Hunter Kaine

HUNTER KAINE
BIOGRAPHY
JUNE, 2006Heres the thing about Hunter Kaine. She dares to dream and dream big. Shes a true believer in the redemptive, uplifting and healing power of rock nroll. And shes equally charmed by the persuasions of fate and hard work. All of which goes a long way to explaining how she comes to be releasing her debut single Sounds Funny.
See, it happened like this..
Hunter Kaine grew up in a musical household. Her name wasnt Hunter Kaine then but well come to that particular fork in the road a little later. Her father was a gifted guitarist who played with some of the legends of Australian rock and pop music and her home was alive with the sounds of blues, jazz, early rock and pop. For as long as she can remember she performed as a singer, a dancer and even a 12 year old drummer.
Over time the family unit fractured in that very 90s kinda way and as the youngest (by 10 years) of five half brothers and sisters Hunter found herself moving around. From suburban Melbourne to a number of regional towns Hunter became somewhat rootless, her most constant and compelling companion being music.
The music that made the biggest impacts on her sensibilities is revealing she tended towards artists who were stylistically diverse but had in common a willingness to think big bands like U2, Metallica, Pink Floyd and Def Leppard and solo artists like Jeff Buckley, Seal and Alanis Morrisette. Others such as David Bowie and T Rex touched a nerve that told her that rock music was supposed to have an element of escapism and its stars were supposed to be larger than life. More recently shes found a similar aesthetic in bands like Evanescence and Blink 182. For Hunter it isnt about indie cool or alternative cred it was more about artists who put themselves out there without shame or thinly disguised ulterior motives.
While this musical hybrid was bubbling within, Hunters day-to-day was a little less romantic. To the best of her memory she moved house sixteen times living everywhere from housing commission flats to caravans to a room above a pizza restaurant. She worked jobs as waitress (a very bad waitress) and a video store clerk. She trained in martial arts and found herself working as a security guard and even an undercover bodyguard for the family of a wealthy businessman.
Inevitably she crossed paths with a few seedy characters, had the odd ill-advised relationship and weaved in and out of the occasional bad scene.
Not that she wants sympathy far from it. In fact it was this life experience that informs much of her musical direction now. For Hunter songwriting has been like a diary with the same theraputic powers. Shes watched her lyrics evolve from raw anger at people and situations through to self discovery and healing. Nothing provides life experience better than living.
At some stage during this process Hunter realised that she needed to re-invent herself and as a result she legally (and emotionally) adopted the name Hunter Kaine. Why Hunter Kaine? No particularly good reason other than it just felt right, it had a vaguely musical feel and it represented a sense of empowerment and ambition. Knowing that her destiny was going to lead her into the sometimes soul destroying entertainment industry the change of name provided her with a sort of barrier behind which she felt she could keep a piece of herself.
For the last couple of years Hunter has been working hard putting together a band and writing and rehearsing she has gradually assembled a group of like-minded players and together they have been honing a sound and a stage show that promises to be big on entertainment, high on energy and inspired by a chameleon like ability to move between light and shade and vibrancy and a darker edge.
Fortunately shes not waitressing any more. Blessed with exotic good looks derived from her Austrian/Ukranian/English/French heritage shes been able to support her musical ambitions with modelling work and although shes never had any ambitions to be an actress/model it sure beats the video store.
So there you have it the Hunter Kaine story.
Well not quite.
This is the part where the hard work gets an unexpected boost from fate.
Her first single is a song that she had never heard until two months ago.
Sounds Funny is the theme from the hit Network Ten comedy series The Wedge. The producers had the theme song but didnt have a singer. Through the ol friend of a friend system someone recommended Hunter and upon hearing the song she realised that musically it was definitely within the same ballpark of her own material. She felt like she could make it her own. Once they got her in the studio and heard her sing, the producers agreed. The song is a punchy, guitar driven, punky power-pop song about suburban alienation and the desire to break the mould of suburban ennui all of that and a with mischievous sense of humour as well. She relates. Everyones a winner.
The irony isnt lost on Hunter. Shes a singer who absolutely, positively had no desire to try and get a break from entering a television talent quest nor had she ever harboured a secret desire to be a soapy actress or a reality tv contestant. Yet here she is getting a break from a television show. But its a foot in the door and Hunter Kaine has every intention of kicking the door down and storming the palace