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Freedom Hawk with Slow Wake
September 5, 2023 @ 8:00 pm - 11:00 pm
$12
Freedom Hawk to play Westside Bowl on Tuesday, September 5 with Slow Wake and Brave Arrows! Doors at 7PM, Music at 8PM. $12 advance, $15 day of show.
For nearly 15 years Freedom Hawk have been an essential presence in the American heavy rock underground. Their heavy riffs emerge from the tidewaters of Virginia Beach with rolling groove, soulful guitar melodies, and harmonic metal urgency to produce a sound that is distinctly their own. The quartet’s brand of heavy rock captures the best of the ‘70s with touches of early ’80s heavy metal, and presents it in a way familiar but uncompromising in its own personality.
Inspired by their experiences that could only come from living close to the ocean, songs conjure images of the warm sun, a day of surfing, and partying on the beach. Also the occasional social commentary, as on new album single “Age of the Idiot.”
T.R. Morton, Mark Cave, Matt Cave, and Lenny Hines formed the band in 2005 and played their first show as Freedom Hawk in January of 2006, opening for Year Long Disaster and Throttlerod. Their debut album, Sunlight, was self-released in early 2008.
Their second release, 2009’s Freedom Hawk (MeteorCity Records), became a popular choice as the soundtrack for online videos; all 7 songs were picked up and used throughout the years. The release of this album also saw the start of short tours on the East Coast to support their music.
2011 brought Holding On (Small Stone Records), a reflection of the band becoming more comfortable with each other musically and reaching beyond the boundaries they’d set for themselves, with tracks like “Living for Days” and “Indian Summer” providing a heavier take on their original sound. The song “Her Addiction” was sampled and used in an episode of CBS’s Hawaii Five-O and could also be heard in an episode of MTV’s Ridiculousness, along with “Indian Summer”. The band continued touring the East Coast to support this record, as well as SXSW in 2013 and in 2014, they made their first trip to Europe playing various shows including the Roadburn Festival.
With the departure of Matt Cave, the band released their fourth album, Into Your Mind (Small Stone Records) in 2015 as a three-piece, without veering too far from their original sound and style. Rhythm tracks were recorded with all three members together in one room to capture their sound in a more organic fashion. To support, more TV placements and a return to Europe to play the Freak Valley Festival and various other shows in multiple countries, as well as more East Coast US touring.
This year also marked the first expansion of their touring route to now include southern U.S. and West Coast.
The band’s aforementioned fifth full-length, Beast Remains, was released in 2018 as their Ripple Music debut following 2017 reissues for Sunlight and Freedom Hawk and broader domestic touring. A revamped four-piece found Brendan O’Neill bringing new energy and a metallic edge on guitar. Songs like “Solid Gold”, “Darkness to Light”, “Champ”, and more set the stage for what would be another reinvention and expansion of the sound they started ten years earlier. The band returned to Europe for a third time to support this album, playing notable festivals such as Tube Cult Fest, Metalheads Open Air Fest, Desertfest London, and Desertfest Berlin. Upon returning from Europe, the band took a few days off and travelled to the Mojave Desert to play the GKC Fest, put on by Trevor Jacob. In 2019, the band saw another expansion on their touring route, touring the Midwest and Canada.
Over the years, the band have gone on countless tours taking them to across the U.S. and to multiple countries in Europe. U.S. festivals include SXSW, Doomed Fest Maryland, and Doomed and Stoned. European festivals include Roadburn, Freak Valley Festival, Desertfest London and Desertfest Berlin with more live dates to follow as they continue to expand their reach both in terms of music and fanbase around the world.
Check out Freedom Hawk’s latest release, Take All You Can, on Digital and CD. Recorded in 2021 with guitarist Brendan O’Neill at the helm, Freedom Hawk’s sixth album, Take All You Can, is set to arrive on September 23, 2022. It is their second record for Ripple Music.
Lockdown began in March 2020 as Freedom Hawk were on tour in the American Southwest, in Phoenix, AZ. With the prospect of playing shows on hold, the band concentrated on what would become their sixth album, self-recorded with remote help from others on mixing and mastering. Continuing the energy captured in their fifth LP, Beast Remains, the band wanted to include a rawer, more direct sound akin to how they present themselves on stage.
