News Hundred Waters: ‘You Don’t Have To Like All Music’

When a group of multi-instrumentalists come together to make music, the results are either going to be frustratingly self-indulgent or mind-blowingly good. The story of Hundred Waters doesn’t start with an ad on Craigslist or a coincidental coming together of like-minded people all wasted at a music festival. It began with a practice session. Clever, talented friends conversed and decided to play some songs in a house. “There wasn’t a sense of a record label, or touring, or a band. We were just making music. It was a personal goal.”

The house belonged to Tray Tyron, Zach Tetreault and Paul Giese before lead vocalist Nicole Miglis moved in. Nicole didn’t realise it at the time but the house used to act as a Dojo Karate centre. Unbeknownst to Miglis, her Dad used to work as the instructor there and he met his other half when teaching lessons. “I unknowingly moved into the house my parents met in. It’s really bizarre.” Perhaps this sense of family connection had an effect when the band recorded their debut album in the same house. There’s certainly an interconnectedness amongst the members that stems from friendship and expands to their ability to bounce terrific, complex ideas off each other.

Nicole speaks of the group’s learning curve of writing on the road: “There’s a song we’re working on now that we wrote mostly in cars and trains, and it really sounds like looking out a window, traveling, and I can remember who wrote what part where, and where we were when the song started, things like that.” In these answers alone you can observe a sense of togetherness in the group that isn’t nearly as striking when speaking to other bands. In their debut self-titled LP, you immediately pick up on this communion. It’s not just the sound of musicians perfecting their craft. It’s the sound of friends working in complete sync.
If a scene doesn’t resonate with you, that doesn’t make it worse
And it’s a very private, intimate sound. There’s no awareness of an audience looking in, or at least there wasn’t until recently. All of a sudden the band’s debut has taken on a momentum of its own. 8 shows in one weekend at New York’s CMJ Festival resulted in the group being picked out amongst festival-goers as standout performers. This comes after being picked up by Skrillex’s OWSLA label, an imprint usually reserved for dance acts - Hundred Waters are the first band on the roster. Nicole agrees with the notion that they’re a “special case.” “Not that we’re given certain advantages, but in a lot of ways we’re sort of an experiment for them.”

It’s funny, because Hundred Waters’ music might tend to attract the cultural know-it-all, the chin-stroking listener who marvels at each magnificent sonic twist on the album. But there’s a certain accessibility within these tracks that removes the record from a hipster crowd and invites the more avid, excitable music fan who’s keen to explore a bunch of new ideas. Skrillex happened to be one of them.

Nicole declares herself and the band as anti-snobbery. “You don’t have to like all music but you should respect where it comes from; it’s a product of a culture. If a scene doesn’t resonate with you, that doesn’t make it worse, it’s just a completely different culture that maybe you don’t relate to.” Although she doesn’t make specific reference to it, this could easily be applied to the kind of listener who’d turn their head at news of the band being signed to a label curated by the pioneer of contemporary dubstep. “I think that when people try to rate music that simply, they’re trying to rate something else, usually themselves and not the music.” It’s in this awareness of what makes music special, a joy to listen to, that makes Hundred Waters an exception to the rule. They might be inclined to show-off and experiment but deep down they’re a group of accomplished musicians trying to make songs that resonate and hit a few nerves. On their stunning full-length, they achieve these goals with magnificent ease.

Taken from the December 2012 / January 2013 issue of DIY, available now. For more details click here.