It so happened that in 2004, Samuel Flynn Scott had crafted a handful of songs that did not quite fit the mould of The Phoenix Foundation, the popular Wellington-based rock band. “I was writing a whole lot of material that seemed a bit folksy for The Phoenix Foundation,” says Scott. “Also, I was listening to a lot of improvised and angular music and somehow wanted to combine those elements into one project.”
In order to do justice to this haunting new material, Scott formed a new band called Bunnies on Ponies. After playing at Wellington’s Matterhorn Bar, Mikee Tucker of Loop Recordings, who suggested that Loop finance an album of Scott’s solo songs.
The recording ensemble included Tom Callwood (a double bass player who was integral in the development of the music), engineer Brett Stanton, producer and banjo player David Long and a succession of drummers: Craig Terris (Cassette), Riki Gooch (TrinityRoots) and Mike Fabulous (The Black Seeds, Bunnies On Ponies, Lord Echo).
The result was the Samuel Flynn Scott album The Hunt Brings Us Life, a swirling collection of haunting moods and unusual textures, that ranges from country drinking songs (Chopped Liver) to geopolitical laments (War Over Water), Celtic folk (Boil My Bones) and stoned guitar songs about people on the television (God’s Legs).
