Hunting Lions - Dark & Light

The San Francisco Bay Area punk scene is the birthplace of legendary bands like Rancid, Dead Kennedys, Green Day, Swingin’ Utters, and many others. Over the years, it has become one of the most tight-knit music communities in the country. It’s this bond and mutual love for punk that forged Hunting Lions, a group of veteran Santa Cruz and Sonoma County musicians coming together with years of experience playing in standout acts like Swingin’ Utters, Roadside Bombs, The Beltones, US Bombs, Tiger Army, and more.

In their relatively short time together, Hunting Lions have shared the stage with top bands like The Toasters, Booze & Glory, and The Generators and will make their Punk Rock Bowling and Rebellion Festival debuts later this year.

Their songs carry such strong and polarizing themes that their first ten tracks were divided into 2 distinct EPs, “Light” and “Dark.” Now, these two EPs have been combined into one proper LP to truly spotlight how great these songs are.

“There was a clear emotional and topical tone to each EP. That loss and renewal are equal parts of life,” says frontman Ben Coleman. The topics range from Coleman thinking about mortality during the pandemic to the socio-economic problems plaguing the Bay Area.

Songs like “Little Girl” tug on the heart strings for any punk parent, as the song is dedicated to Coleman’s daughter. “I had a moment of clarity surrounding relationships during the pandemic. With the specter of death looming and relationships ending with the social circumstances that fostered them, what matters became more and more obvious every day,” Coleman says.

Of course, leave it to these veterans to bring some levity and showcase their chops by tossing in a cover of the one and only Bruce Springsteen’s “Hungry Heart,” which the Boss famously originally wrote with the Ramones in mind.

Whether you’ve gotten a hold of the EPs already or are just hearing Hunting Lions for the first time, this will certainly not be the last. The sky is the limit for these fellas, and 2023 is just the start!