Hoarse

Hoarse is the name used by at least three different acts: a rock band formed in Detroit, United States, in 1994; a punk rock band from Berlin, Germany, active from around 2023; and a band formed in Norwich, England, in 2008. The most detailed information concerns the Detroit group.

Detroit line-up and style

The Detroit Hoarse forms in 1994 around songwriter John Speck and bassist Robby Graham. Speck has punk influences including Dag Nasty and The Descendents, while the band includes drummer Jimmy Paluzzi, who leaves Sponge to join Hoarse in 1995. Hoarse is associated with melodic post-hardcore and hard-edged alternative rock, and is compared in style to bands such as Farside, Shades Apart and Quicksand rather than the radio rock of Sponge.

Recording and label history

RCA Records signs the band and releases its debut album, Happens Twice, in 1997. The record becomes tied to conflict with the label: the band’s original version is rejected, and the label sends an Everclear CD with a note suggesting that sound as a model. The finished album does not match that request, and relations with the label deteriorate.

Aftermath

Hoarse breaks up about six months after Happens Twice appears. A few years later, Speck and Paluzzi reunite in The Fags, a retro power-pop band that also has a short run on a major label through Sire Records. Speck later works with a new band called The HiFi Handgrenades.

Berlin project

A separate Hoarse project exists in Berlin, Germany, and is described as a punk rock band.