King Hannah, Tell Me Your Mind and I’ll Tell You Mine
Craig Whittle and Hannah Merrick are the heart of the rising Liverpool-based band King Hannah. Whittle first heard Merrick sing at a college band showcase, but it wouldn’t be until several years later when they both worked together at a bar that would spur the band’s formation. Ironically, 2020 would prove to be their most successful year: they signed to Berlin-based City Slang Records, released the slow-burning single Crème Brûlée, and quickly followed that up with their first EP, Tell Me Your Mind And I’ll Tell You Mine. On the cusp of a breakout year, Whittle and Merrick consider the meaning of their sound, why time is overrated, and disagreeing about tuna on pizza.
The following has been lightly edited.
What are some of your current influences?
Merrick: Well, we just want to make the best music we can and something that influences us is to do whatever we want to do.
Whittle: Yeah. We record everything ourselves and the producer is in the band so we’ve got a lot of control over everything.
Merrick: We don’t want to ever want to think, “We best not do that.” If we want to do it, we do it.
Whittle: We follow our own instincts as much as we can.
What are some of your all-time influences?
Whittle: Mazzy Star is a big one.
Merrick: Mr. Vile . . .
Whittle: Yeah, Kurt Vile. And bands like Silver Jews, those kinds of bands that are wordy, who really focus on their lyrics.
What’s the most overrated right now?
Whittle: In terms of music, time is overrated. Time is endless now. Anyone can record themselves and add thirty or forty tracks for each vocal take, for each line if you wanted. I think that detracts from what music is supposed to sound like. I don’t think music, as a whole, sounds any better than it did in the 1960s or 1970s when you were a lot more limited in what you could do, use, and the amount of time you spend on a record. You end up losing those intimate mistakes that make music emotional and emotive.
What’s the most underrated right now?
Merrick: Tuna on a pizza. It’s underrated because it’s really good.
Whittle: I don’t agree with that [laughs].
What are you excited about right now?
Merrick: Working on a new song. That’s literally what I do when I get out of bed each day is work on a song.
Whittle: It’s been strange. Right before lockdown began, we got our deal with our record label City Slang. So it’s been this terrible time throughout the world but we’ve had this little beacon of light that has been there throughout it all. We feel very fortunate that we’ve had this time to focus all our attention on our passion. We’ve had time to work on everything, and that’s what keeps me feeling excited.
What do you hope the rest of 2021 has in store for you?
Merrick: Personally, we hope to make the best album we’re able to make. We just want to be really happy with it, really proud of it.
Whittle: You only get one chance to make a first album and we want to be able to look back and say we’re proud of it. Even if everyone hates it! In a more general sense, gigs and festivals start happening again and being able to go out on tour.
Bonus Question: Your music sounds complete in and of itself. It sounds like you’re creating your own singular world. Is your sound an act of defense, or defiance, to keep the world at bay, or is it a register of the joy you two share in creating?
Whittle: I think it’s a bit more collaborative. The music is all about the people who get together and create it and that’s what makes it so wonderful. If you were creating with anyone else maybe you would need to be completely different?
Merrick: We’re also huge perfectionists.
Whittle: In the past, we’ve recorded a lot of stuff that we’ve never released.
Merrick: It plays a huge role, being perfectionists, in our music. And I think that has a lot to do with what you said about creating our own world. You only get one chance. If it’s not right, it’s not right, and it’s not going out. End of the day, that’s it.
