With a band name like Old Heavy Hands, you know there ain’t no messing around with this group of rock and roll lifers from Greensboro, NC. Somewhere between the rugged worlds of Drive-By Truckers, Lucero and Whiskey Myers, Old Heavy Hands might be their most under-valued cousin in the Southern Rock meets meet punk and Americana island – it’s no wonder they are referred to as “”y’allternative”.
The band is back with the new album Small Fires out January 19th which lives at the inspired intersection of southern rock, Muscle Shoals Americana, alt-rock, and youths wasted on punk rock ambitions. Now grown men, collectively they’ve built families, survived cancer and beat addictions. It’s this raw tenacity and musical prowess that’s allowed them to share stages with acts like Jason Isbell, John Moreland, Lucero, Joshua Ray Walker, Tyler Childers and many more.
Small Fires was produced by Danny Fonorow, engineered by Ted Comerford & legendary producer Mitch Easter (R.E.M. Pavement, Wilco, Drive-By Truckers) at The Fidelitorium. Additional recording was done at Earthtones Recording Studio with Benjy Johnson (Eric Gales, King’s X, Mike Watt) and mixed by Henry Lunetta (Machine Gun Kelly, Bring Me The Horizon, 5 Seconds Of Summer). Then mastered by Greg Calbi & Steve Fallone (Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie, Taylor Swift, Bon Iver).
Glide is premiering the powerful punch of “Coming Down” that rages with a raunchy early Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers late 70s musical flair and precipitous punk urgency. This track is surely a keeper and one where its ringing guitars and impactful stormy vocals will be stuck in your head.
“I was dealing with a severe mental health situation and the only way I knew how to cope was to self medicate. I felt like I was at an end. I didn’t feel like I was good to myself or the people around me. ‘Coming Down’ is about working through that with help from the people you love, and who love you back. It’s a very cathartic song for me,” says Nate Hall.
“When we recorded it, it was like a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. The spacey tones throughout the song convey a lucid feeling of being in a haze. When the chorus kicks in it’s like putting your foot down and saying I’m done with this. I don’t want to live this way. In the end it’s very healing to me. I think it sits in the perfect place on the album. All of these songs have been very healing and inspirational. They may be a little dark at first but there’s light waiting on the other side.”
“I was dealing with a severe mental health situation and the only way I knew how to cope was to self medicate. I felt like I was at an end. I didn’t feel like I was good to myself or the people around me. ‘Coming Down’ is about working through that with help from the people you love, and who love you back. It’s a very cathartic song for me.
When we recorded it, it was like a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. The spacey tones throughout the song convey a lucid feeling of being in a haze. When the chorus kicks in it’s like putting your foot down and saying I’m done with this. I don’t want to live this way. In the end it’s very healing to me. I think it sits in the perfect place on the album. All of these songs have been very healing and inspirational. They may be a little dark at first but there’s light waiting on the other side,” says Nate Hall.
