The music of Austin-based five piece The Band Of Heathens may lean more towards Americana and Blues-soaked Roots Rock, but their ethos is decidedly more Punk Rock. The band has remained almost without a label for the bulk of their 17 years, opting to go it alone in true DIY fashion and keeping their entire catalogue of albums in the process. But that independence has done little to stunt their popularity as the band is about to make their Grand Old Opry debut in May.
Their latest album and ninth studio LP Simple Things proves the band is showing absolutely no signs of slowing down. The record opens with “Don’t Let The Darkness,” an undeniably catchy, soulful plea to live in the now and keep on moving. It also, in one song, marked by beautiful vocal harmonies, manages to show the band’s depth of influence pulling together rock, soul and blues. Elsewhere, on the piano ballad “Simple Things,” and “Single In The Same Summer” the band proves they can slow it down without losing any of their intensity. Though the band isn’t simply re-making the same albums again and again, Simple Things does sound like The Band Of Heathens has managed to recapture some of their earlier Rootsier Rock sounds of the mid-2000s.
Among the band’s secret weapon – apart simply from writing stellar hard to ignore songs – are dual lead vocalists and songwriters Ed Jurdi and Gordy Quist, the American bar band equivalent of Lennon and McCartney. Granted the “bars” they tend to play pack in thousands per show.
Sticking with the DIY ethos, the band self-produced Simple Things in their own studio (outfitted with some vintage mics from the band Queen’s old studio). “I see a lot of artists out there screaming, ‘Hey, we’re outlaws, we’re independent!’ and they’re signed to a major label and live completely within that model,” Quist said. “We’ve been the ultimate indie band for 17 years.”
