The Hourhand Gets Steeped: Black Tea Is Served

photos and words lovingly hand crafted by Scott Roos

Well folks, boil the kettle and cancel your subscription to Naming Your Band 101, because Regina's favourite retro-rock revivalists, The Hourhand, have changed their name to… wait for it… Black Tea.

Yes, Black Tea.

After a decade of cranking amps, slinging riffs, and playing the kind of music that makes your dad say, “Now this is real music,” the band formerly known as The Hourhand has decided to retire their name—and all the T-shirts, posters, and lovingly duct-taped merch bins that came with it.

Why? Because apparently naming your band in a high school computer lab with Google Images and a dream doesn’t age quite as gracefully as a vintage Les Paul. Who knew?

According to the band, this change is a spiritual reboot. A bold new chapter. A rebirth. A name that truly reflects who they are now. (And if that sounds like something you'd read in a press release for a crystal healing workshop, don’t worry—it still involves rollicking drums, shredding guitars and soaring vocals.)

They say the name Black Tea comes from a line howled by Steve Marriott in Humble Pie’s version of “Black Coffee” (originally penned by Tina Turner). And look, any time a band makes a choice based on a Tina Turner lyric, I’m inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt. But also… it’s called Black Tea.

Let’s be honest - “Black Tea” sounds less like a rock band and more like a sleepy indie café where the baristas have neck tattoos, silently judge your shoe choices, and the used book exchange in the corner is mostly astrology guides, gonzo Hunter S. Thompson treatises and half-finished William S. Burroughs novels. And yet, it also kind of works. Black Tea can be earthy. Soulful. Working class - like something you sip from an enamel mug after stepping out of your cabin in Big River to chop wood shirtless in a snow storm . It’s the beverage equivalent of a denim jacket with the sleeves cut off, still faintly smelling of motor oil and regret. And sure, there’s something vaguely herbal about it too - like it might cure heartbreak or help you commune with your ancestors if ingested correctly.

And then there’s the obvious: there are already roughly forty-seven thousand bands with the word ‘Black’ in their name.The Black Keys. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. Black Oak Arkansas. Black Mountain. Black Flag. Blackfoot. Black Box. Black Stone Cherry. And of course, the mighty Black Sabbath. Honestly, you could fill a festival lineup using only "Black" bands and still have a few left over to work merch, security, act as roadies... Well, you get the point.

Which brings us, inevitably, to one of rock’s great philosophers: Nigel Tufnel of Spinal Tap, who once observed:

“There’s something about this that’s so black. It’s like, how much more black could this be? And the answer is none. None more black.”

It’s hard to argue with the logic. This new name might only be one album cover away from going full Tap. But, in a world of algorithm-friendly indie pop and artists named after punctuation marks, maybe going full throttle into cliché is the most honest thing you can do.

And to their credit, the band is leaning into it for the right reasons. This isn’t a cynical rebrand cooked up by a PR team in matching vintage Carhartt. This is a real evolution. These guys genuinely believe the music they’re making now is the truest version of themselves. And I can respect that. So in terms of a brand switch, maybe, pardon the pun, it's about high time.

Still, part of me will miss The Hourhand. Sure, it sounded a bit like a European power metal band that sings exclusively about dragons and Nordic swords—but it was memorable. Yngwie would have loved the concept of it... And if I’m being brutally honest, it also kinda sounded like a steampunk escape room or a Dungeons & Dragons guild that meets in the back of a vape shop. But hey—it was their weird, oddly-specific name, and they wore it proudly. And some of their t-shirts were really really cool.

At any rate, is Black Tea an upgrade? A lateral move? A branding misstep? Hard to say. But what’s clear is this: they’re not messing around.

Their new single, “Living Easy,” is a Southern-fried banger recorded in the scenic backwoods of Katepwa, SK with studio sorcerer Michael Keire (Threshold Recording Studio). It sounds like it was tracked in a cabin, lit by a lava lamp and the warm glow of vintage tube amps. It’s gritty, groovy, and confidently stomping into the band's next chapter.

So here we are. Black Tea has arrived, hot and ready.

So raise your Yetis, my friends. Cautiously sip your expectations. And brace yourself for a band that’s as heavy, loud, soulful, bluest and... um... leafy like it's always been but now with a name to match.

Just try not to spill anything on your vintage Hourhand shirt—it’s officially retro now.