4.20.12 – Yesterday one of our musical heroes, a true American original, Levon Helm passed on.
By some strange twist of cosmic fate, we were in his birth-state of Arkansas when we heard the news. There was some sort of comfort in knowing we were treading on the ground that sculpted the man and set him on the path to utter and complete righteousness.
We wrote this song right before our show in Little Rock last night to play during a mini-Levon tribute encore. This is a demo of the song as we recorded it in the parking lot.
Although we’ll never get to hear his voice in the present anymore, we are incredibly lucky to be able to be with our friend whenever our ears are open.
We’re pleased to share that Top Hat Crown & the Clapmaster’s Son was included in the Americana Top Ten Albums of 2011 list. This marks the 3rd album in a row by tBoH to end up in the year end top 10 list.
Many thanks to all of the fans and the Americana DJ’s who continue to support the band and their music. We look forward to getting the band back on the road in 2012!
Thanks to everyone who came out for our two Thanksgiving shows this past weekend. With your help we were able to raise over $1000 to feed the hungry and assist our friends at http://www.feedthemwithmusic.com/
We have much to be thankful for and look forward to closing out 2011 with a European tour and a few more shows in the end
of December around Texas.
The final shows of 2011 have special significance as one of our founding members, Colin Brooks has decided to leave the band to explore other interests. Colin has been an integral part of The Band of Heathens family from the beginning, and his musicianship, songwriting and presence will be missed.
We hope you’ll join us in celebrating these final shows with Colin and we look forward to seeing your smiling faces in 2012 as we head out on the gilded road again.
Jubba Jubba, wolly bolly everyone, we just wanted to tell you a little bit about what’s going on this weekend. Down in The Heathen den, we have cooked up a little experiment, albeit a modest one, in which we shall commune for 2 nights of music and happenings in one of our favorite places to play, Denver, CO. If you’re from Denver, you already know why it’s a great music town, if you haven’t experienced it, now is a perfect time.
This is our first attempt at staging something larger than a one night stand sort of show, (we just wanted to prove that we do value deeper, lasting relationships). We consider ourselves incredibly lucky to have found a tribe of like minds, music lovers and wanderers to share the trip with. We hope this is a chance to gather and be a part of the community, where we’re able to all get on the same page for a little while.
It’s going to be 2 nights of music and fun, each night will be a completely different performance. We’re going to do some covers, some acoustic music, sprinkle in some rock and roll and generally try out some different things. Both nights will be filmed and recorded for a future live CD/DVD release, so come be a part of Heathen history.
With any luck, we will all ride a sonic wave to glory while we wait for the deal to go down.
You can purchase tickets to each show individually, get both shows together as a package deal, OR you can purchase the Double Down in Denver Weekend which includes two nights of hotels, a pair of tickets to both shows, and more. Click here for more details, or visit www.bandofheathens.com/doubledown
Setlist Winner: Andy Zipper
We got a boatload of very well thought out set lists in response to our asking you, the fans, to submit your ideas for the ultimate The Band of Heathens set. But the one that took the prize came from Andy Zipper. Contrats to Andy who will receive a pair of backstage passes to the shows for him and a guest.
We’ve got some new shirts up in the online store and more to come in the next few weeks.
Many of these shirts feature artwork taken from the “Top Hat Crown & the Clapmster’s Son” album art and were designed by Joshua Marc Levy.
And don’t forget,
there are some deals to be had with the Bundle Deals in the store. The Top Hat Crown Deluxe package features both the CD and 180 gram vinyl versions of the new record plus a T Shirt, a bumper sticker, and an instant download of the record with BONUS tracks. All of the bundle deals offer more buy for your buck.
Heathen fans, you may have seen me walk across a stage with an arm full of beer and water, turning on amps in the last stages of prep for what will surely be a fun night for all of you, and a busy workday for me. I may have met you at the BOH Merch Mall when I was hawking our many wares. I may have bumped into you, spilled your beer, in a hurried rush towards stage to come to the aid of one of the guys with a broken guitar string or any number of ghosts in the machine that can rear their heads at random in a live performance. I am the man in black, seldom seen behind the scenes. I am known by many a name, am the wearer of many a hat in the live road circus you have come to know as The Band of Heathens. However, while on tour in Europe I hand most of my US Touring duties over to my German counterpart, Thomas (Sledge), while I just run sound. This has afforded me opportunity to take in the sights, sound, smells, the experiences of tooling around this vast foreign land with the five hooligans I call Boss. Below is but one small glimpse into days spent in Amsterdam as a fly on the wall, riding the coat tails of a band on the run.
Hi, I'm Harley
I was waking from a bumpy van ride nap when we arrived in Amsterdam. I looked out to upon an urban cacophony, a sea of bicycles and a tangled web of metro rail, canals and narrow streets. As per usual, the heavy footed yet precise driving of Thomas makes for an interesting cannonball run rough any city. Architecture, culture, color, all bombard you as pedestrians dive to their safety from the path of our van. The ride ends with a stab of the brakes in the backstage area of the Paradiso. The Stones have rehearsed for tours here, and many a great name in music has blessed these stages with their brand of sonic art. We find out it’s a sold out show, instantly adding to the evenings excitement and with it the need for focus and attention in giving the crowd the best show we can. For the guys it means playing their best and leaving it all on the stage, for Thomas and I it means a thousand little pieces both technical and logistical coming together to have the best live production we can muster and leave the audience able to hear and feel what the Heathens bring night after night, a great Rock and Roll show. A great show this night would be an understatement. The energy of the crowd fed an already amped band to play a killer set. Amazing state of the art equipment and an incredibly accommodating and able staff put me at ease behind the mixing desk and allowed for even the smallest nuance of sound to be heard clearly. Nights like those are rare.
Harley Loves Amsterdam
We leave backstage buzzing and hungry, ready to set siege in a new city with all options set before us. With the help of a few locals and the previous experience of the band we set out. This being my first time here Gordy wants me to hit all the hot spots. We have some great Italian food, then head for the quintessential Amsterdam tour spot, the Red Light district. The oldest profession in the world now modernized and enhanced with Red neon and LED lights, plastic surgery and an eye for shock marketing gives an entire new meaning to the term “Strip Mall.” The locals keep their eyes down, as if to meet the gaze of anyone behind the glass will rob you of your very soul. I do not keep my eyes to the ground. They wander, I am mouth agape, laughing. My eyes lock with a women of the red, she instantly blows me a kiss and winks. Hilarious. We end a very late night walking amongst the canals, ducking into pubs and clubs for many beers and cocktails.
Excited to be here
Roxanne, You don't have to turn on your red light
fight for your right
My trip to Amsterdam would not be complete without some pain. I wanted to commemorate this tour and my first experience in Europe permanently, with a tattoo. Required listening for this section is the song “Euro Trash Girl” by the band Cracker. David Lowery pens a quirky love song, chasing a distant love throughout Europe. The song is serendipitous as both Thomas and I have spent time separately working with and appreciating music from Cracker and now find ourselves both working for The Heathens. “Got a tattoo in Berlin, and a case of the crabs, a rose and a dagger on the palm of my hand.”. Well the tattoo happened in Amsterdam, not Berlin. I did not contract any sort of ailment involving seafood. I did however, need a few shots of whisky to ease my nerves before the needle fell smack dab in the palm of my hand. Pain I can’t put words to would most likely be the reason that even my tattoo artist of 13 years tenure, Maxine, has yet to touch ink to this part of her body. The guys stayed for a bit to shoot some video and see me through the screams, yet dispersed as I found myself locked into a Stone Cold Steve Austin mental state and barely let out a groan. I was beyond sound or tear, Stoic in a state of shock no doubt.
Empty Handed
Pre Tattoo Whiskey Shots
Pretending it doesn't hurt
OK this hurts
The night ended with quite a few more cocktails to ease the pain. Amazing chinese food and a killer little jazz club rounded out an incredible few days.
The finished product
I left a high paying, very stressful job a year and a half ago to take a chance on living my life better, with more meaning and experience, working to live instead of living to work. I count my days logged thus far with tBoH as lucky and as fun and happy a time as I have had in years! Cheers to the Road, to live music and all who support what we do!
When life finds you, may it find you Alive!
-Harley (Huck, Harls in Charge, S.B., huggies,…..)
Bye Harley!
Swedish Dreams by John Chipman
Driving the autobahn from Goteborg to Malmo in Sweden is to sample an inexplicable olfactory smorgasbord. One minute an inhale from an open car window reveals a multi-layered delight of fresh salty sea air, mixed with spring-time pine scent that both pleases and cleanses. Five minutes later the entire interior is bathed in a noxious molasses, causing whirling dervish head spins complimented by piercing looks- ready to convict any opponent that dares in kind to accept the challenge of the accusatory gaze. A novice in nasal parsing, would all too quickly roll down the window even further while cursing his fate, only to be gripped in the the stark horror that he just exacerbated the problem ten-fold, when then and only then, the true guilty source is discovered to be that of a pig farm.
The expletives rise and fall in a short lived barrage that violate every rule of decorum and civility, only to be replaced by the resuming drone of the European van’s undersized tires on the velvety perfection of the Swedish highways.
Every tour has it’s recurring themes, some being universal while others take on a life oft their own unique to that particular trip. While the first part of this particular tour started in Germany and the Netherlands, we had been to these places many times and were intimately more familiar with our expectations. The last 3 days we have been in Sweden. None of us in the band had ever been to Scandinavia before. For me, I couldn’t escape the imagery my demented juvenile brain had conjured up — Volvos and Saabs filling up every parking spot at the Ikea store and inside throngs of beautiful men and women, all six-feet tall or more. Everyone sports platinum blonde hair and nordic ski clothes, while kicking back an obscene amount of vodka and celebrating the day’s biathalon results, where Jorg Pettersen defeated Olaf-Gunter Olafsenn in a hotly contested event. The victor receiving forty kilograms of caribou meat and the rack from the beast proudly sported atop his head until he passed out in a SKol vodka induced slumber.
Boy was I wrong.
(This is where I must put in the disclaimer that this is MY blog and even though it is going up on the band’s website, the views expressed here are mine and do not necessarily reflect those of Heathen Inc., BOH Records or any of its wholly owned subsidiaries)
We arrived in Stockholm by plane in the mid afternoon. None of us had any sleep whatsoever as the previous night’s show in the Netherlands had us starting at 2am (so you wanna be a rock star?), we get back to the hotel by 5am and leave for a three-hour drive to Cologne, Germany. We then board a plane for the 2-plus hour flight. Needless to say, we were out of our gourds, sleep deprived. Once Bjorn the promoter arrived we headed straight for the show.
Stockholm is unbelievable, an ancient city perched upon an island on the eastern seaboard of the country where rivers flow to the sea. Buildings as old as the 13th century, co-exist alongside modern metro railways. They have the strongest currency in the world. Their economy is thriving. It is the home of the Nobel prize. They have state of the art medical care for EVERYONE. Yes you read that correctly. They have stayed out of every military campaign since WW II. They have abundant natural resources and thousands of miles of coastline. You have to look very hard to find graffiti, or signs that there is any poverty anywhere. I mean place totally sucks.
To me- it is a real eye-opening view that should be appreciated first-hand. I was also surprised by a few conversations I had with different individuals. I want to put this delicately, and again this probably doesn’t represent the entirety of the nation of Sweden, but here it is.
I talked with four different people about politics in depth (a really obnoxious character flaw of mine). The reassuring thing was that out of those 4 people I talked with, only 4 of them had a strong distrust of the U.S. I mean we have nowhere to go but up. We have them right where we want them. However there is one thing that we should keep in mind…
There is still language in the Swedish constitution (according to the door guy at Akkurat) that says the male head of every household should have one spear, one ax and one shield to defend his house against foreign invaders. Can you imagine the power of that lobby group? Well they are called the National Spear, Ax and Shield Association and I suspect that they wield great power in the inner workings of the political system. We should be prepared for an invasion. They have just been lying peacefully dormant for hundreds of years waiting to attack us.
Anyway we will do our best to survive this hostile country and survey what these crafty folks are up to in our ever evolving quest to bring Heathen music to the masses.
Crazy ’bout the lutfisk,
John
Austin Chronicle Cover 5.6.11
Live at the Sty – KPIG Radio
We stopped in at KPIG radio for a quick song or two on our way down to San Luis Obispo for tonight’s show. We’ll be back in Santa Cruz for a show tomorrow night. California, we love you and your wine.
Video Blog: The Band of Heathens Enter Washington
Having a little fun entering Washington state, where Seth and Trevor were born and raised. Playing a homecoming show tonight at Seattle’s Tractor Tavern.
Hey Folks…
Hey folks,
On behalf of the BOH I’d like to extend warmest regards via cyberspace. Hope that you all are enjoying a lovely, prosperous Spring.
I should take this opportunity to introduce myself…I’m Trevor and I’ve been playing keyboards (mainly Hammond Organ) with the fellas on an intermittent basis for the last several years. Its been a unique vantage point, rotating on the perimeter of this killer rock ‘n roll band as it evolves. Straight up, this is one of the hardest working groups around! There is a lot of excitement with this week’s release of Top Hat Crown. If you haven’t already, check it out. This band is really delivering the goods these days and this record is a testament to that.
So my connection to the band goes way back…to 1998, when Gordy and I met as freshmen on the football team at Dartmouth. Very few who know him now would ever guess that he once was a great athlete but way back in those days Gordy could actually ‘throw a football over them mountains’ (Uncle Rico knows I’m totally serious). Anyway, two-a-days were pretty rough for Gordy and I that fall, getting our craniums tenderized daily as members of the scout team (tackling dummies basically), but a bright spot was that we quickly forged a musical kinship that has taken many twists and turns and is going strong almost thirteen years later!
As many of you know, the band is presently a few days into a West coast tour that will take us through the Rockies (which are exquisite in so many ways this time of year), up to the beautiful Pacific Northwest (where Monkey Paw Seth Whitney and yours truly were born and raised), down to the fertile and inspiring musical territory of the Bay Area and Northern California (there are a few serious Deadheads in this band), and will finish with shows in L.A. and Phoenix as we make our way back to the heart of Texas for Old Settler’s .
Aside from the national record release show we did at The Oriental in Denver, an early highlight of this run was the night we just had at the Wheeler Opera House in Aspen. An absolutely incredible room, aurally and visually. We had the great Sam Bush up for the last 5 tunes of our set. Sam is just a great, humble man and in Colorado…well, he could make a good run for Governor or something. He’s just a legend in the mountains and for good reason! So as you could imagine, with Sam in the mix the energy was palpable and joyous, both in the audience and on stage. I mean everybody in that room was smiling. There was a great jam in L.A. County Blues, and Colin and Sam traded some hot licks during the percussion breakdown of Gravity. And on Judas, (a tune that to my knowledge he had never even heard before) Sam just knocked everybody out with his solo. The icing on the cake was having John Oates (from Hall and Oates) join us and Sam for a You’re Gonna Miss Me encore that I hope somebody got a recording of…I mean we gave that tune the business! John was just a pleasure to be around the whole day and was truly a gracious host.
Tonight will be the band’s first go in Boise. 72 degrees and sunny here today…a far cry from the snow we had in Colorado a few days ago.
Stay tuned for more to come later. Thanks for reading and as always, thanks for supporting live music!
Peace
T-Minus Tomorrow
March 28, 2011
T-Minus Managua/Tegucigalpa/Denver
It’s a Monday night and I’m sitting here in Austin finishing up some last minute things before we hit the road for a while.
Perhaps it seems like a long time since we last saw each other, so you must assume that we’ve had some down time at home just kicking back, enjoying the mild Texas winters.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
I don’t want you to take this as me complaining or bemoaning the rough and tough life of a touring musician and artist, although if you want to throw a pity party, go right ahead, just make sure you have some great wine, maybe a little herb and a nice hi-fi system with some lo-fi vinyl playing.
…Hang on a second, I’ve got to do a radio interview real quick.
(15 minutes later)
Where were we? Oh yeah, I was talking about how long it’s been since we’ve last seen each other and how tBoH has been doing a lot of nothing (at least from the looks of it).
Well old friend, since we last spoke, we’ve written and recorded a new album, it’s called Top Hat Crown and The Clapmaster’s Son.
This little bundle of joy (we call it an album) has been 8 months in the making. We started writing it last summer and recorded it in a couple of sessions over the last part of 2010. We finalized it with some bad-ass artwork and are ready to release it upon you!
See our band is incredibly quixotic, we really do believe in the power of music and self-expression and it’s ability to bring us together and make the world feel a little bit smaller and warmer. We’re eternally grateful that you have given us the space to stretch out and do that and we’re looking forward to sharing these new songs with you.
So tomorrow, this album that we’ve all been living with over the past months is available for your little ears and eyes. I say ears and eyes because it really is a multi-sensorial experience (especially if you buy the vinyl). We’re excited and nervous and hopeful and eager and everything else under the sun.
Most of all, we’re ready. Ready to get back on the golden road and play our music with, and for our community. See, this really is a partnership. We need you to come out to the shows, listen to records, dance and have a great time with your friends and make one-of-a-kind happenings.
If you continue to hold up your end of our secret little agreement, we’ll do our best to keep making music that is soulful and vital to us.
Here’s to enjoying our little weird corner of the world.
See you on the road.
-ej
SXSW 2011 Recap and West Coast Tour
Thanks to everyone who came to our fine city of Austin for SXSW this year (especially those of you who were kind enough to bring us bottles of fine wine!). It was a lot of fun to unleash all the new material from the new album. Hope you are digging as much as we are.
We got a chance to get out and see a few great shows too. Some of the favorites were Vetiver, Gayngs, the Bright Light Social Hour, and the North Mississippi All Stars. Check out the pics.
Vetiver
Gayngs
North Mississippi Allstars
Thanks for coming out to the shows in San Antonio, Dallas and Houston too. We’re doing a Waterloo in store tonight and then we’re off this weekend before heading to the Rocky Mountains, the Pacific Northwest and the West Coast for a month. Hope to see some familiar faces.
Spank you all,
G
PS, check out this poster. Who’s missing? we’re not sure what happened, but it’s kinda funny.
Who's Missing?
BOH 5 Year Anniversary Show Recap
Thanks to everyone who came out to Momo’s for our 5 year Anniversary/Thanksgiving show. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Momo’s so packed full of people! Special thanks to Paul and everyone at Momo’s for making it such a special place to play music and for supporting us for so many years. It’s where we were born after all. We’ve done this anniversary show for the last few years, but this year was truly a special show.
If nobody came to see us play shows, we’d probably be locked up in a garage on the weekends rocking out by ourselves for the sheer joy of music, so we definitely consider ourselves fortunate to get to play music for a living. I don’t know how many shows we’ve played together as a band, but it’s probably nearing 1000. Each of those shows usually includes a couple hundred miles of driving, hotel rooms far from home, and 3-4 hours of set up time on not much sleep for just 2-3 hours of music for a show. The music is what carries us through and somehow justifies all the time on the road away from our families. Not every night is magical, and some nights it certainly feel like work, but last friday night at Momo’s was a reminder to all of us why we love playing music in the first place.
Some of the great moments at Momo’s happened with some of our oldest musician friends in Austin up on stage with us. Steve Wedemeyer, who introduced me to Momo’s and to most of the Heathens, joined us on lead guitar for a few tunes, bringing me back to the days when he played guitar in my band before the BOH formed… He’s still got the soulful chops on the guitar he’s always had.
Drew Smith, one of our favorite Austin artists got up as we ripped through one of his great tunes, Silver Pictures, and then he took everyone by surprise with the lead vocal on Bumblebee. Drew’s energy really got everybody going.
Brian Keane and Eldridge Goins, both a big part of the formation of the band and our first Live at Momo’s album, joined us for Brian’s songs Odysseus and I Ain’t Even Lonely. It was the first time in a few years that the original line up of the band had been back together on stage and it was a blast.
Then we ended the show bringing out the horn section from our ACL festival performance along with Mark Addison on keys for a tune or two. The night ended with an encore of No More Cane with the horns and the guys from Wisebird sitting in on keys and guitars.
Check out some pics from the night on this Uncommon Music Blog (thanks Uncommon Music).
I think there’s some video on Youtube from the night somewhere too. If you have any video or pics from the night feel free to post to facebook or youtube.
It was a ton of fun and a reminder of all that we have to be thankful for as a band. Thanks again to everyone who came out to the show — I hope it was as much fun on the other side of the stage, but I doubt it.
Thanks again everyone. Now back to soundcheck.
Much Love,
G
HSB Day 2
We performed early in the day to a huge crowd of lots of new faces. A highlight was Ed’s keyboard stand collapsing during a solo and the keyboard falling al the way down to the ground. He picked it up and kept banging out his solo on his lap as we all tried to keep from laughing the entire rest of the song.
Saw lots of great music the rest of the day. Guy Clark, Kelly Willis, Conor Oberst, Richard Thompson, Carolyn Wonderland, Robert Earl Keen, Jackie Greene Steve Earle, and Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings. As great as all the music we heard was, we missed a ton of good music too. There’s so much of it going on all the time, you gotta make some tough decisions. I think this pic sums it all up nicely.
