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When Hungover Touches The Heart, Everything Resolves; Marc Cortes Speaks on Hungover's Debut Album - OUT FEBRUARY 23

Writer's picture: Sabrina AmorielloSabrina Amoriello

HUNGOVER - When It Touches The Heart, Everything Resolves


Amidst his hectic schedule raising two children, while still being a lead vocalist as well as guitarist, Marc Cortes sat down in his living room with his phone propped up, a world map in the background, and backstage passes from countless past performances hanging beside him. After a practically six year hiatus, Cortes is ready to resurrect Hungover in an entirely new fashion and lovers of the pop-punk, hardcore, and pop rock scenes are in for a treat with the band's debut LP, When It Touches The Heart, Everything Resolves, releasing to the public officially on February 23, 2024 via Smartpunk Records. 


“It kind of feels like an evolved version of everything we’ve done prior. It’s definitely more melodic, a lot more poppy, a lot more mainstream for lack of a better term but what’s really cool about what we’ve done is those elements of hardcore, post-hardcore have found their way into our live performances,” over zoom, Marc Cortes speaks with excitement about the upcoming release. 


For Hungover, it has been a long five years of preparing for their debut album. Following their 2018 EP, WILT, Cortes mentions “we were kind of talking about taking a little bit of a break after I found out I was going to have my daughter. Then a month after my daughter was born, the pandemic happened and it was pretty obvious that, even though we were demoing and kind of starting to write a new record, we were going to have to be forced to take some kind of break.” 


After almost 6 years of brewing, When It Touches The Heart, Everything Resolves, is expected to be unlike any other previous Hungover release. Long term listeners of the band can expect an evolution of WILT in all aspects and newer fans can be wooed with an entirely new musical experience through Hungover’s stylistic journey. 


“So WILT stands for When I Lose Touch. When I wrote WILT I was at a point where I was like ‘screw everyone, it’s me versus the world,’” Cortes says humorously, “since I’ve wrote WILT, I’ve had two children, I’ve experienced loss, change, I’ve grown a lot as a person. While WILT is an EP that’s six years old, me writing those songs happened a decade ago.” 


Onward, Cortes also adds “sonically I’ve kind of developed a little bit more of an eclectic taste, it’s not so much of just hardcore and pop punk that I’m listening to anymore, so where you kind of touched on there’s a bunch of different sonic textures on this record, there is more synth, we do layer more guitars, there’s a ton of vocal movements and arrangements. There’s just things on this record, I don’t think we weren’t capable of six years ago, we just weren’t thinking about it.” 


In this way, When It Touches The Heart, Everything Resolves, is not only a transformation of Hungover’s sound, but also their perspectives and approaches as individuals. Over the pandemic, the band restructured tremendously, birthing an entirely new Hungover, internally, sonically, instrumentally, and lyrically. 


“I think when we started the hiatus, we were kind of in a place where we were wondering if the band was important, if it was something we should prioritize and we did lose a couple of members in the process so now we are a three piece, which feels different, but more decisive and we still love the guys we played with,” Cortes goes on to reminisce the band’s recent reunion show with all the original members, “that was super fun but I think you can expect a more sure Hungover, a project that is more certain, a project that is functional like in hardwork and will work, a more polished live show, a more polished sound. We’ve kind of re-dedicated ourselves to the band.”


On this note, Cortes goes on to discuss his personal evolution in songwriting, “lyrically it’s a lot more in-tune with emotions in general and specifically my emotions. A little less ‘I want to rip someone’s head off’ and a little more ‘I have feelings you need to know about them.’” 


Building upon the sonic textures of When It Touches The Heart, Everything Resolves, Cortes comments, “It’s just a more polished sound, it’s less chaotic and more in that standard pop song structure, a little less throwing stuff at the wall and seeing what sticks and a little more intention.” 


For Cortes, “it is very evident how much we love this project,” and the band’s dedication is something Cortes continuously drew back on. Fans both new and old can expect something special from this album, whether it be relatability or unpredictability, Hungover is back with a bang!


“It’s arrived at a place, I hate the word experimental because I feel like it’s overused, but we are experimenting more and trying to bend the genre a little bit, which I feel like a lot of our contemporaries are doing too. We are growing on our own and with the scene and the genre.” 


Despite When It Touches The Heart, Everything Resolves being the band’s first full-length release, Hungover are no rookies in the music industry. Composed from the ashes of other bands, Hungover is Marc Cortes, Sean Connors, and Gabe Santiago, who all had beginnings in heavier bands prior to Hungover. 


“Gabe was in like a grindcore band and Sean and I both played in a post hardcore, scene kid type of band called Broadway. It’s been interesting to be the pop punk, pop rock band that flips guitars and throws things and jumps on top of each other. It should always feel like a punk show or a hardcore show even though the music is a little bit light,” Cortes expresses.


Originating from Orlando, Florida, Hungover stepped into the scene with countless competitors fighting for the same record deals. Yet, their one-of-a-kind presence set them apart from others and contributed to their recent signing with Smart Punk Records, who will be releasing When It Touches The Heart, Everything Resolves this February.


“There’s a lot of good musicians in Orlando, so many talented songwriters, so many people who have found great great great success and it doesn’t seem like it’s stopping anytime soon, so you kind of have to think outside of the box a little bit and try to be different in other ways, because you can throw a rock and get a good songwriter. When we were coming up the story was never ‘Hungover is really good live’ it was ‘Hungover is crazy and will jump off of stuff or into the crowd' or whatever the case is. We would take any show, whether it was House of Blues, Orlando or Uncle Lou’s, which is like, there’s no stage and I think you can fit 30 people in there max,” Cortes details. 


On the topic of the band's newfound success, with an upcoming LP released under a record deal as well as anticipated touring throughout 2024, Cortes notes “I don’t know if I would say there’s a secret [to our success]. It sounds cliché but just hard work, like being dedicated to the band, finding as many shows as possible, hitting the studio as much as possible, practicing as much as possible. If you care a lot about something, you’re passionate about it, you put in the work, I think it’s something that will eventually be noticed. Maybe it takes ten days, maybe it takes ten years, I think, eventually, if you are dedicated to something, it will come through.”


Hungover’s dedication to the music is something that cannot go unnoticed. The band members have spent hours, days, and even years refining their first release to be something refreshing and completely unprecedented for the band. 


“I wasn’t originally the singer of Hungover, I was playing guitar,” Cortes recalls, “Before WILT came out, the singer left so I kind of had to make stuff happen song-writing wise and I kind of called back to these songs I had written in the past which were much more angst-y, less secure, a lot of anxiety in me when I was writing [WILT] songs. I feel like where I am now as a songwriter, I’ve evolved to where I am much more sure of my feelings, much more confident as a person. I’ve arrived at a place where I’ve processed a lot of the things I wrote about on WILT,” Cortes begins. 


“A lot of these songs were coming together as ideas that were demos and then being produced without everyone being in the same room. We would always leave a session, put the mp3, wav files, in our group chat and discuss them, talk about what we wanted to change and stuff like that, but there’s nothing like being in a room with live instruments and playing the songs together for the first time. When you have something baking for as long as we did, you have these songs you’re sitting on for what feels like forever.” 


So, finally, after nearly six years of patience from both the band members and their supporters, When It Touches The Heart, Everything Resolves will finally be in our possession in barely a month's time. 


“I feel like the word release is very accurate when it comes to music, because, yes, you’re releasing it to the world but it’s also like a release of you and your identity and your personality and your care and your passions and all that. You’re releasing it to the world so it can belong to everyone.” 


Although an official tour has yet to be announced for the new release, Cortes teased the possibility of Hungover embarking on tours throughout the new year with much excitement.


“To finally go into a live setting and play [When It Touches The Heart, Everything Resolves] knowing you’ve never played them before, the crowd has never heard them before, it’s a new experience. It’s really cool to finally let go of these songs, they belong to the audience now,” Cortes projects. 


While Cortes’ own anticipation is growing, he also jabs at his new lifestyle habits, “I am a father of two now, getting that dad bod, I’m a little less active than I once was. I’ve been working on my cardio, tryna get back to the young man who would hang from the rafters upside down,” he mentions lightheartedly while still ensuring Hungover’s performances will be nothing less than what they once were, over five years ago. 


There is a lot in store for the future of Hungover, especially now with the support of Smart Punk Records and AtomSplitter publicity. We can be assured Hungover are here to stay this time around and When It Touches The Heart, Everything Resolves is only the beginning of many more releases to come from the three-piece ensemble. The band expects to embark on tours throughout the new year to reconnect with fans again as well as broaden their horizons internationally. 


“I’m just really excited to embark on this journey with everyone, it’s new music, the band has a new feel. Since we’ve kind of gone away and come back, we’ve been exposed to a bunch of new listeners. I’m excited to experience this newness with everyone. I’m fired up!”



TRANSCRIPT:


My name is marc, I sing in a band called Hungover, uhm and yeah, that’s pretty much everything about me


  1. Being most of you performed in other groups prior to establishing Hungover, how is this project different from the previous work you’ve recorded in the scene?


uhm so it kind of feels like an evolved version of everything we’ve done prior uhm i think what’s really funny about our band is that all of us were in heavier bands before this.  Like for example, Gabe was in like a grindcore band and Sean and I both played in a post hardcore scene kid type of band called Broadway so it’s definitely more melodic, a lot more poppy, a lot more mainstream for lack of a better term but what’s really cool about what we’ve done is those elements of hardcore, post-hardcore have found their way into our live performance so it’s a, it’s been interesting to be the pop punk, pop rock band that flips guitars and throws things and jumps on top of each other and uh it should always feel like a punk show or a hardcore show even though the music is a little bit light you know?


  1. What makes Hungover different stylistically and musically from your past endeavors?


It is a lot more melodic than a lot of stuff we’ve done in the past, and lyrically, it’s a lot more in-tune with emotions in general and specifically my emotions a little less “i want to rip someone's head off” a little more “i have feelings you need to know about them” and as far as sonically, it’s just a more, a more polished sound, it’s less chaotic and more in that standard pop song structure so a little less throwing stuff at the wall and seeing what sticks and a little more intention, if that makes sense. 


  1. Surfacing in the Orlando music scene, how did you initially go about making a name for yourselves in a very popular area of the industry? 


I think it kind of goes back to the hardcore thing, when we were coming up, the story was never “Hungover is really good live” it was “Hungover is crazy and will jump off of stuff or into the crowd or whatever the case is” and we would take any show, whether it was House of Blues, Orlando, or Uncle Lou’s which is like a, there’s no stage and I think you could fit 30 people in there max, a lot of it had to do with exposure and getting ourselves out there and playing a thirty cap room the same way we would a 3,000 cap room, making sure we are matching people energies and then bringing it up a notch. There’s a lot of good musicians in Orlando, so many talented songwriters, so many people have found great great great success and it doesn’t seem like it’s stopping anytime soon, so you kind of have to think outside of the box a little bit and try to be different in other ways, because you can throw a rock and get a good songwriter, you know? 


  1. Are there any secrets to your success story?


I don’t know if I would say it’s a secret, it sounds cliche but just hard work like being dedicated to the band, finding as many shows as possible, hitting the studio as much as possible, practicing as much as possible, if you care a lot about something, you’re passionate about, you put the work, I think it’s something that will eventually be noticed. Maybe it takes ten days, maybe it takes ten years, I think eventually if you are dedicated to something it will come through I think there are many versions and forms of hungover but one constant has been the hard work and I think when you talk to any of us about, it’s very evident how much we love the project and i don’t know i wouldn’t say there’s a secret, it’s just busting tail, you know? 


  1. Your previous release WILT focuses on themes of moving on and letting go. Your upcoming release explores new sonic textures that all back on your inspirations, how is this album an evolution of WILT’s themes and approaches?


So, when I wrote WILT lyrically, I was an angsty, twenty/twenty-one/twenty-two year old they were just kind of songs I had bankrolled for the most part, I wasn’t originally the singer of Hungover, I was playing guitar, before WILT came out the singer left so I kind of had to make stuff happen song-writing wise and I kind of called back to these songs I had written in the past which were much more angst-y, less sure, a lot of anxiety in me when I was writing these songs and I feel like where I am now as a songwriter and lyric writer, I’ve evolved to where I am much more sure of my feelings, much more confident as a person, I’ve arrived at a place where I’ve processed a lot of the things I wrote about on WILT, so WILT stands for When I Lose Touch, it’s just about – can I curse or is that just not chill?


  1. The band recently took a hiatus, how has this break affect you as a band and as musicians?


I’ll censor myself, when I wrote WILT I was at a point where I was like screw everyone, it’s me versus the world, but now, since I’ve wrote WILT, I’ve had two children, I’ve experienced loss, change, I’ve grown a lot as a person, a lot of people don’t realize this. While WILT is an EP that’s six years old, uhm, me writing those songs happened a decade ago with some of them, I’m thirty now, so it’s just coming from a more mature point of view as far as lyrics, and then sonically, I’ve kind of developed a little bit of a more eclectic taste, it’s not so much of just hardcore and pop punk that I’m listening to anymore, so where, you kind of touched on there’s a bunch of different sonic textures on this record that weren’t on the previous one, there is more synth, we do layer more guitars, there’s ton of vocal movements and arrangements, there’s just things on this record, I don’t think we weren’t capable of six years ago, we just weren’t thinking about it. There’s less of a standard two guitars, bass, drums, vocals, rock record and it’s arrived at a place, I hate the word experimental because I feel like it’s overused, but we are experimenting more and trying to bend the genre a little bit, which I feel like a lot of our contemporaries are doing too. Growing on our own and with the scene and the genre. 


  1. What can fans expect now that Hungover has returned to the scene?


The hiatus really started, we were kind of talking about taking a little bit of a break after I found out I was going to have my daughter, just because you know, life gets in the way and I didn’t want to hold anybody back from doing things they wanted to do – side projects, professional things, all that kind of stuff – and then a month after my daughter was born the pandemic happened and it was pretty obvious that even though we were demoing and kind of starting to write a new record, it was pretty apparent that we were going to have to be forced take some kind of break so while we all kept in touch, and while we all made sure we were good, checked in on each other and all that, it was nice to take a pause because in all the years prior, it was nonstop touring, nonstop recording, like I said we would take any show, anywhere, any time, we were just down to do it so it was interesting to shift from constantly on the go, constantly on the move, constantly having to play volleyball, keep everything bouncing around all the time, to transition to we are literally forced to chill, we have to be inside, we can’t go anywhere and it really helps you sit with your thoughts and re-evaulate what’s important and I think when we started the hiatus we are kind of in a place where we were wondering if the band was important, if it was something we should priortize and we did lose a couple of members in the process so now we are a three piece which feels different but more decisive and we still love the guys we played with, we played a reunion show with the OG lineup, that was super fun, but I think you can expect a more sure Hungover, a project that is more certain, a project that is functional like in handwork and will work, a more polished live show, a more polished sound, we’ve kind of re-dedicated ourselves to the band


  1. How does it feel to perform together again? 


It’s cathartic really, we were, when we truly got into recording the record, a lot of it, because we were trying to be safe, we weren’t getting together as a group, one of us would go to the studio to do the parts, then we would wait a few weeks and another one of us would go into the studio to record our parts we were trying to be as safe as possible while still getting work done, so a lot of these songs were coming together as ideas that were demos and then being produced without everyone being in the same room. We would always leave a session, put the mp3, wav files in our group discuss them, talk about what we wanted to change and stuff like that but there’s really nothing like being in a room with live instruments and playing the songs together for the first time and when you have something baking for as long as we did, you have these songs you’re sitting on for what seems like forever, to finally go into a live setting and play them knowing you’ve never played them before, the crowd has never heard them before, it’s a new experience, it’s really cool to finally let go of these songs, they belong to the audience now, it’s just cool, I feel like the word release is very accurate when it comes to music, because yes you're releasing it to the world but it’s also like a release of you and your identity and your personality and your care and your passions and all that and you’re releasing it to the world so it can belong to everyone. That’s how it feels, it feels like a release. 


  1. Were there any challenges getting back into the studio and on stages again? 


Like I said, I am a father of two now, getting that dad bod, I’m a little less active than I once was so definitely was winded after the first practice, I’ve been working on my cardio, tryna get back to the young man who would hang from the rafters upside down, so that’s been a little bit weird and like I said we did lose two permanent members but we have two wonderful fill ins who have been helping out a lot, people we’ve known for a really long time, so there hasn’t really been a challenge with getting reacquainted with playing live music because we’ve known the people we have filling in for so long, we feel very comfortable, it doesn’t feel foreign at all, but your boy gets gassed out sometimes for sure, like I definitely get tired a lot more quickly


  1. Is there anything else you would like to share with your fans both new and old?


I’m just really excited to embark on this journey with everyone, it’s new music, the band has a new feel, since we’ve kind of gone away and come back, we’ve been exposed to a bunch of new listeners. I’m excited to experience this newness with everyone, I’m fired up! 



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