{"id":2510323,"date":"2026-07-21T01:28:30","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T01:28:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2510323"},"modified":"2026-07-21T01:28:30","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T01:28:30","slug":"new-music-monday-hawk-steel-release-first-album-after-9-year-hiatus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/new-music-monday-hawk-steel-release-first-album-after-9-year-hiatus\/","title":{"rendered":"New Music Monday: Hawk &#038; Steel release first album after 9-year hiatus"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Victoria and Vancouver Island have a lot of musical talent, and Victoria Buzz wants to highlight some of the best and brightest local artists and bands.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Every Monday, there will be a fresh \u2018New Music Monday\u2019 article to help people find and support local artists and bands that are up and coming, well established or hidden gems!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For this endeavour, Victoria Buzz has partnered with our good friends at <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/4dFEKJP\"><b>CFUV 101.9 FM<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, UVic\u2019s campus radio station, to find and select the musicians and bands for this regular column.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To date, there have been 83 New Music Monday features published through this collaboration.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<aside class=\"eta-spotlight\" aria-label=\"Buzz-Worthy Business\">\n<p><span class=\"eta-spotlight-dot\">\u2605<\/span> Buzz-Worthy Business<\/p>\n<div class=\"eta-spotlight-inner\">\n<p>\ud83d\ude0a<\/p>\n<div class=\"eta-spotlight-copy\">\n<p>Mango&#8217;s Boutique Menswear<\/p>\n<p>Clothing<\/p>\n<p class=\"eta-spotlight-tagline\">Mens Clothing , MENSWEAR<\/p>\n<p><span>\ud83d\udccd Victoria<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"eta-spotlight-cta\" href=\"https:\/\/victoriabuzz.com\/?eta_click=1889&amp;dest=site&amp;eta_place=spotlight\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"sponsored noopener\">Visit Website <span aria-hidden=\"true\">\u2192<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This week, <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/hawkandsteel.bandcamp.com\/album\/ain-t-never-movin-on\"><b>Hawk &amp; Steel<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is the New Music Monday highlight!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hawk &amp; Steel is a Victoria-based Americana band that started playing together back in 2011.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Though the band has seen several iterations with band members coming and going, it was started by Peter Gardner who sings lead vocals and plays guitar, as well as Ian Johnson on lead guitar. The modern iteration also includes Rob Phillips on drums and Rob \u201cBobby\u201d Walsh on bass.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The band just released their first album in nearly a decade, following a nine-year hiatus. It\u2019s called <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ain\u2019t Never Movin\u2019 On.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to Gardner, Hawk &amp; Steel stepped away from playing in 2017 after pushing themselves hard as a touring band.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe played a lot of shows and had a good time but were starting to lose a little steam, I think just because we had been playing so much for so long that we just, for no other reason that it was just time, we stopped,\u201d he explained.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe stopped for seven or eight years.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He said that in 2024, he and the rest of the band decided to get back in the jam space to play together once again, this time just for fun.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cSure enough it was really fun, and then very quickly, we were like, \u2018We have those few old songs that we never really did anything with before we went on hiatus, let\u2019s try playing those songs again,\u2019\u201d Gardner continued.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThat was fun and then we started making new songs and before we knew it we had a whole new record.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to Gardner, the hiatus allowed the band some time to replenish their energy and to get better and more confident with their instruments.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When they came back together, Hawk &amp; Steel set out to make the album they wanted to make for themselves, rather than creating for what others may enjoy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cNow I think we are able to make decisions that are just for us, that maybe we would have been too cautious to do before,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cLike, we have a couple new songs on this record that have saxophone on them and it rules, but I feel like maybe 10, 15 years ago, we would have been like, \u2018Would that be too Bruce Springsteen or whatever,\u2019 but who cares, Bruce Springsteen\u2019s awesome.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gardner noted that the band went into <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ain\u2019t Never Movin\u2019 On <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">trying not to take themselves too seriously and letting go of preconceived notions on what they should be doing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Throughout the new record, despite some songs being new and others being older, Gardner says that there is a loose overarching theme of \u201cgetting in your own way and not really letting yourself do good things.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 id=\"highlight-track-i-want-you-to-break-my-heart\"><strong><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/hawkandsteel.bandcamp.com\/track\/i-want-you-to-break-my-heart\">Highlight track \u2013 \u201cI Want You (To Break My Heart)\u201d<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The last song on the album, \u201cI Want You (To Break My Heart),\u201d plays into that overarching theme because it\u2019s all about taking risks.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cYeah, maybe if we fall in love it will end horribly and we will not like each other at the end, but when we\u2019re in love it\u2019s so good and those good times are worth the bad times,\u201d explained Gardner.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt\u2019s just kind of about saying, \u2018Let\u2019s take the chance cause why not.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This was one of the newer tracks on the album and Gardner said it came about after he got the song\u2019s title stuck in his head and wrote around that central idea.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI don\u2019t really know where it came from,\u201d he laughed. \u201cI\u2019ve been with my wife for like 15 years so it\u2019s not like I\u2019m drawing on experience.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cBut I think it\u2019s kind of indicative about everything, not necessarily love\u2014just letting yourself take that risk when maybe you move to a different city or maybe your new career move, or even getting a cat. There\u2019s risks in everything.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI Want You (To Break My Heart)\u201d also included friends and fellow musicians Charlotte McGee on vocals, Marc Jenkins on pedal steel and Hugh Mackie on organ.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For this track, Hawk &amp; Steel made a DIY music video that features the band members playing through the song on each other\u2019s instruments.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gardner says the video makes him laugh because he feels like people will be able to tell who in the band is the worst at drumming.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cLast time we put out a record we didn\u2019t even have an Instagram account, because that\u2019s how old I am,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cSo we wanted to put a music video out for some quote, unquote \u2018content,\u2019 and we were trying to think about something funny, silly, something we could completely do ourselves\u2026 You can tell that drums are the hardest to play for three out of four of us,\u201d he laughed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Check out the music video for \u201cI Want You (To Break My Heart)\u201d by Steel and Hawk below:<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"jeg_video_container jeg_video_content\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Hawk And Steel - I Want You (To Break My Heart)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/8Cl-fXTv7a8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Listen to \u201cI Want You (To Break My Heart),\u201d <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ain\u2019t Never Movin\u2019 On <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and the rest of Hawk &amp; Steel\u2019s catalogue on <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/hawkandsteel.bandcamp.com\/album\/ain-t-never-movin-on\"><b>Bandcamp<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/tidal.com\/@hawkandsteel\"><b>Tidal<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/artist\/4TUKijEU5ti6llU8z9oRwp?si=liy9EhgvSy6VXpI24mKe4Q\"><b>Spotify<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/music.apple.com\/us\/artist\/hawk-and-steel\/1508519263\"><b>Apple Music<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The band just played their album release show for <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ain\u2019t Never Movin\u2019 On <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">at The Duke in late June, which was also their first performance in around 10 years.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gardner says they currently don\u2019t have any upcoming shows in Victoria, but hopes to put something together for the fall.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt\u2019s something we definitely want to keep going with,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cLast time we were doing this thing, we were playing shows every couple of weeks and I think we also got kind of burnt out on that so we\u2019re going to dip our toes back into it as we go.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He also noted that the band is already working on some brand new material and he hopes to be able to keep writing, recording and playing in the years to come.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Keep an eye on <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/hawkandsteel\/\"><b>Hawk &amp; Steel\u2019s Instagram<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to stay up to date on future shows and releases.<\/span><\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<p><b>Related:<\/b><\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/4dFEKJP\"><b>CFUV<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is a non-profit campus and community radio station that plays a ton of local music of all kinds across Vancouver Island. If you like to support local music they are an amazing resource with a plethora of new local tunes in their arsenal.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI think that the support [CFUV] gives to the music community in this city, whether its playing them on air, talking about them on the internet, hosting the Eventide shows in the summer, it\u2019s really endless,\u201d said Gardner.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI love CFUV so much, I think what they do is so important, I\u2019m so glad they exist in this city and I hope they continue to exist forever.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tune into CFUV 101.9 FM on air or <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/listen.streamon.fm\/cfuv\"><b>online<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Let us know what you think of <\/span><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/hawkandsteel\/\"><b>Hawk &amp; Steel<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in the comments below!<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"vb-audience-card\">\n<p>Follow Victoria Buzz on Google News<\/p>\n<p>Get local news, breaking updates and Vancouver Island stories directly through Google News.<\/p>\n<p>        <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"vb-audience-btn\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=victoriabuzz.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\n            FOLLOW ON GOOGLE NEWS        <\/a>\n    <\/div><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source victoriabuzz.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Victoria and Vancouver Island have a lot of musical talent, and Victoria Buzz wants to highlight some of the best and brightest local artists and bands. Every Monday, there will be a fresh \u2018New Music Monday\u2019 article to help people find and support local artists and bands that are up and coming, well established or [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2510324,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2510323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/New-Music-Monday-Hawk-Steel-release-first-album-after.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2510323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2510323"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2510323\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2510325,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2510323\/revisions\/2510325"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2510324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2510323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2510323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2510323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}