CONVERGENCE
Hundred Handed finds balance in making music
It’s all about harmony for Jordan McGraw, Drew Langan and Matt Black. The three make up the pop rock band Hundred Handed, and each member tries to find a balance when it comes to music.
“We’ve become really fast friends,” McGraw says during a recent phone interview. “Everything is pretty equal when it comes to our input in music.”
The musicians are working on a new album, and they’ve been hard at work.
With a studio in their living space, the trio can go in at any moment and record.
“This keeps our momentum going,” he says. “We don’t have to wait a week to get recording studio time. We just hop in there and lay something down. It’s efficient.”
McGraw and Langan met first and began creating music that documented their lives.
Then Black joined and they began putting out singles.
The trio’s debut single, “Love Me Like the Weekend,” was produced by Eddie Jackson and co-writer The Golden Hippie.
They are also working with songwriter/ producer Mike Green.
Behind the scenes, they’ve also got the Midas ears of David Foster encouraging them and paving the way for success.
Though he’s not formally credited, the legendary, multi-Grammy-winning songwriter and producer — also the chairman of Verve Music Group — has played a key unofficial role in Hundred Handed’s creative development as a mentor and songwriting coach.
Foster has been a mentor to McGraw since he was 18, instructing him on value of developing his piano, guitar and songwriting skills.
“We sent David ‘Love Me Like the Weekend’ in rough form, and he called us right away,” he says. “He said, ‘This isn’t good; it’s great. It’s what you should have been doing the whole time. He offered us a few notes, and we made some adjustments. They were simple things about playing in a more interesting way and putting in little ‘tickles’ that make people want to listen to the song over and over. His advice was invaluable, creating a mold for how we would build the foundation of every song.”