Don’t you guys just love it when you stumble upon a song and not even half way through, just completely and utterly fall in love and wonder how on earth you haven’t heard it and praise the universe for creating such melodic brilliance? Okay I might be over exaggerating just a tiny bit but Hanni El Khatib (facebook/twitter) sure makes me feel like I’m a screaming teenager again hence my over-the-top statement of sheer admiration I just wrote to start this post. Moving on…
While surfing the net I came across an interview of Hanni and as soon as I read that he believed listening to more Black Sabbath would solve the world’s problems I thought, now that’s someone I would like to get to know better. A year ago, a good friend of mine sent me a recorded video of this guy tearing the stage up with his tunes whilst opening for Florence + The Machine in L.A. and I immediately fell for his rawness on stage and how his music took me back to earlier Black Keys years. Nevertheless, Hanni’s sound is unique and opens you up to an array of genres. His rusty yet smooth voice, doo-wop vibes mixed with pure rock’n’roll fused with bluesy garage rock and a little folk on the side, him on guitar and his best friend (Nicky Fleming-Yaryan) on the drums… all I could think of is that I absolutely have to see them perform. His idea of music is a simple one, raw simple music, which is straight forward enabling you to get your point right across, and he tries to create a feeling, an atmosphere rather than just a sound though sound is innate. Hanni describes his music as knife-fighting music and his audience as those who have been shot or hit by a train – music that is emotionally aggressive, tragic and raw. If that is what you’re into trust me, you’re definitely in for a treat.
Hanni grew up with a mixture of cultures: he’s half Palestinian half Filipino and was born and raised in San Francisco. As many mixed kids, growing up was a little off for him as he struggled to figure out his identity but it’s clear that nowadays he’s comfortable with the fact that he is indeed an American born kid. He currently lives in L.A. and at this stage of life embraces the city with open arms, despite having to drive everywhere.
Before dedicating time for his music, he was creative director for a skateboard company that was founded by professional skater Keith Hufnagel called HUF. He never intended to do anything with his music but after touring with his friend’s band called Her Space Holiday, he felt like recording something of his own and decided to put out an acoustic, folk-based EP entitled Bullfighter’s Heart. Now signed to newly created label Innovative Leisure, he released his debut album Will The Guns Come Out last September, 2011. Singles include Dead Wrong (2010) and Build. Destroy. Rebuild (2010).
He’s currently touring Europe, having passed by the UK and supported The Heavy in his London gig earlier this month. Last stop in his European tour is beautiful city of Porto in Portugal. Next on his schedule is an American tour, starting off with a gig in L.A. in June. For those who have the chance to see him, check him out and please let me know how it was as I’m still gutted I missed his London gig. However, Hanni has plans to record a new album once he returns to American soil and until then, I’m going to stay optimistic and hope to catch him sooner or later.
