The Hunts bring family vibes to Eastern

Coraima Vazquez, Contributing Writer

The Hunts, the indie-alternative-folk band comprised of seven brothers and sisters, had the audience enthralled with their performance even after a couple of bloopers.

During their performance Thursday night in the Dvorak Concert Hall, lead singer of the band, Josh Hunt, could not hold his laughter while singing after seeing his brother trip over the instrument electric cords.

He continued to apologize to the audience for laughing while trying to sing.

Six out of the seven siblings have been on tour for the past month.

Thursday’s concert was one of the last stops on their tour before the six siblings can reunite with their sister and seventh member of the band who recently gave birth to her second child.

“I am sorry you guys; it has been a long month of touring, but we are going to keep it together,” Josh Hunt said. “But you know those laughs that you are trying to hold in and get serious are the ones you keep replaying in your head, and then you can’t stop laughing; it’s my worst nightmare because it never happens to me.”

Senior marketing major Lindsey Powers said when she saw how the band could not stop laughing after their brothers’ bloopers, she realized how close of a family they are.

“They’re just such a family. You can tell by the way they laugh when they mess up because that is what families do; you can see they are family oriented, relaxed and just wanting to put on a good show,” Powers said.

Jenni Hunt, lead singer and twin sister to Jessi Hunt, said during her performance that although there are highs and lows of being in a band of all brothers and sisters, they continue to recommit to each other, enjoy making music together and do what they love.

While The Hunts are now comprised of only brothers and sisters, the parents of the band, Clint and Cindy Hunt, used to sing before they had seven children.

Cindy Hunt now sells the band’s merchandise during their concerts.

“We love all the venues, meeting new people; it is a wonderful thing we are able to do. We give each other honest feedback about the songs and how we can get better lyric-wise,” Cindy Hunt said.

Dan Crews, director of programming, publicity and promotions at Doudna, was in charge of bringing the band to Doudna Fine Arts Center. He said he met the band of siblings about six years ago and just knew that one day he had to bring them to Eastern.

“I loved their sound, I thought they were just tremendously talented musician-wise and I do not want to call it a novelty, but it is pretty amazing to see a band of seven talented siblings become successful. I knew that the people at Doudna would really enjoy their sound,” Crews said.

The concert was held Thursday night at the Doudna Fine Arts Center in the Dvorak Concert Hall.

Coraima Vazquez can be reached at 581-2812 or at cyvazquez@eiu.edu.