If talent and timing are the two prerequisites for success, Bristol quintet Hunted had only one of them working in their favour. Back in the early 1990s, the fashion in rock music was to schlep around in plaid shirts pretending to be glum in emulation of such grungemeisters as Nirvana and Pearl Jam. This was not a time to launch a career in well-crafted melodic hard rock with soaring twin lead guitars. With the odds stacked against them from the outset, the remarkable thing about Hunted was that they managed to achieve so much during their all-too-brief flowering, winning a national battle of the bands contest and building an enviable live following.
Guitarist and Hunted founder Bob Starling had already tasted a modicum of success with Bristol NWOBHM Stormtrooper. Joining forces with old chum and fellow guitarist Dave Preston in the spring of 1992, Bob swiftly secured the services of vocalist Andy Milsom, bassist Mark Williams and drummer Andy ‘Woody’ Knight. By Christmas, the band had clocked up gigs at all the key venues on the local live circuit, including the Bristol Bridge Inn, the Fleece and the Bierkeller.
But 1993 was to be Hunted’s big year. In January, they recorded their first, self-financed EP, ‘Streets of Fire’ , as a statement of intent to become more than just another bunch of wannabes playing local pubs for beer money. On a roll, they entered and won Radio 1’s Rock Wars contest in June, bagging a recording session at the legendary Maida Vale Studios. Now established as Bristol’s leading hard rock act, they secured coveted local support slots with Steve Grimmett’s Lionsheart and ex-Iron Maiden men Paul Di’Anno and Adrian Smith’s respective solo projects.
1994 continued on a high with an invitation to go to New York to discuss a potential development deal with RCA. Six new songs were recorded for the occasion and the A&R people were suitably enthusiastic, as A&R folks so often are. Back in the UK, Hunted played the Marquee and recorded more material for their proposed debut album, ‘Crawl’. But the RCA deal fell through, hitting the band hard. With disillusion setting in, it was only a matter of time until the inevitable split. ‘Crawl’ was released on Primate Records in 1995 and it was reissued in 2016 expanded with the ‘Streets Of Fire’ EP as bonus tracks.
Artist: Hunted
Album: Fallen Angel (The Collection)
Year: 2016
Label: Bristol Archive Records
Style: Hard Rock
Format: mp3/320
Tracklist
01 Strangers 4:57
02 Judgement 5:19
03 This Must Be Love 5:14
04 I See The Sun 4:24
05 Fallen Angel 5:36
06 Broken Heart 4:09
07 Three Wise Monkeys 4:38
08 Two Timed 3:59
09 Crawl 3:21
10 Streets Of Fire 5:11
11 Wish U Wuz Ded 4:08
12 Destiny 4:16
13 Kill Me 2:52
14 Victim 3:27
15 Swing Of The Pendulum 5:52
16 Hunted ‘Fallen Angel’ Compendulum Heavy Mega Mix (Bonus Track) 11:38