Our latest “Past, Present, Future” interview is with Austin’s HMS Foolhardy. Listen to and rate their music in the TwoGroove player below while you read our interview with the band.

Members/Instruments:
Carissa Ries – bass, vox
Guy Gershoni – drums, vox
Michael Hardy – guitar, vox

“Foolhardy” formed in Berlin in 2003, which is also where the first album was recorded and released. The original bass player went on to produce the debut Whitest Boy Alive album.

The group moved to Austin in 2005 and were soon rechristened HMS Foolhardy. A 5-song EP produced by Louie Lino (Nada Surf) was released in 2007. Tracks from the latest project, titled “Grassrock,” will be trickling out between now and summer.

1. Past: What is your musical background? What has led you to this point?
Michael: All of us have been making music most of our lives and playing in bands since we were teenagers. We’ve all recorded and performed with a number of other projects over the years.

I spent six years in Berlin. While I was there I continued to play guitar as a sideman in several bands, but I also got very interested in electronic music and ended up DJing quite a bit. I started Foolhardy when I began to miss the energy and sincerity of the rock-n-roll performance.

Guy’s resume is so long I can’t remember it all. I know he’s worked with some great people like Mark Farina and Thievery Corporation – he also has had a composition nominated for a Grammy (google it). He also brings a lot of technical skill to our DIY recording efforts.

Carissa was a band mate of mine back in college at University of Iowa. In 2004 her band had just dissolved, and I asked her to come to Austin with me to reform Foolhardy. She signed on and has been an integral part of the band ever since. Her melodic bass lines and harmony vocals really define our sound. She wanted me to tell you that she was raised on Creedance Clearwater Revival.

2. Present: Where are you at now in your career? What are you currently working on?
We’re finishing up our latest recording project “Grassrock” at the moment. Rather than release a traditional album we’ve decided to put out a song every couple of weeks or so until they’re all out. There could be as many as 12.

One of the ideas behind “grassrock” is that what we do is grass roots. There’s not a lot of hype surrounding us. We don’t really cultivate media attention, and we don’t have any gimmicks. Our ethic is to make great recordings and put on shows that are an emotional experience for the audience. I always think about the euphoric feeling I had the first time I saw a live rock concert. Our goal is to generate that same feeling in our audience.

3. Future: What’s coming up for you? Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
We’re very optimistic about 2009. We’ve heard some very kind words about our music from industry people whom we respect. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.

4. Where can people find more of your music?
All the usual places: myspace.com/foolhardymusic, iTunes, cd baby, emusic, last.fm., etc…

We also gig regularly in Austin and around the region.

5. Anything you’d like to plug?
Music: Whitest Boy Alive, Boards of Canada, Tocotronic, Paul Kalkbrenner
Concert movie: The Last Waltz
Tacos: Nueva Onda
Texas House Bill 902