Do you like it hard and heavy? Then come to The Record Exchange and visit The Headbanger’s Wall, a listening station devoted to some of today’s best bands pummeling you with raw power and raw emotion.
The Headbanger’s Wall currently features Five Finger Death Punch, Epica, Borknagar, 3 Inches of Blood, Overkill, Soulfly, Meshuggah, Vildhjarta, Impending Doom and Naglfar. Come melt your face with us.
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A Dry the River Listening Party will be held at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 17, at The Record Exchange (1105 W. Idaho St. in Downtown Boise). As always, this Record Exchange event is free and all ages.
Join us to nosh on free pizza and hear Dry the River‘s Shallow Bed, which comes out on Tuesday! Purchase Shallow Bed during the listening party and receive the Weights & Measures EP free with purchase!
ABOUT DRY THE RIVER AND SHALLOW BED
“I think people are surprised when they see us live,” says Peter Liddle, frontman of Dry the River. “They expect us to be really calm and quiet, but in some ways, we’re just the opposite.”
Whatever the expectations, Dry the River is blowing right past them. Even before the release of their debut album, Shallow Bed, the band has been selling out shows, stealing the spotlight at festivals, and earning raves from the critics.
Listing the band as one of the “100 Best Things in the World Right Now,” British GQ called the forthcoming album “a masterpiece in the making, packed with catchy riffs and overlaid with lyrical intelligence.” The BBC recently highlighted Dry the River as one of the “Sounds of 2012,” while Q magazine called the band’s music “breathtaking stuff.”
They might look like another 21st century folk group, with their beards and acoustic instrumentation (even a violin), but Liddle decribes Dry the River’s music as “folky gospel music played by a post-punk band.” Between their diverse list of influences—Leonard Cohen, Fugazi, Neil Young, Arlo Guthrie, Neutral Milk Hotel, Bruce Springsteen, Devendra Banhart—and their backgrounds in hardcore and emo bands, they stake out territory that is truly their own. (As Q put it, Dry the River is “the folk band that thinks it’s a rock band.”)
Norwegian-born Liddle formed Dry the River as a solo project while he was at university studying medicine and anthropology. He had already met the other band members—guitarist Matthew Taylor and violinist Will Harvey, plus Scott Miller (bass) and Jon Warren (drums)—on the DIY scene around Reading, and, while on summer break, he called on those old friends to record some of the songs he had written.
When the group began playing live, the response was immediate; a publishing deal and widespread touring followed. Soon, they all left their jobs and studies and moved into a shared house in London, where they continue to live.
In March 2011, the band traveled to Bridgeport, Connecticut to record with producer Peter Katis, known for his work with The National and Interpol. “We tried to preserve the fragility and honesty of the more stripped-down tracks, but still get the intensity of the live show across,” says Liddle.
The first result of those sessions was the EP, Weights & Measures, which went to Number One on the NME chart. The London Times described Dry the River as having “a musical maturity that Weights & Measures showcases to sensational effect.”
While in the US recording, Dry The River, staying true their punk roots, continuously played New York clubs, packing houses at venues like Pianos and The Knitting Factory. Following a memorable series of shows at the South By Southwest festival (where they performed without a drummer, due to visa troubles), Reading and Leeds, Glastonbury, Bestival and CMJ, the band have recently supported Bombay Bicycle Club, Foster The People, and the Antlers on their European tours.
With the release of Shallow Bed, it’s Dry the River’s moment to step out on their own. Set aside your assumptions, labels, expectations. Brace yourself. Now—listen.
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The first single from Port of Morrow, “Simple Song,” could easily be an outtake from 2007’s Wincing the Night Away. Digging deeper into the new 2012 release, The Shins’ wound-tight pop energy still persists in some tracks, like as in “Bait and Switch” and “Fall of ‘82,” but a more middle-aged, adult contemporary feeling is setting into the very bones of frontman James Mercer’s songs.
The fabric of Mercer’s songwriting is generally woven from the threads broken relationships, self-criticism, and a distaste of the games one must endure as a grown up. The Joe Jackson-infused “It’s Only Life” and “For A Fool” are front porch ballads for 30-somethings who’ve traded their punk sensibilities for jobs, kids and car payments. “Port of Morrow” is a sentimental title track, seeming to signal a resignation of will.
The overall production of the album, though not heavy handed, is certainly conspicuous, leaning toward John Lennon’s “Imagine.” The shift’s only enhanced by an entirely new lineup of musicians backing Mercer as The Shins. Though The Shins have certainly not given up their waifish ghost, it’s anyone’s guess as to whether this beloved Pacific Northwestern indie band will one day go the way of Wilco.
Heartless Bastards will perform live at The Record Exchange (1105 W. Idaho St., Downtown Boise) at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 11. As always, this Record Exchange in-store performance is free and all ages. The band is performing at Neurolux later that night and we have tickets for sale here at the store!
ABOUT HEARTLESS BASTARDS
Brimming with confidence and creativity, Arrow sees Heartless Bastards pushing their distinctive sound forward with their most eclectic, energetic collection thus far. The album – the Austin, Texas-based band’s first release with Partisan Records – is marked as ever by singer/guitarist/songwriter Erika Wennerstrom’s remarkable voice, at turns primal and pleading, heartfelt and heroic. Songs like “Parted Ways” and the searing “Low Low Low” expertly capture the Bastards’ multi-dimensional rock in all its strength and spirit. Following upon the difficult introspection of 2009’s acclaimed third album, The Mountain, Arrow stands as a powerhouse new beginning for the Heartless Bastards.
“The Mountain was me going through some things after being in a relationship for nine years,” Wennerstrom says. “This album is kind of like me being comfortable again.”
Arrow serves as the recorded debut of the Heartless Bastards’ current iteration, their latest and greatest line-up since Wennerstrom first convened the band back in 2003. Drummer Dave Colvin and bassist Jesse Ebagh – both of whom played on the Bastards’ first-ever demo recordings – returned to the fold in order to play live behind The Mountain. Soon after embarking on tour, Wennerstrom decided to put more meat on the band’s raw bones by enlisting guitarist Mark Nathan, who had ostensibly come aboard to handle the live sound.
‘I wanted to add another guitar,’ Wennerstrom says, ‘so I asked Mark, ‘What do you think of joining the band?’ and he was into it. I’ve always planned on being a four-piece, but it just takes a while to find somebody that you feel you click with. I’d rather have it be stripped down than just have somebody there for the sake of having them there.”
The expanded line-up brought additional color and dynamism to the Heartless Bastards’ already colorfully dynamic rock ‘n’ roll. With their sound honed to a razor’s edge by night after night of playing live, the Heartless Bastards were soon ready to record for posterity. But having spent so much of the past year on tour, Wennerstrom knew she needed some downtime in order to turn her musical ideas into fully-fledged songs. In Fall 2010, she embarked on the first of what would be several solo road trips designed to clear the cobwebs and help focus her songwriting. Wennerstrom visited friends and family in Ohio, hung out at All Tomorrow’s Parties in the Catskills, spent alone time in Arkansas, a lake cabin in the Allegheny Mountains and at a ranch in West Texas.
“It was really nice,” she says. “I didn’t feel like I was getting much done, but I realized that a lot of that experience ended up being reflected in the songs. I didn’t get a lot of the writing done right then, on that trip, but I feel like getting out there really helped me later on.”
2011 saw the Heartless Bastards hitting the highway once more, taking the opportunity to road-test Wennerstrom’s new songs on a bare-bones “acoustic” tour as well on a series of dates supporting Drive-By Truckers. The band set to work on Arrow just two short days after their return to Austin, a revved-up, well-oiled rock ‘n’ roll machine.
“We just went right in,” Wennerstrom says. “There’s a definite sound that comes from a band that’s been on the road and I really feel like it’s translated on the album.”
The band spent the next month with producer Jim Eno at his Public Hi-Fi home studio. Eno – known far and wide as the drummer in Spoon – guided the Bastards through the recording process, helping them to infuse their myriad influences and ambitions into the songs.
“Jim was really great to work with,” Wennerstrom says. “He asked me what kind of approach I wanted to take towards each song and we’d take it in that direction. It was like, ‘What were you thinking for each song, as far as inspiration?'”
Arrow showcases the depth and breath of the band’s indelible sound, with songs like “Got To Have Rock and Roll” and “Down In The Canyon” lighting upon spaghetti western film scores, Seventies soul, psychedelia, funk, blues, glam, and mudhole-stomping hard rock. Two years of nearly non-stop touring resulted in an astonishing musical telepathy among the Heartless Bastards, with all four players intuitively able to craft Wennerstrom’s songs into maximum form.
“I’m so in synch with this band,” she says. “Songs seem to go where I want them to go and it doesn’t take a whole lot of time. Even though I’m not very communicative, they know me well enough and get it.”
Kicking off with the widescreen vision of “Marathon,” the album is more wholly fleshed than anything in the Bastards’ prior oeuvre, while simultaneously securing the band in all their straight-on, unadorned majesty. Arrow is the glorious sound of a four-piece rock ‘n’ roll outfit in full flight, with little outside accompaniment bar conga player Matthew “Sweet Lou” Holmes’s performance on the evocative “Skin and Bone.”
“It’s a pretty stripped-down album in a lot of ways,” Wennerstrom says. “There’s really not a lot added to these tracks, they’re really mostly live takes. We talked about adding things, but when we listened back, we thought, ‘I don’t know if this really needs more.'”
With Arrow complete, the Heartless Bastards are now itching to get back out there. Inveterate road warriors, the band is at their electrifying best while on stage, making deep connections with both their audience and their music.
“It can be hard at times,” Wennerstrom says, “but I love it. I love playing on stage. It’s that hour and a half, that time that we’re up there, that I love most. There’s a lot of sitting around, trying to find things to fill in the time, but then we finally start to play, it’s so worth it and rewarding.”
Arrow sees the Heartless Bastards doing what all great bands do – furthering their artistic scope with each successive effort. With its impressive range and undeniable vigor, the album flies straight, honest and true, the finest distillation yet of this extraordinary rock ‘n’ roll band’s fiery, unforgettable sound.
“I feel like this is the strongest record I’ve ever done,” Wennerstrom says. “I feel like playing with these guys, us all being so connected, really helped make it so fully realized. I’m really, really happy with it.”
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This storming debut album from the hot-ticket Alabama soul-rock quartet fully delivers on the groundswell of anticipation built up by already legendary live performances and the acclaim of peers such as Adele and Arctic Monkeys’ Alex Turner.
It also bears out the principle, often derided in this age of nanosecond YouTube legend and instant talent-show celebrity, that for a band there is still no substitute for learning the ropes the hard way, plugging away and developing your sonic chemistry through night after night of gigs in tiny clubs. It’s absurd to imagine that a group like the Alabama Shakes, with their raw, grainy take on Southern soul, arrived fully formed in the world by sheer good fortune. This kind of relaxed, easy reliance on each others’ abilities and support, the knowledge that you’re all thinking with one mind musically, comes from months of getting to know each other through banging out cover versions and discovering shared tastes. There’s nothing formulaic going on on Boys & Girls, and certainly no effort unnecessarily wasted on visual styling or plotting market strategy. Just a series of great, swampy soul grooves, fronted by the most arresting new voice you’ll hear this year, and the kind of natural songwriting that seems to contain the entire history of Southern music within its staves. — The Independent