This evening at The Electric Factory (421 N 7th St, Philly) are Heartless Bastards amidst their North American tour with Wolfmother .
Showcasing their February 09′ released album The Mountain, Heartless Bastards give a sense of the influences of their new surroundings in Austin, TX where the now 3 piece reside, after moving from Cincinnati, OH in 2007.
One can feel the true comfort of vocalist Erika Wennerstrom reconnecting with founding member drummer Dave Colvin & former bassist Jessee Ebaugh as they add new instrumentation such as fiddle and banjo, and create a very nuanced sound, especially compared to their past albums All This Time or Stairs and Elevators. Listening to the album in it’s entirety The Mountain has an almost mythical element where one’s mind unconsciously creates an epic journey that Wennerstrom’s voice takes us on. In other words O Brother, Where At Thou-esk.
Accompanying Heartless Bastards is the Australian band Wolfmother with their male vocal counterpart Andrew Stockdale, who much like Wennerstrom is the only truent member of his band. Their developed sound is crisp and purposeful which is a nice companion to my inner reminiscings a similar sounds of my youth in Soundgarden, Rage Against the Machine, Silverchair and a dash of Offspring.
Promoting their just released album Cosmis Egg this now 4 piece utilizes the addion of the keyboard to this album to create a sense of screaming over Stockdale’s guitar.
After Philadelphia, this carefully chosen pairing will play a few more shows throughout North America:
11/7 - Boston, MA (House Of Blues)
11/8 - New York, NY (Terminal 5)
11/11 - Toronto, ON (Kool Haus)
11/12 – Pontiac, MI (Clutch Cargos)
11/13 - Chicago, IL (Riviear Theatre)
11/14 - Minneapolis, MN (State Theatre)
11/16 - Denver, CO (Ogden Theatre)
11/17 - Salt Lake City (The Depot)
11/19 - Portland, OR (Roseland Theatre)
11/20 - Seattle, WA (Paramount Theatre)
11/21 - Vancouver, BC (Queen Elizabeth Theatre)
11/23 - Oakland, CA (Fox Oakland Theatre)
11/24 - Los Angeles, CA (Wiltern)
PS: According to vocalist Erika Wennerstrom, band’s name 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. (This according to Wikipedia dot dot dot)
PSS: Each Note Secure also has an excellent write up of Heartless Bastards album Stairs & Elevators that you can check out here… as part of their Best Of the Decade review of Cincinnati artists.
