How did you guys come up with the name of the band? We are all Mark Twain fans; at least I know that I have always been one. The name comes from a book of his, The Innocents Abroad, and the letters he was writing on a boat to the Holy Land. He met with a group of guys on the ship to the Holy Land, who called themselves the Night Hawks, and they played cards, drank, smoked cigars and generally had a good time. Anyway, they were on a boat called the S.S. Quaker City. So we kind of just combined the two.
Are you all Fort Worth natives? Close…our bass player, Patrick Adams, is from North Dakota actually, but he grew up in Haltom City. Matt Mabe, our drummer, is from Burleson, but he has lived in Fort Worth his whole life. I was born here in Fort Worth and have lived here my whole life, minus the two-year stretch in Lubbock when I was masquerading as a college kid. And Dave Matsler is from Amarillo but has lived in Fort Worth for a while now too.
With Austin and Denton so close, why stay in Fort Worth? Oh, man. Fort Worth, there is nothing like it. The allure for Fort Worth instead of Austin is not getting lost in the shuffle. There is so much [music], it is so dense, that it is hard to differentiate yourself from a lot that is going on. Denton is a really cool town too. We love getting to play there, but it has its own scene. We have always felt like we were a Fort Worth band, and we wanted to make that well known. I like our city.
What was it like making Honcho?
We were chomping at the bit to get into the studio and make our second studio record, so we went in with Matthew Smith and Jackson Wilburn. It was five days fast and furious – early morning and late nights, but it was a pleasant experience.
