HR People

4.5 stars out of 5

"The recent release from Denver’s HR People is all over the place, in the very best of senses. Clearly, the project is an amalgamation of strong and varying influences, drawing on the high energy ends of the genre spectrum. It is perhaps as if Cage the Elephant were signed to Rhymesayers and produced by Danger Mouse, taking in Dan Auerbach riffs and Portugal. The Man choruses. Of course, this isn’t to say that the record, Paint, doesn’t hold its own individuality. There is a unique, poetic lyricism in each rap verse (check out “Nobody’s Watching”), a gritty, blues urgency (“Mama and Daddy”) and old school soul undertones (“Boardwalk”), each outlining the basis of Paint. Certainly a band to watch out for; be on the lookout for HR People for some powerful live shows, new projects or more funky music videos." - Scene Magazine

HR People Live on 93.3 FM KTCL! - 93.3 KTCL www.area93.com

"Following the release of their second full-length album Paint last year, HR People are focused on writing new material and reaching new fans in 2015. Combining elements of rock, soul and hip hop, HR People sounds like the lovechild of Jack White and Atmosphere’s Slug with some DNA contributions from Kool & the Gang. Performing on Friday, Jan. 16 at Lost Lake Lounge, all four members of HR People sat down with AXS for this exclusive interview.

AXS: Are you Denver natives? If not, where is everyone originally from?
Collin Pierson (guitar, vocals): I’m not; I’m originally from Michigan and also lived in Texas before moving to Colorado in the beginning of 2005.
Davis Stone (bass, guitar, vocals): I was born in New Orleans and lived in Chicago before I moved to Evergreen, Colorado. I have been in Colorado since I was 8, and have lived in Denver for the last 2 years. We have all been in Denver for at least 7 or 8 years.
Ryan Hughes (vocals, keyboard): I was born in Denver, and have lived in Colorado since.

AXS: What brought HR People together?
Davis: The group originally started as a project called Fly and Family Stone, with myself and Ryan Hughes. When I was in school at Colorado State I met Jordan Reynolds at a house party where we briefly jammed together. Coincidentally he also trained me to be a busboy at Chili’s the same week. We had been looking for a drummer and he was a great fit. Shortly after Jordan joined we changed the name to HR People.
Collin: I joined in September 2013 after HR People had already been together for several years.

AXS: How long has HR People been together? What have you learned during that time?
Davis: Ryan and I began making music in 2007 as a 2-piece hip-hop project. Jordan joined in 2011, and we began to go in a more instrumental, rock inspired direction. In the last two years, we have added Collin on guitar and Ryan and I have brought the keys and bass guitar into our live performance.
The learning process has largely been our progress in composing songs, with all 4 members contributing equally to make a single product.

AXS: Where was your first show in Denver, and what was the experience like? Who else did you play with at the show?
Davis: Our first show in Denver was at Cervantes. We sold a bunch of tickets to our friends and made $140 or something close to that. We thought we made the “Big Time”! The show was way over booked. About 10 Denver acts were on the bill, and we each got about 20 or 30 minute sets.

AXS: Have any Denver musicians inspired HR People?
Davis: We are big fans of West Water Outlaws from Boulder. As we have headed in a more rock-driven direction we have definitely been influenced by their style and energy.
Ryan: We are huge fans of the local music scene, some of Denver's rock acts have been a direct influence on us. We are aspiring to bring the energy of bands like In The Whale, The Yawpers, and Nathaniel Rateliff to our own live performance.

AXS: What projects are HR People currently working on?
Collin: We’re currently in the process of writing new material and exploring the musical possibilities within the band. We also are striving to have a greater presence within the Denver area.
Davis: In addition to the new music we are writing, we are in the process of filming a music video for the song “Mama and Daddy”, which is on our album Paint. The video is shot in two parts. We will take the first part and project it onto walls and other locations in Denver, and film the projection to make the final product. We hope to release the video in late February, early March.

AXS: What inspired your 2014 release, Paint?
Davis: We were so excited by our new sound and the potential that we gained from playing the songs instrumentally. If you listen to Paint, you will see that inspiration was coming from all directions. We don’t want to have one single sound, so we pull from all over. The first 4 songs or so that we wrote for Paint were originally produced and composed by Ryan on his computer. We took those songs and played them instrumentally and I really think our inspiration started there.

AXS: What was the writing and recording processes like for Paint?
Collin: Looking back, the writing process was very organic and relatively quick. Our new combined sound was just beginning to take shape. I think the songs fleshed themselves out as we played them more and as we played them live. In regards to recording, I think we all put in long days to make sure that it turned out how we envisioned it. I know I was putting in long days, going straight from either work or school to put hours in the studio and not finishing most nights until well past sun down.

AXS: What else is HR People involved in locally, either as individuals or as a group?
Collin: Currently working part time on a remediation project in Globeville and studying Industrial Design at Metro.
Davis: The rest of us work full time jobs outside of music, for now...
Jordan Reynolds (drums, vocals): I walk a few dogs every other Saturday. Pro-bono mostly, I do it for the doggies.

AXS: Does HR People have a goal in mind for the sound the band produces? Are there certain influences or themes the band tries to inject into its own music?
Collin: I think one goal we’re practicing is keeping the music cohesively simple while also trying to explore the plethora of instruments and sounds that we have at our disposal.
Davis: We definitely want to highlight the four-piece vocals. All 4 of us write our own parts, and we have COMPLETELY different styles of singing and rapping and otherwise. We feel that what separates us is our ability to take perspective from four members, or four angles at the same message. Our challenge is to keep the lyrics somewhat focused, but I see it as more of a benefit than a challenge.
Ryan: Our goal going forward is to test the limits of ourselves as musicians, and continue to be influenced by all styles of music. Rather than try to nail down a specific sound, we have chosen to create our music with the idea of combining different elements from the many genres we love.

AXS: For someone who has never seen or heard HR People, what would you tell them to entice them to watch your set?
Davis: To see our live set gives people the chance to see and hear the lyrics coming from all four of us, often all at the same time. Our live set has a lot of energy, and we like to play it loud. Its funky and bluesy and heavy, all wrapped up in one.

AXS: What would your ideal live show look like? Where would it take place? Any particular time of year? Would a specific band/musician share the bill with or open for HR People?
Collin: I liked playing at the Higher Ground Music Festival last summer, I think more shows like that would be ideal. I know we also want to start making our live shows more entertaining for the audience and I think that will come as we start taking more chances while we’re performing on stage and practicing at home.
Davis: We like playing on bills that have a lot of different styles between the bands. A perfect show, to me, would put us at Red Rocks sandwiched between The Black Keys, Atmosphere, Cage the Elephant, and The Generationals. Fingers crossed...

AXS: What shows are you looking forward to over the next few months?
Davis: We are playing at Lost Lake on Friday, January 16th. We haven’t played there before and we have a bunch of new songs to play for that one, so we are very excited.

AXS: What do you enjoy most about Denver’s music scene, and why?
Collin: As I’m becoming more engaged within the Denver music scene its incredible to see the amount of support and networking that can be found within the city to help spread and promote local artists.
Davis: I listen to OpenAir on Colorado Public Radio pretty much all the time, and it is amazing to hear the quality and diversity of artists that Denver offers. OpenAir in itself is a great example of the support that is present for Denver musicians. People love to see live music and have a good time in Denver, which makes it a great place to play." - AXS

Click here to enjoy HR People!
We’re recording “Denver Loft Sessions”, a 30-minute program highlighting Denver’s great music scene.
Denver Loft Sessions will start airing on Denver 8, DenverGov, YouTube, and Facebook in February.
Check our our FaceBook page: https://www.facebook.com/DenverLoftSessions. - Denver Channel 8

by Charlie Sullivan

I caught HR People performing at the Mile High Music Festival in August and was pleasantly surprised by the lads. The act combines aspects of hip-hop, doo-wop, rock, and funk/soul and in doing so have created their own sound with a dynamic blend of vocal varieties dispersed through their pieces. Founding members Davis Stone (bass, vocals) and Ryan Hughes (keyboards, vocals) had been performing as a hip-hop duo since high school when they hooked up with songwriter Jordan Reynolds (drums, vocals) in 2009. The band saw new potential in their musical horizons and soon started to develop what would be the HR People sound. By the end of 2013 guitarist Collin Pierson joined the ranks filling out and helping fully define what has become HR People sound.

To the band’s credit they’ve released two full length albums. 2012’s Alpine Soundscapes was a hip-hop infused mix-mash with Davis, Hughes, and Reynolds at the helm. The pieces relied heavily on 60’s mood music giving it an exotic twist. The lads started thinking outside of the box, developing new ideas. With the addition of a guitarist in 2013 the band’s music began to evolve. Davis picked up the bass and Hughes the keyboards and as crazy as this sounds, they taught themselves to play the instruments in about a year and a half. The band began to see their music in a different light. With an arsenal of newly written material the lads hit the studio and laid down the tracks for 2014’s Paint, which debuted at the Mile High Music Fest.

“We wanted to fill out our sound and started writing our own music,” says Davis, “We were looking to take things in a somewhat different direction but wanted to stay true to our roots.”

“With the addition of Collin and a full instrumental line-up we decided to take a leap of faith and run with the new ideas,” adds Davis.

The new music is in a league of its own. Everyone shares vocal duties on just about all of the pieces. Davis and Hughes rap and Reynolds and Pierson sing. The outfit can sound like Zappa infused Funkadelic to a late 50’s doo-wop infused rock act rapping and singing their way through the pieces. People may be underrating the band but they have a knack for writing and choosing material of above average melodic interest that, through the subtle deployment of rapping and singing delivers the embodiment of different facets of people’s lives and life in general. The first track on Paint, “Soul”, is a song about prostitution and greed in America. The track hits home giving the listener something to think about and giving you the realization that prostitution happens on a much deeper level in politics and the corporate world. People worship money and will do just about anything to get it. If you get a chance check out 1969’s The Magic Christian with Peter Sellers and Ringo Starr, you’ll get the bands point.

The band is taking their music in the right direction, challenging the listeners with an as yet to be defined genre of music. You’re in for a rare treat, give em’ a spin or take em’ in live.

“My theory is this; I’m not a political songwriter. I’m an honest songwriter.”- Billy Bragg - Colorado Music Buzz Magazine

HR People is a rock rap fusion band from Denver, Colorado. The band features meaningful lyrics mixed with soulful melodies and rhythms that will take you through the journey of this album. It has been quite the ride since I got involved with recording, mixing and mastering this album, but I am very happy it’s out and the world can listen to our hard work. Made some great music and made some great friends in the process.

The band release the album at Higher Ground Music Fest in Denver, had an amazing turn out, and hasn’t looked back since. They are also set to play on Denver Loft Session later this week so check that out as well.

You can listen to the full album on YouTube, or on Spotify:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuOrniH_hoI
Spotify: https://play.spotify.com/album/1Ivs0sumRQ9C4uOht3kp50 - www.mixedbychrisscott.com

"Keep an eye on HR People, an up and coming Rock/Hip-Hop group from Denver, Colorado. After seeing these guys live it is obvious they could hold a full line-up on their own, and they were definitely a great opener for the next group. In August of 2014, HR People released their second album entitled, “Paint.” We were very impressed with Ryan Hughes’ vocals and percussion skills, as well as Jordan Reynolds on the drums. Expect a combination of soul, hip-hop and rock, similar to that of Gym Class Heroes or Linkin Park. Check out their Denver Loft Sessions video here."

Band Members:

Davis Stone (Bass, Vocals), Ryan Hughes (Keys, Vocals, Production), Jordan Reynolds (Drums, Vocals), Collin Pierson (Guitar, Vocals) - The Denver Underground

"I watched it all... I thought it was really good and very entertaining"

-Alki David
President, Anakando Media Group, LA,Calif. - Anakando Media Group

Listening to the catalog of music from Denver’s HR People is a study of evolution. This is a band that started out simple, allowed themselves to evolve and develop through the years, and never ditched a style they explored.

The origins of HR People are traced back to 2007 when Davis Stone (bass/vocals) and Ryan Hughes (keys/vocals/production) were in high school. The two formed a hip-hop duo. Four years later, they added a drummer and released an album that heavily relied on ’60s-inspired samples. The band really began to come into its current iteration when guitars were added, and the group brought instruments into the live performance. The result of this development is 2014’s “Paint,” an album that combines funk, hip-hop and soul with rock.

This hybrid sound is well-tread path, to be sure. But HR People make it their own. The bottom end is often funk, while the guitar and keys are from the Black Keys school. Vocals move seamlessly between soul singing and Midwest hip hop a la Slug from Atmosphere. It’s a formula that works: the sound feels organic and fluid, nothing like styles thrown together for novelty.

Currently, the band is working on new songs that have even more rock influence. The songs will be collected onto an EP to be released later in 2016. For now, download “Black Widow,” an exclusive track to help you dip your toes in HR People music. Follow HR People on Facebook for info on their high-energy shows. - Hey Reverb