Recent months had seen a number of changes for longtime local DC9 favorite Dove Hunter, which made its name by blending roots rock, southern rock and indie rock into an irresistible groove and near-incomparable live display.
Initially a five-piece, the band became a four-piece when, in 2009 guitarist Marc Montoya left the band to focus full-time on the now-defunct Bridges & Blinking Lights. Soon thereafter, guitarist Josh Daugherty and the rest of the band split over creative differences, leaving frontman Jayson Wortham, drummer Quincy Holloway and bassist Chad DeAtley to move forward as a three-piece--which they did for a few months until, most recently, the band added former Jetscreamer mastermind Will Kapinos into the mix.
Well, now the band is going through one last change--or rather, as Wortham puts it, an "indefinite hiatus." Or, in other words? The band is breaking up. Still, Wortham isn't ruling out the band getting back together somewhere down the line. For now, though, he plans on focuses his attention elsewhere--on new solo material.
"We're taking a little break," Wortham says of the decision the band came to this past weekend to no longer move forward. "I just needed some time off for a bit. It's really just that I need to get some music out."
The plan for the singer-songwriter and guitarist, whose previous outfit, Mandarin, was signed to the Bella Union record label, is to start work, immediately on some solo material--his very first. The material, he says, is comprised of songs that didn't necessarily jive with the direction of Dove Hunter.
"I'm gonna go hardcore with it," he says, indicating his intended efforts but not his new musical direction. "I'm gonna jump right into recording. More than likely, I'll just play a lot."
Which, on some level, is the silver lining here: Dove Hunter shows had been few and far between of late anyway.
