Heartless Bastards

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Heartless Bastards
Erika Wennerstrom, vocalist and guitarist
Erika Wennerstrom, vocalist and guitarist
Background information
Origin Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
Genre(s) Blues rock
Indie rock
Years active 2003 – present
Label(s) Fat Possum Records
Website TheHeartlessBastards.com
Members
Erika Wennerstrom
Mike Lamping
Kevin Vaughn

The Heartless Bastards, formed in Dayton, Ohio in 2003, is a garage rock band. They are often compared to fellow Ohioans and Fat Possum labelmates The Black Keys.

Contents

[edit] History

At age 22, Erika Wennerstrom moved to Cincinnati, and met Mike Lamping. Together they began playing gigs as the Heartless Bastards, which was originally formed as a five piece band with members Dave Colvin on drums, Adam McAllister on bass and Michael Weinel on lead guitar. They played their first live show at The Comet, a bar in the Cincinnati community of Northside, in August 2003. After parting ways with Colvin, McAllister and Weinel, the group reformed as a three piece with Kevin Vaughn on drums and Lamping on bass. The band was signed to Fat Possum Records in 2004 after Patrick Carney from The Black Keys passed on a demo he received from Erika. The 5-song demo was recorded in December 2002 at Ultrasuede Studios by Shannon McGee and featured Colvin on drums, along with contributions from Reuben Glaser on lead guitar and Jesse Ebaugh on bass.

Rolling Stone reviewed their debut album Stairs and Elevators and said, "the Heartless Bastards are a small-town band who are ready to show the big city no mercy".[citation needed] The Village Voice wrote: "deadeye accurate in pitch and message... what we've got is a hard, gnarled voice singing simple-seeming melodies that feel archetypal rather than ordinary, which is no easier to explain than it is to do". Stylus gave the group high praise, stating, "(Erika Wennerstrom) and her two band mates have created an album with more rocking songs and fat hooks than most bands can dream of. It’s not just that they rock, it’s that you believe what you hear, that they love the sound they make, that Wennerstrom lays her soul bare in her lyrics without sounding like Sarah McLachlan, that the women of rock who labored to make it OK for a girl to dream of playing guitar deserve far better than Avril Lavigne or Kelly Osbourne as their descendants."[citation needed]

The second full-length album from the band, All This Time, was released on August 8, 2006. The band road tested many of the tracks on the record prior to releasing it and received rave reviews from audiences. The album relies less on guitar riffs and belted vocals and more on musicianship, without leaving behind the group's unique sound. On the modern rock station WOXY, the band was ranked #12 on the 97 Best of 2005, putting the band among the likes of Spoon and ahead of blues rockers The White Stripes.[citation needed]

According to Wennerstrom, the name of the band comes from a question on a Mega Touch trivia quiz game at a bar. A question asked the name of Tom Petty's backing band, and one of the options was "Tom Petty and the Heartless Bastards." She thought it was funny, and used it when she later formed a band.[citation needed]

Heartless Bastards are stepping into the studio mid-May 2008 to work on the third album with producer Mike McCarthy (Spoon, Trail of Dead).

[edit] Discography

  • 2005 - Stairs and Elevators - Fat Possum Records
  • 2006 - All This Time - Fat Possum Records

[edit] Members

  • Erika Wennerstrom (vocals, guitar, piano)
  • Mike Lamping (bass)
  • Kevin Vaughn (drums)

[edit] Reviews

[edit] External links