Urian Hackney (Iggy Pop, The Armed): I Couldn't Find a Lefty Guitar So I Ended Up Playing Drums
His father, Bobby Hackney, was one of the founders of the band Death in the early 1970s, which he started with his brothers Dannis and David in Detroit. They were among the very first pioneers of punk. As they say, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree – and so, more than a quarter of a century later, Urian Hackney enters the scene, founding the band Rough Francis with his siblings. The band pays tribute to their father's music while continuing the family tradition. Today, you may know Urian not only as the drummer for Rough Francis, but also from the hardcore punk band The Armed, who are currently releasing a new album called The Future Is Here And Everything Needs To Be Destroyed. He has also played with Converge, is working on his own dub reggae album, and is part of Iggy Pop's backing band. His performance this year with the "godfather of punk" at the Colours of Ostrava festival was the perfect opportunity to talk to this versatile and talented musician.
We agreed with Urian via email that we would meet during the day, before Iggy's concert. But then nothing happened for a long time, and it seemed that the meeting would not take place. Finally, about half an hour before the concert, a message appeared on my phone screen – it was from Urian himself, suggesting that we meet right after the show. And indeed, he came about half an hour after the concert ended in a good mood. Together, we made our way through the festival area to the quiet press center, where we talked about his work with Iggy, his family's musical history, his own studies and skateboarding.
How did you enjoy today's performance?
The show was great! People here seemed very excited about having Iggy. So it makes it that much better.
How did you get the opportunity to be a part of Iggy's touring band?
Iggy was a fan of my band, The Armed. He called me up by name. I think he kind of seemed enthusiastic about me being in the band, said I was a great drummer. There were a lot of things just lined up. I met those guys playing a show together in Poland at a festival. I didn't meet Iggy, but I met the band and Leron Thomas, who was the band's horn player and produced the Free album. We became friends during that time, too. And then I joined the band.
How did the preparations for the tour go? Does Iggy have any special requests for how he wants the band to sound? Or is there someone in charge of musical direction?
I've been kind of appointed as the musical director for the band. Early on, what I would do was like: I was sending recordings of me playing the songs for him and the band to practice to. Our whole thing is to make it sound as close to the original recordings so Iggy can get into his primal state and do his thing.
I noticed that. The songs stuck very closely to the format of the Stooges albums. And then there was a song like "Some Weird Sin", which sounded exactly like the album produced by Bowie.
Yeah. There are certain things that I do with the drums. Iggy was a drummer, and he taught Scott (Asheton) how to play the drums when The Stooges were forming. So he relies heavily on a drummer. I have a snare dampening ring that I put on for The Stooges stuff, so it's more staccato, short and quick. I take the ring off for the Lust For Life stuff, and it's kind of ringy like on the Lust For Life recording, bombastic and with a big, open sound. Those things kind of help you play those styles.
You come from a musical family. Your dad, Bobby Hackney, played with your uncles and still does with the proto-punk band Death.
Yes, and I play the guitar for Death now.
I'm guessing you were heavily inspired from an early age?
You know what is funny? I got into punk rock through skateboarding. That was my introduction to Iggy's music, my introduction to MC5, Bad Brains, everything comes from skateboarding. That was before I knew that my father and uncles were in this band that pre-dated punk. When we discovered it, it gave us more clarity about who we are as people. It was like: Oh, that makes sense. Yeah, he and his band actually started from watching Iggy's shows! He was at Iggy's earliest shows, like Psychedelic Stooges with Grand Funk Railroad, Alice Cooper and those bands.
When did you start playing an instrument? Were drums your first choice?
Actually, the guitar was my first instrument. At the age of 3 or 4, but I ended up playing drums because I'm a left-handed guitar player and most of the guitarists are right-handed. I couldn't find a lefty guitar so I was like: "Fuck this." I ended up just playing drums. I'm left-handed still, so the style that I play is similar to Ringo's because he leads with his left hand, and I do too.
You continue the Hackney family musical tradition with your brothers in the band Rough Francis. Can you describe how that all came about? How did it happen that three brothers found a love for the same music and decided to make a band together?
I got into skateboarding through my older brother Bobby. I was lucky to have a direct influence from my brothers, who were already into that stuff and had an avenue to learn from. When I was young, they were in high school and beyond, experiencing all that stuff. The age was always a stagger when I was younger. You know, the little brother thing. Once I was seventeen, eighteen, we were all old enough to hang out with each other. We ended up starting Rough Francis because that was the nickname of my uncle David, who passed away. He was Death's guitar player.
When we all figured out that our dad was in the punk band, we started Rough Francis to cover a Death record that no one had heard before. We played as a Death cover band for only a few shows before my dad and uncle started the band again. We started like a missionary project to show the world that this music exists in the first place. Really interesting time.
You also played Bad Brains songs...
Yes, we did! Actually, before Rough Francis, we did a Bad Brains cover set. We played with our friend Alan Blackman, who is a white dude. We called ourselves Three Hackneys & The Blackman, which is pretty funny. (laughs)
I've also been listening to your dub record Night Of The Living Dread. Great work. Did you record all the instruments yourself or did you have other musicians involved?
My father was first like a reggae musician, and I got into dub music eventually. Dub and punk are kind of the same thing to me. Look back at the Bad Brains stuff, The Clash stuff, The Jam. All that music was very heavily dub-based. Especially within the punk world, being kind of like the background music. Gang Of Four would play and they would have King Tubby's music playing before.
I feel like that intrinsic thing became part of me, and I got really into it when I started building the studio. I'm still working on that record, which is gonna be hopefully done this year. Iggy needed me, so I've been busy with that, so I didn't really have much time for anything else. (laughs)
Did you record in your own studio?
Yes, I recorded all the instruments. I recorded in my studio.
The tracks have a really old school dub sound and the spirit of Lee Perry and other dub greats.
I used a vintage console, a 1970's Auditronics. I record everything to tape. The workflow and the way that I record is very quick. I try not to put much time into it. I'm trying to keep it as fresh and as honest as possible. Trying to do one take on all the tracks, then just mix it, and that would be it. That's what a lot of old dub recordings were. People really didn't have the amount of tape, time or money. I also fall into that category. (laughs)
Who did you learn studio work from?
I learned a lot of studio stuff from my friend Oliver, who runs the studio next door to me and Dale Epperson, who was Les Paul's tech. Les Paul invented multi-track recording, and when he passed away, Dale passed on a lot of that information to me. And he gave me a good briefing on electro engineering for building my own gear and creating the things I want to hear in the studio.
Did you know from the start what you wanted your studio to look like and what equipment was in it?
Flooring came from the dump. I found gear at the dump. Things just fell into my lap. Luckily, things that I actually really liked. The way with skateboarding and the studio is that you'll do a trick a million times, but it's different every single time. I wanted my studio to feel like that too. That's why I do a lot of analogue adjacent stuff, work with a lot of punk bands and more things that I can touch to make music.
As the world is advancing, AI, digital and all this bullshit or whatever, I'm going further back, trying to get simpler, almost archaic at this point with the way I record music and the way I play it too.
You're also a big skateboarding fan. Is that right?
I brought my board on the road. Iggy and the whole crew trust me. They know that I'm not gonna do anything crazy. I know how to fall pretty well. Most of skateboarding is like martial art. Practice, discipline and patience and also agility and learning to fall, learning to come across obstacles.
I definitely get a little nervous when I skate sometimes, but I don't go over my limit. I have a threshold that I set for myself. If I feel like I'm getting scared of anything, I stop. Skateboarding is just a part of who I am, and I have to have my board with me. (laughs)
What drum kit are you currently using? I noticed that you play Ludwigs, is that right?
The majority of the time I play Vistalites. I've been playing Ludwig for a few years now. I've always loved them. They are classic, they are the best, they always sound good. I love Vistalites, they look cool and they are loud. They just do the thing, specifically for Iggy and the rock & roll and punk thing. You are wearing a Bad Brains shirt, Earl Hudson was playing Vistalites. A lot of those sounds were very heavily Vistalites driven. They are just perfect for my style.
I am a Paiste endorser. I am also a huge John Bonham fan, and he played Vistalites and Paiste, so I had to do that too. (laughs)
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