Hunter Brothers will be featured at Music of Hockey Day concert on February 6
For the Hunter Brothers, hockey and music continue to go hand in hand.
The musical hockey playing siblings from Shaunavon will be in the spotlight to start the new year by again meshing hockey and music.
At the end of 2018 their song Born and Raised was selected by hockey fans to serve as the anthem of the 2019 International Ice Hockey Federation’s World Junior Championships hosted in Vancouver and Victoria from December 26 to January 5.
Born and Raised was the first top 10 single released by the Hunter Brothers from their debut album Getaway.
Hunter Brothers will also be one the featured musical acts performing in Swift Current during the 2019 Scotiabank Hockey Day in Canada which will be held on February 6 to 9.
Music of Hockey Day with Ron Maclean is the first ticketed event of the four-day celebration of hockey. The musical evening on Wednesday, February 6 at the Living Sky Event Centre will be led musically by Dave Bidini and Bidini Band, with performances by Tara Slone, Ryan Boldt from Deep Dark Woods, Leonard Sumner, Bryan Trottier will be performing with his sister Cathy, and there will be a headlining performance by the Hunter Brothers.
Hunter Brothers are breaking from a cross Canada tour to play in Swift Current. They are in Regina on Feb. 5 and Saskatoon on Feb. 7 as part of their 22 date The Journey Tour 2019 with Paul Brandt, Jess Moskaluke and High Valley.
Luke Hunter was a fan favourite when he played with the Swift Current Broncos from 2001 to 2006 and served as the team captain during his final two seasons with the team. He said performing during the Music of Hockey Day will be a treat for him and his brothers.
“Hockey is what consumed the majority of our lives as kids growing up and on into our later years. Between the five of us boys, we spent a lot of time, not only wearing Swift Current jerseys but jerseys all across Southwest Saskatchewan,” Luke Hunter said during a press conference on December 5.
“I count myself very fortunate to have been able to play five years here with the Swift Current Broncos, and captain the team for two of those years. To Swift Current, to the Broncos, to the community as a whole, they were absolutely five of my fondest memories and they were just years that impacted me in ways that I will never forget.”
Luke, J.J., Ty, Brock and Dusty all played hometown hockey in Shaunavon, but four of the boys went onto play junior hockey, and three of them played different levels of professional hockey.
“I think it’s safe to say that Southwest Saskatchewan played an intricate role in the development of all of us boys in our hockey growing up. And now, although our careers look a little bit different, we’re so thankful and excited to be a part of Hockey Day in Canada. All that has changed now is that we have traded in our sticks for some guitars and some mics.”
J.J. Hunter played his last season of junior hockey with the Prince Albert Raiders in 200001 before embarking on a seven season career in the ECHL and AHL. He played exhibition games with the Edmonton Oilers, and six years in the AHL. He too is looking forward to be performing for hockey fans and music fans alike.
“It’s a really special family this hockey community, and you realize how small it is and how many connections there truly are. And it really is our honour to be part of this,” J.J. said.
“In our home it was an interesting dynamic, dad put us in hockey and mom put us in music. We weren’t allowed to go out and play hockey until our piano was practiced. So there was a lot of piano practicing that happened in our home because couldn’t wait to get out on the ice and start playing hockey.”
“As brothers we’ve talked a lot about this, we look back and we said what were kind of the five pillar points of passion in our life, and they were faith, family, farming, hockey and music. And those five things really were impactful.”
impactful Southwest and Swift Current has been in their lives.
“Just driving into Swift Current again this morning, the many hundreds and hundreds of trips we made here and how Southwest Saskatchewan facilitated so many of those things and those passions for us. Driving in for piano lessons, guitar lessons, theory. We’d come in multiple times a week for hockey games, hockey practices, as the guys played with the different Swift Current teams.”
He admitted a regular event in their household while growing up was watching Hockey Night in Canada on Saturday nights when they didn’t have games.
“So now having that come full circle and being part of Hockey Day in Canada - this amazing event - as musicians to be a part of this is just a huge honour for us and we’re so thankful to be part of it.”
He added that October marked their three year anniversary of being signed with label Open Road Recordings and management company RGK Entertainment.
To end the year they released their latest single ‘Lost’ along with a video of the song. They will be releasing their new album State of Mind on January 25.
“We just want to say thank you, collectively, to this whole Southwest community. To the community of Swift Current, to the province of Saskatchewan, nationally we’ve been supported so well. But we want to thank you so much for the support that we’ve received and it means a tremendous amount to us.”
“Our first top 10 single was a song called Born and Raised, and there’s a lyric in that song that says ‘I’m proud of where I’m from, yea, we’re the lucky ones.’ And that’s truly how we are feeling here today, that we are proud of where we’re from, and we are the lucky ones to be part of such a great community.”