Hanni El Khatib

Hanni El Khatib is a really interesting new artist. He brings together punk rock and roots music together with classic stylings from the doo-wop and early rock n’ roll era. It’s an intriguing mix that all comes together on his spiky debut album Will The Guns Come Out. He’ll be doing a couple of shows over the New Year period, that should be well worth slotting in to your festive season.

HHMM: Congratulations on the album. It’s a very cool record, very raw, very direct, it’s got a lotta heart. What was your experience recording it? Did you feel like, “hey we’re doing something good here”?

HEK: I dunno know. It was really just a side hobby when I started it, something I did outside of work. I went into it, not really thinking about it at all. Towards the end of the recording I kind of realized…I was like “oh man, I have, like, an album here”. And that when it started to come together for me.

HHMM: To what extent are you channeling some of the old music that you liked, and to what extent was it new to you and you were just doing what was coming out?

HEK: I’ve always listened to all types of music so I guess it just naturally influenced me in a way. I listed to old garage and soul and stuff like that and I think it just naturally bleeds into what I make.

HHMM: I also detected a similar spirit in some of the songs to people like The Clash and Billy Bragg. Do you see yourself in a tradition of rebel music?

HEK: I think it was more of a thing of just being free and not giving a fuck, because I didn’t have any expectations to make anything. When I was making these songs I was like “Oh man, I’ll just make what I want”.  You know what I mean? I think those guys you mentioned inherently do that.

HHMM: From our perspective, we kinda look at Los Angeles and think, “white guys are into rock, and black guys are into rap and hip-hop”, which is totally a cliché, but I guess a Palestinian/Filipino guy can be pretty much into anything he wants.

HEK: Yeah totally. I think for anybody there are no real boundaries of genres. I don’t think any type of person should be stuck on any type of music or art or whatever. I have black friends who have hardcore bands, you know? It’s just one of those things that comes from the environment you are bought up in. I was like toeing the line between kids who were hip-hop and kids who were really punk and into metal and dark shit like that. I kinda soaked it all in a found my own little niche, which is kinda weird because the LA scene and the San Francisco music scene doesn’t really fit with my music. It’s not like I’ve been playing shows for a long time like some of the guys. There’s definitely specific sounds and specific scenes that are going on and I didn’t know where my music would necessarily fit in and I think that might be a product of me being open to whatever music and choosing my direction naturally.

HHMM: I’ve seen you describe your music as “knife fight music” and making that reference to the streets. Do you feel like it is some kind of urban street music that you are playing?

HEK: I try to think of music as a mood or a general vibe or aesthetic  versus a singular idea of sounds. I don’t know if that sounds a little vague. I try to connect my music with the imagery and scenes of urban decay or destruction or tragic stuff. Those are the type of things that stick out in my mind when I think of the type of sound I wanna make.

HHMM: You want people to feel the music and not just hear the music.

HEK: Yeah, exactly.

HHMM: I think of a song like Garbage City and that urban decay thing you mentioned is very evident in that song, but at the same time you have a lot of affection for the local area you are singing about.

HEK: Yeah, I grew up in San Francisco and in a tourist sense it seems real beautiful and nice, with the hills and the landmarks but it is also kinda weird. I’ve travelled all over the world and I’ve seen lots of cities and there are times in San Francisco when you just don’t feel safe. There’s a lot of crackheads and drugs and weird shit going on in that city and you are only really exposed to it if you live there and grow up there. There are times when I feel loads safer in New York and four in the morning than San Francisco at four in the morning.

HHMM: You’ve obviously got a real interest in American pop culture, whether it is Elvis, or skateboards or West Side Story. Do you feel like there is a lot left to discover about that culture?

HEK There’s a lot of inspiration to draw from once you get passed the basic obvious choices. There was just so much cool shit going on at that time and people get focused on the stuff we got used to seeing and once you get passed that there is like a lot of poverty and rough life and working people that you can draw on That’s the kind of things I connect to most, the idea of simplicity in tools and lifestyle. In those days you’d wake up, go to work, go home to your wife and ship off to war, or whatever it is. Of course you had the normal complications of life but it was relatively simple. That’s the kind of thing I’m really into. And it shows in the music of that time too. Things were a lot more pure and lot more simple and seamless. It wasn’t mucked up by a bunch of shit. I’m sure it was out there but that’s how I see it in my mind. Maybe I’m romanticizing it or whatever but it seemed relatively pure.

HHMM: Yeah, you think of a song like Summertime Blues and you hear the music and its carefree and fun, but if you actually listen to the lyrics its kinda desperate and dark.

HEK: That was the reason I chose to do Heartbreak Hotel and pull it out of context. When you do hear it out of context you do say, “OK , so that’s a lonely song, that’s a bummer, that’s what that is”.

HHMM: The other song that jumps out in a way is Wait Wait Wait. Where did that come from?

HEK: Prior to this album I did some home recordings and experimented with some songwriting and stuff and for me, all of thee songs started on a acoustic guitar. Even songs like Build Destroy Rebuild, which is one of the most electric songs, it started on acoustic guitar. I guess that’s the classic country form of folk or blues or any of that, its just about the songwriting really. With Wait Wait Wait, I had the lyrics and I wanted to write a straightforward, Townes Van Zandt song, an Americana travelling song about life or whatever. I did feel like it was kinda oddball out but I did feel like it was necessary to have a song like that on the record just to say that it was part of that time and that it captures a different thing.

HHMM: I can see this record getting embraced by multiple generations, the same way that say the Violent Femmes first record is embraced by multiple generations. Does that make sense to you?

HEK: It’s awesome that you say that and I hope that is the case. I will say that I do notice at our shows that there is a broad spectrum of people that come to it. There are times when I’ll get a father and son at the show together and both equally telling me that they are enjoying themselves. That’s pretty cool for me, being that I’m usually closer to the son’s age. I do reference a lot of stuff from the dad’s era and so its kinda cool that people are open to it.

HHMM: When you play here is it just going to be you and the drummer?

HEK: That’s what we’ve been doing for almost three years and to me that set-up just kinda lends itself to being able to improvise on the spot and its also challenging too which I appreciate. When you mess up you cant hide it. If I was in the audience I know I’d be like “How the fuck are they going to recover from that?” We don’t fuck with backing tracks or have any loops of stuff like that, so what you hear is what we are doing.

HHMM: A lot has been made of your heritage. For you, is it a big thing?

HEK: I have this kinda weird split identity. On my parents side I have the Filipino side and the Middle Eastern side. When I was growing up, I didn’t have that many close relatives around from the Middle Eastern side and it was the same with the Filipino side. So in a weird way I just identify with being an American.  I do have this weird thing about being lumped in with some group, like a ‘white kid from California’. I’m an American I guess, but technically…. there are always moments when I feel like I should be closer to my parents culture. I remember going to school when I was six or seven and knowing that me and my family were a bit different. You get that from something like the lunch you bring to school. Your best friend has a peanut butter sandwich and a soda, and you have some weird Middle Eastern food that your dad made! It wasn’t till I got older in high school that I really got comfortable with it – that I was just an American kid and that was it.

Thursday, 29 December 2011
FBi Social, Sydney

Sunday, 1 January 2012
The Tote, Melbourne