0
0
Will O’Haver strums his guitar at Hudson North’s January 2nd performance.
Dexter students Sam Gibson and Will O’Haver of the band Hudson North talk music production, cross-country, and finding their direction
WRITTEN BY ELENA LU, PHOTOGRAPHED BY CHARLIE LUTZ AND YUMA TSUBOUCHI
In its recently released first single, “The Bigger Picture / Thinking of You,” the band Hudson North explores the process of finding one’s direction in life. Dexter students Sam Gibson and Will O’Haver formed the band early in 2022 with drummer Trillian Krug from Chelsea High School.
Both Gibson and O’Haver have played the guitar for years. O’Haver, a senior, first picked up the guitar at six years old, and Gibson comes from a family of musicians. Eventually, both discovered a passion for creating their own music.
When they’re not writing songs and performing, Gibson and O’Haver can be found running with the cross-country team. The two were introduced by a mutual friend while running for the cross-country team, and they quickly bonded over their love of guitar. In the fall of 2021, they played a few songs together at a cross-country get-together, which sparked their interest in forming a band. In January 2022, the Dexter and Chelsea teams had a combined practice, and Gibson spotted a guitar pick in Chelsea runner Trillian Krug’s phone case. He struck up a conversation and learned that she was a drummer. Thus Hudson North was born, named after the cross-country team’s home course, Hudson Mills North Course.
“The team is so supportive of each other in everything we do, in and out of running,” Gibson says. “Honestly, there’s so, so much that I owe to this team.”
JAMMING OUT: Sam Gibson performs song covers and Hudson North’s single “The Bigger Picture / Thinking of You.”
Gibson and O’Haver recorded their seven-minute single entirely on a school-issued MacBook. Gibson, a junior, wrote the lyrics late at night while reflecting on the book 1984 and the meaning of life. The recording took significantly longer. While juggling cross-country practices and schoolwork, Gibson and O’Haver wrote melodies and instrumental accompaniment, recorded the vocals, guitar part, and percussion in a studio in O’Haver’s basement, and documented their musical journey on social media. Fellow Dexter students Megan O’Day, Kate Varitek, and Annabel O’Haver provided the background vocals, and Dan O’Haver helped produce the song.
High school is a time of growth and self-discovery for many, and Gibson is no exception.
“I’ve literally changed so much over the last few years,” he says. “The lyrics kind of reflect a mixture of those two things—somebody else and me as somebody else.”
However, Gibson wants his audience to interpret the song’s meaning for themselves.
“I think that any piece of art or creativity is meant to be interpreted by the audience in whatever way suits them, and to tell someone what a song should be would detract from that,” Gibson explains. “That’s really for the listener to decide for themself.”
IT’S BEEN TOO LONG: Will O’Haver performs an original song at the Chelsea Train Depot.
Currently, Hudson North can be found performing its music at local venues and continuing to produce new songs. For O’Haver, it was a step outside of his comfort zone.
“I love songwriting, [but] I don’t like performing,” O’Haver admits. “I like playing for myself, for my friends, and for my family.”
Despite O’Haver’s initial reluctance to perform publicly, the band ushered in the new year by opening for Wicked Cricket, a rock band formed by Chelsea students, at the Chelsea Train Depot. The event, which streamed live on Instagram, garnered a crowd of close to 100, including several members of the cross-country team.
While Hudson North hasn’t announced any upcoming performances yet, fans can continue to listen to “The Bigger Picture / Thinking of You” on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, YouTube, Tidal, and other music streaming platforms. In 2023, the band plans to re-record a song previously recorded by O’Haver and is looking to release a full album of original songs later in the year.
Q/A with Hudson North
Q: Do you have a singer-songwriter influences?
GIBSON: Definitely the Beatles. I would also say Nirvana and Oasis are big influences, among others. These bands have always seemed to me to have a real focus on first and foremost just writing good songs that their audience can connect with, and that’s something that really resonates with me and that I try to apply to my own music.
O’HAVER: Paul Simon was the first person that I started listening to for real, and I think that some of my writing that I’ve done has been very influenced by him.John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads” has been my favorite song for most of my life. I know Sam likes the Beatles, so the combination of the two really works.
Q: What have you learned in the process of producing your first song?
O’HAVER: It’s a lot of work. It’s a lot more work than I thought it was going to be. You have to be kind of a perfectionist about everything— every small detail. You can’t let any little detail slide.
Q: If you made it big and went on tour, who would you want to open for you?
GIBSON: I think it would be cool if someone stylistically similar to The Strokes or The Killers opened for us someday… I think that 2000s indie rock sound is pretty cool.
O’HAVER: Taylor Swift. If I could get Taylor Swift to open for me, I’ve made it.
Q: What would you like to tell your fans?
GIBSON: Thanks for listening to our music! It means a lot. Thank you—and there’s more to come.
