Today we’d like to introduce you to Bug Hunt.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Originally, this band started off doing a lot of covers. We had a lot of fun playing some Alex G and Smashing Pumpkins songs until we slowly accumulated our originals. We got a lot of help from our friend Diego Feliciano, and all the local SCV bands who let us tag along with them on shows. It was just fun playing music together at the beginning, and over time we formed a better idea of what we wanted our identity to be as a band. Our friend @comfycity drew a lot of the bug art that we associate our band with, and our keyboardist Sav designs most if not all of our posters and promotion. All of this helped in establishing ourselves within the community, and that lead us to where we are now. Our current lineup is Thomas on Drums, Josh on bass, Sav on keys/vocals, and Henry and Manny on lead and rhythm guitar respectively, with Manny as our lead singer as well. Although we’re all quite busy with our lives at the moment, coming together is still a lot of fun. Writing new music is our favorite thing to do, and we’re always super eager to show it off whatever chance we get. This band could truly go anywhere at the moment, and that feeling has definitely been propelling us forward.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It hasn’t been a smooth road for us. As young college students, schedules and working our part-time jobs may get in the way. But something each of us has in common with one another is our love for music, and our ambition and drive to continue creating art, not only for ourselves, but for others. At first, bug hunt was just a hobby, but we all came to realize that we really love what we do. Our friends, family, and even strangers, truly enjoy what we put out there, and we wanted to take the band more seriously. The love and support we’ve received since we’ve been a band has been really touching. We are deeply grateful, and we want to continue making others and ourselves proud.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
So far everything we’ve done has been very DIY, and we hope that it gives a sincerity to our songs. We record with the help of all of our friends and with whatever gear we have at our disposal, and for us it’s a constant, healthy reminder that we don’t need to ask for permission from anyone to put out what we want. Getting this first project, Entomology, out has been the thing we’re most proud of so far. The whole process was definitely a giant learning experience and a rite of passage for us, especially since we recorded it in the middle of July in an unventilated garage… Whenever we are all able to come together again to record in the future, our hope is that we are able to come closer and closer to the sound we want each time.
Do you any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
Sav: One of my favorite memories as a child was, when I was put into piano lessons as a child, I was around 6-7 years old. I thought I could only play songs that were assigned to me by my teacher. Then, there was a moment I realized that I could learn to play whatever song I wanted on the piano, and it opened a pandora’s box for me. Every week for piano lessons, I’d print out sheet music from my favorite video game and cartoon soundtracks and bring them to my instructor so she could teach me how to play. For one of my recitals, I performed “It’s Raining Somewhere Else” from Undertale, and “It’s Over Isn’t It” from Steven Universe, and that was the most joy I felt during a piano recital.
Henry: One of my most fond music memories as a kid was listening to and learning an ungodly amount of Metallica songs. I think that really got my foot in the door as a guitarist. Also learning saxophone is definitely one of my fondest memories as a kid. It was a major turning point in my life and put me down the path of making awesome music.
Manny: My dad, being a musician himself, always had what he liked to listen to playing 24/7, and all of that music definitely ingrained itself into my brain. I didn’t come to appreciate any of it until recently though. I remember being a kid and hearing ‘En el muelle de San Blas’ by Mana playing all of the time and really liking it, but not knowing what it was called or anything. My dad was a huge fan of latin american 90s rock in general, and rediscovering all of those groups recently has led me to realize how much of it probably influenced the things I like today. I have a lot of fond memories of learning the guitar at 12 as well. I was trying to play a lot of Green Day songs, and I’ll always be fond of my guitar teachers for putting me onto The Strokes and The White Stripes :). We can also go into all the minecraft dubstep intro music and deadmau5 I listened to at the time but that’s for another day.
Thomas: My favourite childhood memory of mine relating to music is when my cousin was visiting me from New Zealand, and he showed me bands like The Smashing Pumpkins, The Arctic Monkeys, and The Smiths for the first time, on our record player. This was one of the moments that made me turn to music, as I had just moved to America and did not have much to lean on. Music became a crutch for me during this transitional period of my life. Because of this moment (and more), I am the person I am today. These bands, and more, have shaped many aspects of my life, and I owe my career as a musician to my cousin for being the amazing person that he is.
Josh: The last time I recall, one of my favorite childhood memories was the first time I got my bass. I was probably about 12 years old at the time and whenever my parents would drive me to school we would always listen to RnB and funk. No particular reason why, that’s just how it was. Every single time I hear the ever so smooth basslines in those old funk songs it would be like a rich creamy chocolate to my ears; or a kind of taste that makes your stomach rumble with excitement just by thinking about it. I would spend the majority of my day after that randomly revisiting the feel of the song again with the tap of my pencil on my worksheet, and walking to my next class in the same rhythm I felt in the song. One random day I was telling my dad of how good those guys must feel to deliver the groove of a song or even just to feel the music breathing along with them right against their chest and how maybe I want to give bass a shot. He researched beginner basses for me and when that generic ibanez hybrid beginner bass came in the mail, the rest became history.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bughuntband?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@bughuntband5
- Other: https://bughuntband.bandcamp.com/album/entomology
Image Credits
Samantha Umbay
