“No learning, no hugging”. Hawkboy is doing its best to embrace this ideal set forth by Seinfeld creator Larry David. Forever having the weighty shadow of As Cities Burn looming overhead, Aaron Lunsford and Cody Bonnette have chosen a path less worn this time around. Hawkboy, although young in its actual output, already has enough buzz to propel the perhaps a bit unwilling duo into another stratosphere, post ACB. Their live show is a calm intimate peek into the Hawkboy experience, mellow and unassuming. And while fans may be clamoring for tunes that are far gone in the minds of the two men, the fresh (and free) material is something to get your hands on. Bonnette, notorious for his complete disinterest in interviews, sat out on this one while Lunsford fielded our inquiries.

Let’s get this out of the way. How tired of you are the comparisons to As Cities Burn?

Aaron Lunsford: It’s a tough thing because ACB was very good to us.  Without it nobody would even care that Hawkboy exists so it does provide a good start to get people interested.  On the other hand we do wish people would sort of move on.  Its okay to like As Cities Burn, but it’s not okay to get upset that we won’t play your favorite ACB song from eight years ago.  I feel proud of what we have done in the past but I am much more interested in where we are headed now.  I would eventually like people to not even think about ACB when they think of Hawkboy

What do people generally say about the contrast between ACB and Hawkboy?

AL: Of course there are some people that complain that they liked ACB better or that we were more passionate before or more Christian, but it seems that for the most part people seem to see it as just the next progression from Hell or High Water.  So if you look at it that way, musically it’s not such a dramatic departure from what ACB ended up being.

Aaron, what had you been doing in the mean time after ACB called it quits? Did you know you wanted to continue making music with Cody still? How did your involvement in Hawkboy come about?

AL: Well I was living in Baton Rouge, LA working as a baker at a fine dining restaurant for about a year or so after ACB stopped touring.  In fall of 2009 I picked up and moved to Nashville, TN to try and get back into music.  Coincidentally, Cody and his wife moved there from Portland, OR one day before I did.  We had not even spoken about it until a couple weeks before it happened.  Not making that up at all.  Cody and I always clicked well as far as making music.  We are pretty much always on the same page and rarely disagree on ideas for songs and structure.  If one of us is doing something that sucks, we usually figure it out before the other person has to say anything.  It is a pretty smooth operation in that regard.  As far as getting Hawkboy together, we just started goofing around in the basement of my house in Nashville.  One night early in 2010 we wrote “Two Bit” and that was the real beginning.  With both of us living in the same city again it just kind of naturally occurred to start trying to write something together.

Your live show is very mellow and intimate. Is that an atmosphere you strive for? What would you like the live setting to look like as Hawkboy tours and releases more?

AL: Not really sure how much we will be playing live in the future.  Everything is always kind of up in the air with us.  I don’t think we are trying to accomplish anything specific with our live show.  We used to focus on that a lot, trying to create a certain mood.  I think nowadays we just try to enjoy playing the songs.  No agenda to change any lives.  Larry David had a rule when writing “Seinfeld” episodes- No learning, no hugging.

I haven’t seen much press about you guys since you’ve been releasing songs. Is this by choice as a stance of kind of taking it easy? Or just happenstance?

AL: Well I think bands hire publicists or something to get people to do interviews and stuff.  I guess we are apathetic about that type of thing.  I am not sure how much interviews really matter in the grand scheme.  I know I do like to read about bands that I like. “…we just started goofing around in the basement of my house in Nashville.  One night early in 2010 we wrote “Two Bit” and that was the real beginning.” We aren’t intentionally avoiding the press.  I figure if someone wants to interview us they will ask.  You guys are only the second to do so.
What would you say is the biggest difference between your mindset while writing for ACB for the past years in comparison to how you write and create for Hawkboy? Are things a little more laid back now?

AL: We are way more laid back, but not in the sense of being lazy about making sure the songs are as good as they can be.  This time around we are just making a point to have more fun instead of obsessing about every little thing regarding our band.  Like I said earlier, there is no mission at hand.  It’s just fun to write and record and play some shows.  I like it better this way.
Hawkboy seemed to steadily and slyly make its way into people’s scope. What are your expectations for Hawkboy?

AL: The key is to lack expectation, that way you will never be disappointed.  If we sell a million records it won’t be because we set out to do it.  There seems to be a slow and steady growth of this band and I am really happy with that.  Followings like that are the ones that allow you to keep making music for 10 or 15 years.  Selling a million records overnight is all too often only good for a very short career.  But I guess then you have lots of money so that’s pretty cool too.

Thank you for speaking with us. Anything else you’d like to add before we say goodbye?

AL: Attention all aspiring musicians: Go to college.