Dear World. The Hugs are a young and fresh ‘buzzy garage pop band’ from Portland, Oregon USA.

The Hugs have ’self released’ two studio albums. The Hugs have shared stages around the world with acts such as:

Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Kooks, The View, The Cribs, The Walkmen &

The Dandy Warhols

The Hugs Members:

Danny Delegato (Lead Vocals, Guitar)

Mitch Wilson (Drums, Vocals)

Davey Appaloosa (Bass, Vocals)

Patrick Wilcox (Lead Guitar, Lead Vocals)

The Hugs In The Press:

“The Hugs latest effort is a chronology of a band who have sailed the rough seas of the contemporary music industry and have returned to land with staunch and bite.” “Again & Again” seeps with unexpected experience and maturity. Without shedding their jovial Brit-poppy swathe Oregonian four-piece have developed a delicate melancholy edge. Under the umbrella of everyday life, the band explore the nuances of love over time and the dubious relationship between dreams and reality.” What resulted was a naturally diverse album, generally nurtured in a pop-rock discipline but with sprouts of placid integrity. Splashes of sombre finger-picking evolve into springy headnod-worthy choruses. Kinksian pop-rock swagger is adorned with zesty four-part harmonies, while a murky contemplative undercurrent ebbs and flows. ”

“Dreams” seduces with cyclic guitar melodies and occasional bongo beats, calling on Revolver-era Beatles at their trippiest, before the reverb kicks in and Delegato lets rip with the fiery warning ‘get out of my dreams’ augmented by grungy Vines-like chorus harmonies.

The raucous “Go Wild” takes you through an explosive party bender – a pending crowd-favourite for sure. Funky “Never Gonna Live, Never Going To Die“ fluctuates between a seductive disco rhythm and a grungy build up before reaching a somewhat manic tipping-point (“this may be the last day!”).

“Again & Again” is fittingly diverse – wild, giddy, faint and reflective – such has been the nature of their recent lives.  At times it’s a party – they swagger and they shout – and at times shit goes down and they scratch their heads and wonder.

-David Elliot-Jones (Melbourne Music Press 2009)

“It is frankly amazing that The Hugs have yet to land another record deal with a label of any kind. The Brit-pop-rock band from Portland instantly draws comparisons to bands such The Kinks and The Kooks. ” “They played considerably beyond their years and already have a direction and style to fuel them through the coming years. Lead singer/songwriter Danny Delegato added bite to the bands’ sound, his drawling, scratchy adolescent voice infusing a little punk into their music.”

“The band has grown exponentially since arriving in early 2007, and now their second self-released LP “Again & Again” (October 2009) has possibly put them on the brink of something big.”

- Ryan Rudnansky 2009

“So, is this local band—who ironically struggle to get even the smallest gig here in town—worth all of this blossoming hype? Well, sort of. The Hugs need work. You can put that NME cover on hold for now, as their rise to stardom will, at best, be a slow and gradual ascent. But under the floppy bangs and slouched teenage shoulders lies a group of kids on the cusp of something great. Much like the early forbearers of the jangly Brit-rock sound, the Hugs have a loose charm, a perfectly content sense of confidence that permeates throughout their sound, no matter how sloppy it might be at the time. ” “Their music has the rough kinetic energy of Slanted and Enchanted-era Pavement, and the haphazard punk of (pre-crack and tabloids) the Libertines.”

-Ezra Ace Caraeff (Portland Mercury 2007)

“With a name like The Hugs, you know you’re in for something upbeat. On “She Was High”, the Portland-based band creates infectious indie pop with leanings toward the gritty nature of garage. The song is adorned with tweeting birds, side-commentary from other band members, and creaking doors, adding something off-beat and unique to the song.” “With a fun guitar riff and poppy, hook-filled vocals, there’s a good chance you’ll have “She Was High” on repeat for hours.”

-Fensepost 2010

“With their swooshing swathes of rainbow rock, The Hugs are further proof that someone’s certainly putting something in the water in Portland, Oregon. Like The Lemonheads but with more primal yelping, the moment when their retro-referencing tunes seem to be veering too much in a pleasant, palatable garage-punk direction, their teeny weeny frontman Danny Delegato – the lovechild of Noel Fielding and one of The Monkees – lets go a grave-spinning, throat-slashing screech before indulging in some energetic and muscle-tearing mic-robatics.”

- NME 2007 (Leonie Cooper)

“The Hugs are a four-piece rock ’n’ roll band from Portland, Oregon, who recorded their debut album in England. This makes sense because their music sounds British—not “Greensleeves” British, but rather the brand of British that became popular when groups like The Kinks and The Yardbirds invaded America in the mid-’60s with their ramshackle lyrics and bluesy riffs. The Hugs’s music, though, is also very Oregonian, owing an equal debt to home-state forerunners like “Louie Louie” auteurs The Kingsmen and the late-’70s pre-grunge grunge outfit the Wipers. ”

-Interview Magazine 2009

“The Hugs’ road to their current breakout status traces back several years ago to when Delegato and his friends began writing fuzzy pop songs for performance in the dive-iest of Portland clubs. ” “Playing lousy shows to small audiences, Delegato began to hone his songcraft, and eventually began to pursue the formation of what would become The Hugs.” “Despite their somewhat noxious reputation for having eschewed the norms of the Portland music community, Delegato and crew were devout followers of the tight-knit indie-rock culture. They pulled inspiration from the sounds that populated their early high school years, and have created a unique sound that defies so narrow a definition as “retro.” Even on The Hugs’ earliest recordings, it is apparent that the group possesses a gift for swagger that cannot be taught–which has only grown since their formation.” “Prior to their association with London’s 1965 Records/Columbia UK, The Hugs had a propensity for mining inspiration from the 1960s and that sound can be heard in their music to this day. ”

Sing-along melodies and fuzz-blasted guitars create a healthy approximation of pop circa the middle of the century, and Delegato’s songwriting mantra of ”really [thinking] about what people want to hear” pays off for the band as they craft tunes that wouldn’t have been out of place at Woodstock.” “Despite the expectations being heaped on their commercial output in 2007, Delegato and his band have tried to remain involved in their hometown scene.

Pulling opening slots for The Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Dandy Warhols, The Walkmen, The Cribs, The Kooks, as well as hosting free ‘warehouse party shows’ at their old practice space on Lovejoy has helped the band feed off the “really good vibe” that Portland provides to upcoming musicians.”

-Shane Danaher (PSU Vanguard 2007)

“I love The Hugs from Portland, Oregon. They’re kind of like The Libertines but are taking it all from their own direction. They’re a band who really know how to put a tune together and i’m totally dead excited about them.”

-Carl Barat (The Libertines/NME Magazine 2007)

“There’s a band called The Hugs that I like a lot. They play folk rock. They’re a Portland band. I really like their songs.”

-Gus Van Sant (Movie Director/2008)

“Over their four-year history the Hugs have often been compared to the Dandy Warhols. It makes sense: Both were young Portland groups who effectively channeled (or shamelessly aped, choose your verb) popular bands of yesteryear, garnering them buzz everywhere but their hometown, where they were mostly met with sometimes hostile indifference. If the comparison continues to be apt in another three years, Danny Delegato and crew will have their “Bohemian Like You” moment and have the opportunity to give Stumptown the finger for good, and I wouldn’t completely blame them. I suspect that part of what has always put fans off of the Hugs (and, in part, the Dandys) has been the way they sprung out the forehead of Cleveland High pre-formed, hooky and cuddly as hell.”

- Dave Bow (Portland Mercury 2010)