Simon Ashberry speaks to the artist formerly known as Shaun Hunter to find out why he's adopted a brand new name.

Songwriter and performer Shaun Hunter aims to continue the tradition of pop stars with a one-word name.

He has dubbed himself Viola and is already attracted attention from record company scouts.

"I've always liked the idea of singers who just have one word in their name and that's all you need to know," said the West Yorkshire-based musician who is of Dutch, French, Irish and Scottish origin.

"I wanted something like Seal. When you think of his name you don't usually associate it with the animal and hopefully it's the same with Viola. It's not supposed to be the instrument, it has lots of other meanings."

Although he has written and performed his own material for some time, gigging also as an acoustic duo with a bass guitarist, Shaun has now put together a full band and is ready to make a mark on the music scene with what he describes as his own brand of Angst Pop.

"Essentially a lot of the stuff I am inspired by is sad and dark but hopefully it is positive and cathartic," said Shaun.

He has signed to Billy Allen's record label In Yer Face which is based in Fagley, Bradford, and the debut Viola single is due out on April 4.

"It's actually going to be an EP. There is a track called Occam's Razor which we did a video for, but the recording was done 18 months ago and the song has changed so much that we didn't want to make that the lead track," said Shaun.

The first two tracks will instead be Mad Dog Of A Hurricane and Sun Ain't Going To Shine No More, which are also featured on the forthcoming In Yer Face compilation CD album And, Then Some.

Those two tracks are both more recent recordings made at In A City studios in Bradford.

Shaun, who lives in Sowerby Bridge and runs a tape duplication company in Ripponden, has long known the In A City boss Carl Stipetic and is delighted to have now recruited Carl as a full-time member of Viola.

"He's a great guitarist and it's fantastic that he said yes when we parted company with our old guitarist," he said.

Carl's brother Paul, who has been touring in Gemany with the Whisky Priests, has just joined the band as drummer, and the line-up is completed by former Swamp Dogs bassist Trevor Beckett.

"I've been through more drummers than Spinal Tap," joked Shaun.

"When we first got together with this line-up we only had three or four days before our first gig but it went really well and lots of people afterwards said it seemed as if we had been together for a lot longer. We're pretty tight already but we can get 30 per cent better."

Viola celebrate the release of their single with a launch party night at the Majestyk in City Square, Leeds, on Tuesday when there will be a live video shoot for the track Mad Dog Of A Hurricane.

You can also catch Viola at the Square Chapel in Halifax on April 3.

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