor training course to get people out there to teach the classes, which are insane to me, but I love it. It’s absolutely brilliant. Yeah, so that’s the next step. Other countries with RockFit as well. Yeah.”

“Friends said they wanted to go to a fitness class but they don’t play the music that I love. It kills my soul every day. So I thought what if I merge Metallica, Korn, Rammstein, Limp Bizkit…”

Hannah Hawkey Rock fit

Now I know you can’t tell me which bands have shown interest. I know that, but I have got a question for you if you could get any big bands or big names involved, what would be you’re ideal bands to work with?

“Oh my god. Well, there are so many, it’s like picking your favourite star or favourite book, isn’t it? Or my favourite film. There are so many because I’m a nu-metal girl; I grew up in the nu-metal era. Korn, I absolutely adore Korn. I’ve got the most massive crush on Jonathan Davis in the world. If you’re hearing this, Jonathan! And Rammstein! I think their music just promotes such great motivation for people to work out, and actually, we’ve got a group going to Coventry when they do their gig in Coventry.

And you know, we do so many Rammstein songs, and I think their music just lends itself so well to what we do; kicks, punches, squats, you know that real like grrr effect, as well any nu-metal stuff we just do everything, anything, everything as long as it’s rock. This song, for example, by The Darkness we do, is on in the background now. So it’s yeah, everything, anything that’s rock, but those two especially.”

Well, you know, I think when this interview goes live, I might just have to tag Mr. Davis in it just to see if he picks up on it. We’ll see what happens.

“I might die a little bit.”

Oh, no, don’t say that. You got to keep your composure if meet him.

“I’d be the biggest fan girl. In fact, no, I would probably just pass out on the spot. I think their music, like a lot of people that listen to rock music, it’s got me through some really bad breakups in my life, obviously, really low times and, and stuff, and I think Korn, they’re just vocally amazing, their music, I love every single one of their albums! I grew up with them as a teenager, and I just absolutely love them to death. Yeah. Amazing.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSaPJsj0dbY

That’s fantastic. Well, I mean, my next question was, would have been, why these bands? But you literally answered that question straight away; you’re sharp, what can I say? Now, I always like closing an interview on a joke, so if you’ve got a joke, have a think of one because this one’s mine.

So there are two cats, there’s one, two, three cats and Un, Deux, Trois cat, and they both decide to have a race across the channel. Which cat do you actually think won the race? Have a think, which one?

“Un deux trois cat!”

Why?

“I don’t know.”

Well, actually, you’re wrong! One two three cats won because un deux trois cat sank.

“Oh, that’s… As a former teacher, I appreciate that joke. That’s really good. I don’t have my own; the minute someone asks me to tell a joke, then what comes to mind is a really bad one that my dad told me, and it was like, it’s like Paddy Murphy throwing stones at the floor and Paddy missed.”

I’ll take it! Honestly, I’m full of dad jokes!

“For everyone, in advance, jokes are not my forte; dancing, however, really, come and dance with me; that’s much better than my joke telling, I promise.”

Amazing. Hannah, thanks so much for talking to V13. You know, it’s a Canadian-based website. So you never know, you might get Canadians getting interested.

“Actually, RockFit was shown on one of their news channels just randomly, because a lady that comes to Download, she lost eight stone doing RockFit, and she promoted it with her son and people love people like that, and an Ontario radio station picked up on it. So I was like, wow, ok, RockFit for Ontario needs to happen now, so yeah, amazing.”

So really, it is world domination coming next. In other words, next year, not going to be at Download because you’re too busy.

“I’ll be too busy, darling. I’ll be off in Ontario, and you know, eating poutine and just dancing. Yeah.”

I love the fact you went all posh; that was amazing.

“Amazing, darling. Eating poutine. Well, I’m from the South West. So generally, I sound like a farmer to everyone. So sometimes I have my phone voice on; this is my phone voice. Yes.”

Professional. Well, I’m from Croydon, so I’ve got no class! Thank you so much, Hannah. It’s been fantastic, and good luck with the rest of RockFit at Download.

“Thank you so much. It’s lovely to talk to you all, and hopefully, I’ll see you all very soon.”

Amazing. Thank you.

“So much fun.”

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