The fact that the music industry can be a duplicitous world is no secret, but it’s rare we’re offered such a candid insight into the way artists can be taken advantage of through manipulation and dodgy contracts. For The Hunna, though, this honesty and openness has allowed them to grow closer to their ever-growing fanbase – gaining respect and continuing loyalty as they do so, not to mention giving them “the fire” they needed to come back hungrier than ever.
At the end of last year, The Hunna made a public statement explaining that their upcoming November tour dates were being postponed. New dates were announced but there was still a general sense of confusion surrounding the situation, not least how fans were to get refunds or new tickets when management, High Time, were seemingly being so shady.
Despite this uncertainty, fans of The Hunna remained fierce in their love for the band, only ever commenting positively in regards to whatever mess was clearly going on behind closed doors. This unwavering devotion hasn’t gone unnoticed by the band, who acknowledge that “the support for the band’s been amazing and it, you know, speaks volumes really”.
Their story is one that they’ve clearly recounted many times, recalling without much emotion that they’d been told, “if we weren’t with [their old management] then no-one would give a shit and we wouldn’t sell out anything and no-one would care and we’d be done”.
It was during this time that morale hit rock bottom, and for many, this would have been the end; the devastation that comes when the people that should be your biggest champions are the ones throwing around the most degrading comments and threats is enough to destroy even the most confident. However, this band’s spirit was far from crushed, and they now feel “even hungrier to continue what [they] were doing and just spread Hunnamania worldwide”.
This particular evening is a shining example of that ‘Hunnamania’, as we sit backstage at the O2 Academy Brixton, ahead of their third sold-out show at the venue. “It’s one of these”, Dan Dorney laughs sincerely as he flips his middle finger in conjunction with this statement. “It would have been stupid to call it a day. It would have been stupid.”