The most significant creative changes don’t always start with a grand plan. Sometimes, they can begin with someone asking you to join them for one song. What started as an invitation to collaborate soon expanded into an invitation to become part of the permanent lineup. “I didn’t actually know a whole lot about Haast Hunter prior,” recalls Sinaea. “I hadn’t actually listened to their music much. I think I’d heard Spite, because I joined the band quite soon after they released it, and I really liked that song. But other than that, I didn’t know much. They say me playing at Last Place with Static [Sinaea’s other band], and Jimmy reached out and asked me to collaborate with him on the song Plastique. It was meant to be just a one song collaboration thing, but I just loved working with him. I’d never worked with another band before, other than Static, so it was really an exciting experience. It went so much better than I expected, and they’re just really nice guys. It was a different genre to what I was used to, and getting to record Plastique was, I don’t know, just such an adventure because I’d never delved into that genre of metalcore-y stuff before, and I didn’t even really listen to much metalcore. But then, I just instantly fell in love with it, and I was like, oh, I just have to do this. And they wanted me to stick around, and it was just convenient.”
Stepping into an already established band can be a daunting ask, and Haast Hunter already had an established identity and process when Sinaea was invited to join. While initially tentative, it wasn’t long before, with the band’s encouragement, she was invited to more actively help write the music. “I didn’t want to intrude on what they had going on, so I just kind of let them do their songwriting, and I would do little bits here and there. I kind of let Jimmy do the majority, but it just took me a little while to ease into it, and they constantly let me know ‘you’re in the band now, and we want your flavour, we want your ideas. We’re not trying to stay the same, we all just want to keep evolving and changing.’ And that’s very much what Haast Hunter is.”
As a band, Haast Hunter have deliberately tried to avoid being pinned to a specific genre, often moving between heaviness, melody, atmosphere and aggression. In a broad sonic landscape, Sinaea is a vocalist without a box, and Haast Hunter is a welcome playground. “I listen to a lot of genres, and I use Haast Hunter as a way to explore new vocal styles and techniques, and just play. It’s a lot of play. It’s really fun to navigate, I’m just constantly trying new things and learning how my voice works, I guess. It’s fun.”
Haast Hunter’s album deals with some heavy territory, exploring themes of additiction, mental health, grief, loss, and emotional turmoil. While Sinaea can step outside of herself and treat the material as a performance, ultimately the songs are deeply connected to her own experiences. “I think it might have been World I Knew, I was getting quite into it and I was getting a bit frustrated with it, because it was so emotionally raw for me. It’s my outlet to express myself, and I really wanted it to be perfect, and I really wanted to express exactly what I was feeling into the song. I sort of had to step out of the studio for a second, and Jimmy gave me a hug and I was like ‘this is a lot,’ but that’s exactly why I do it though. That’s what music is for me, a way to just release all of that. So it’s a good thing, it’s a great thing.”
The band’s recent single, Plastique, is a place where vulnerability meets aggression, as Sinaea’s melodic approach to the track creates a natural counterpoint to other vocalist James’ harsher intensity. But was that contrast part of the plan? “I think James definitely had. Plastique was kind of like his baby, that I just sort of jumped onto with him. It just happened that way for me, I feel like he always have a plan for everything. For me, it was all quite natural, he has very harsh, intense vocals, and it just made sense to me to add a melodic contrast to that.” The contrast showing that perhaps beauty and aggression aren’t opposites, but rather can make each other powerful.
The songwriting in Haast Hunter typically would start with the music first, with the words being carefully selected to match the track. “Sometimes, when I work on a song, I go back to previous poems or lyrics that I’ve written, but with Haast I always wait to hear the track and then just select whatever comes to me sort of flow. It’s such a natural thing for me, because I’ve been doing it for such a long time too. I just try and use it as an outlet for whatever I’m experiencing at the time. If I’m experiencing heartbreak, then I’m like, oh if the track, if the sound makes me feel that, then I’ll just naturally start writing about that. Or if it’s like a really angry sound, then I’ll dive into something, and in that area of my life, if I feel unheard by someone or something, and that’s what Curtain Falls is about. Feeling unheard, and pushed aside, and taking back control.” If the music is providing the prompt, then Sinaea’s emotional response is what becomes her lyrics.
Plastique has been described as having been built around a larger dystopian, post-system concept, but it’s important for Sinaea that the listener take away their own meaning from the song. “I’ve never really thought it’s very necessary for people to know exactly what it’s about. Music’s kind of just for the individual, right? I would definitely encourage people to let it resonate with them, however it does. I’d like to think that through my lyrics, people could experience some healing through that, you know?”
Sinaea currently provides vocals in two bands, Haast Hunter and Static. While both bands are evolving and experimenting, Haast Hunter has opened up different possibilities which Sinaea likely wouldn’t have explored otherwise. “Overall, it’s just more experimental, like I’ve been trying out a bit of rapping recently, which has been insane, I just never thought I would do that. I always wanted to, but it works with the Haast music because it’s a bit nu-metally as well, where those sort of more ‘rappier’ vocals kind of fit in.” It’s not to say that one band gives something which the other doesn’t, but rather that Haast has encouraged her to try new things that she may not have otherwise attempted.
A year on since joining Haast Hunter, Sinaea has discovered a confidence which allows her to develop a much clearer sense of herself as an artist. “I’ve just gained so much confidence, and that’s due to working with these incredible guys that have just been, sort of showing me what I’m capable of artistically, and making me feel really considered. I know that doesn’t necessarily relate to the music. There is a confidence that I have now that I definitely did not have before. Of course that’s very much over to Static as well, but just the things I’ve achieved with Haast, like the album, opening for Devilskin, opening for Vana, and doing music videos, it’s just massive confidence boosting stuff.”
Since joining the band without quite knowing what she was stepping into, Sinaea has become more confident, more experimental, and willing to take her voice into places that she hadn’t previously expected. Haast Hunter’s refusal to stay within the confines of one genre mirrors Sinaea’s own refusal to stay within vocal identity, leading to the idea that experiementation itself has become the point.
Haast Hunter are: Sinaea Elizabeth (vocals) James (Jimmy) Harper (vocals, guitar) Chris Gudsell (bass) Mitch Walker (drums).
Their debut album Plastique is out now on most streaming platforms, and you can catch Haast Hunter live at Dougfest 4 in Auckland this coming Labour Weekend. Read more here for details.
