The Band of Heathen’s self-titled new album is generating some heat and critical acclaim. We recently corresponded with Gordy Quist from the band, he told us stuff and things that we are now telling… you.
Q) The Band of Heathens is a great band name, what’s the story behind it?
We were initially just having a good time on Wednesday nights at a club in Austin, playing in separate bands one right after another. Eventually we started sitting with each others bands so much and having such a good time that it made sense to just make it one show, with one band, with all of us on stage together. We were calling it the Good Time Supper Club, but after a few weeks, the newspaper started calling us the Heathens. Somehow it stuck. Our first label recommended we change it to The Band of Heathens after some legal research on other bands named the Heathens, so here we are. The Band of Heathens.
Q) What was it like working with Ray Wylie Hubbard?
Ray is great. He has great musical, ideas and knows how to make everybody feel comfortable in a good space to be creative. We called him the Vibe Doctor, because that’s what he is.
Q) Your new album runs through a wide range of emotions, highs and lows.
Was this your goal when you set out to make this record?
Hmm. One of our goals was to try to capture the live energy of the band’s shows and have it fit in a studio setting. We also got to record some of the songs that we don’t play as much live in a more stripped down intimate presentation. We tried to make an album where each song served the album as a whole, and fit with the listening experience of the whole piece. I’m not sure this was a conscious effort, but subconsciously, I think in doing that it makes sense to bring the listener through a wide range of emotions, while still being grounded in the sound of the band and the themes of the record.
Q) Which are your favorite tracks from the album?
That’s hard to say. I haven’t listened to it in a long time, and we all have different favorite tracks. My personal favorites to record were Don’t Call on Me, Jackson Station, Cornbread, 40 Days, Second Line… I don’t know. They were all a lot of fun to record. Like I said, that’s really hard for me to say.
Q) If someone was about to hear your music for the first time, what would you tell them to expect?
The unexpected. I think our music surprises some people who hear our name and think we should sound one way… Or, they see what we look like and how old we are and then they’re surprised that we’re playing music that’s rooted in the late 60’s and 70’s. Every night is a different show for us. There are no set lists and no cue cards.
Q) Shameless plug time - when does your new album drop and where can people
buy it?
The album dropped on May 20, 2008, so it’s out! Go and get yourself a copy… The Band of Heathens! Ray Wylie Hubbard, Patty Griffin, Stephen Bruton, Gurf Morlix… Lots of guests with us. We’re really proud of the record and are having a great time on the road promoting it.
If you like what you’ve read from Gordy, check out this video clip: SECOND LINE: http://vista.streamguys.com/jspiewak2/boh_second.wmv
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WatchMojo NewsletterThe song is called “Love is Noise” and upon first listen its quite memorable and bodes well for the new album. I still have the sample running through my head 5 minutes after listening to it… that might be a bad thing.
Listen to the stream here by way of Stereogum.com
Ernie Halter also has an ongoing cover video series on YouTube.com (http://www.youtube.com/erniehalter), popular with his fans who submit requests on an ongoing basis. It was this, as much as Halter’s penchant for performing covers during his live shows, that prompted him to include three covers on the album: “Just Friends” (Musiq Soulchild), “Pretty Girl” (David Ryan Harris – a song that Halter wishes he had written himself and calls it “the most beautiful song ever”), and “Cyclone” (Baby Bash). Halter explains: “‘Cyclone’ is a hip-hop song, you hear it in clubs, and it’s not the kind of song you’d hear an acoustic songwriter singing. I basically flipped it – added some chords and arrangements that weren’t there, rather than just trying to copy it. There’s no skill in that. Incidentally, I noticed it was getting a lot of traffic on YouTube. One night, I was looking on MySpace and Baby Bash had written me a message there just to tell me he dug it. And I found out later that a radio station in Phoenix had picked up the song and had put it in rotation. People were telling me they heard it on the radio. I just decided have some fun with it.”
For an artist four albums, one dvd, a handful of live records into his career, having had songs placed in several prime time TV shows, (including the critically acclaimed ABC series, Brothers and Sisters and NBC’s Friday Night Lights) and having shared the stage with everyone from *NSYNC to Marc Anthony, Joss Stone to Chris Whitley, you would think Tony Lucca might be a household name by now. Instead, Lucca manages to stroll casually under the radar, patient though persistent and seemingly content with his place in today’s ever-evolving music business.
The formation of The Band of Heathens is as natural and organic as the music they create. In early spring 2006, the three principle songwriters, Colin Brooks, Ed Jurdi and Gordy Quist, were sharing the bill every Wednesday night at the venerable Austin club Momo’s. Originally, it started as each songwriter performing his own set. But in a short time they started sharing the stage equally and collaborating on each other’s songs, with bassist Seth Whitney as the anchor of the rhythm section. The Wednesday night series was billed as “The Good Time Supper Club.” Largely improvised and unrehearsed, the shows quickly gained in popularity and word spread throughout Austin that if you wanted live music on Wednesday night, Momo’s was the place to be.
