H.O.O.D

The Worcester Phoenix
April 5 - 11, 2001

[On The Rocks]

HOODfellas

Hunter Orange Overdose's latest line-up

by Phil MacNamara
Worcester music fans will see a brand new HOOD at Mulligan's this Friday Night, April 6th. Hunter Orange Overdose (HOOD) formed last fall and have only played a half dozen
gigs, so they're still a new band. The heavily anticipated supergroup was anchored by the old Super Creb Star Dynomax rhythm section of drummer Craig McDonald, who helped to keep Thundercock hard, and Dave Warren, whose bass playing once anchored Bonehead.
"This is the first time I've ever been able to write songs in a band," McDonald said at a recent practice session. "HOOD is right between the heaviness that we had in Thundercock and the melodic stuff we were doing in Creb Star."
HOOD's secret weapon is the dual guitar chaos and voices of Kaleem Clarkson and Al Montiero. Clarkson, an admitted novice on guitar, kicks out chunky metal rhythms and shifts gears into hardcore, speed punk, reggae, and whatever other genres the band chooses to explore. Kaleem honed his vocal chops in the Portland-area metal band Cringe, and in his brief tenure with HOOD, has shown a vocal range and character that has helped to define HOOD's sound.
Monteiro is as comfortable throwing out intricate poly-rhythmic leads as he is throwing down blunt hardcore riffs, adding Portuguese colorings known as Mosher and Bailaineau rhythms. He learned these rhythms playing in the Hudson-based Portuguese pop-party bands Amigos and Music Vision, from 1991 to 1996, along with his cousins and friends.
"At first I was embarrassed to be in it, but I learned a lot from playing with those guys. I learned about four-part harmonies. In Portuguese music, if you can't do four-part harmonies right, don't even bother playing out." Montiero says that these harmonies will soon surface in HOOD songs. In "Five Point Buck," all the members take turns singing, but there's more shouting and growling going on than harmonizing.
Warren has been through the "aspiring new band" thing with Bonehead. When talking about Bonehead, Dave recalls the hopefulness of the early '90s, when Bonehead was introducing rapcore to the Worcester scene, rather than the self-indulgence and animosity that crashed the band a few years later. He says that he feels more assured about this band because "me and Craig played together in Creb Star, so I know we're gonna be tight, and the stuff Kaleem and Al are coming up with is different than anything I've been in. I think we got a good thing going".
It's funny; despite all their assurances to the contrary, they still sound pretty damn hardcore. At a recent show at Ralph's, they opened up with a blistering assault called "First Victim." After Warren kicked off the first verse, Clarkson's evil growl and Montiero's crunchy chords inspired a no-holds-barred mosh pit. Clarkson's voice commands attention enough to beg the question as to why he isn't the band's lead singer. Since the band's first incarnation in November, they've tried out three singers. Neither Montiero or Warren was comfortable with the idea of being the full-time lead singer, and McDonald sings quite well, but not while he's playing drums. So what we've got here is a band full of guys who don't quite have the ego to be lead singers; that's pretty refreshing. "We might try out other vocalists later. Anything can happen," Dave Warren laughs, "It's kind of like a running soap opera."
Apparently so. Earlier this week, Craig McDonald said that he, Clarkson, and Montiero had a meeting and decided that they were going to ask Warren, who has a history of sudden departures from area bands, to leave the group. However, before they could tell him, he left town. Within days, the band practiced a few times with Shane Wheeler, who played bass in much-missed metal bands Force Fed Shovelhead, Stoolface, and Deadlift. McDonald says, "Shane learned our songs pretty fast. If it was anyone else, I probably would have said let's not play out for a few weeks, but he's got it down."
The soap opera continues, after these words from our sponsor. . .

Hunter Orange Overdose play a benefit for The Missing for Action Foundation with Eastcide, Simple, Curb Feeler, Red Mercury, and Testa at Mulligan's this Friday Night, April 6, and also on Friday, April 13 at the Lucky Dog.