Cincinnati-based alternative rock quartet The Heavy Hours are back with Gardens (STREAM/DOWNLOAD GARDENS HERE), a full-length album that further exemplifies their alternative rock sound. The group recorded Gardens several years ago, long before the group had management, an agent or a record label in their corner. With money they had collectively saved up, each of the members took a week off of work and set out to record a pocket full of songs at Montrose Recording located on remote farmland in Richmond, Virginia. Check out what the band had to say below!
The Vinyl: For those who aren’t quite familiar with you, mind introducing yourself/yourselves and a share a fun fact about the band that no one may know?
The Heavy Hours: We are AJ, Mike, Jon, and Flint – fun fact: we all grew up within several miles of each other. Flint, AJ, and Mike went to the same high school.
TV: When did you first start playing music and how did The Heavy Hours start?
THH: AJ was in bands all throughout high school, playing local gigs and Battle and of the Bands; one time he recruited Michael to play bass with him at a Burrito Bar called The Comet in Cincinnati. It wasn’t until later that Jon and AJ discovered that Mike could sing. We all started writing songs together with Mike singing, AJ on guitar, and Jon on bass. The Heavy Hours officially became a thing when Michael’s dad had access to an abandoned house that we used as our practice space – we wrote 10 songs there and decided we needed to record them
TV: What is the inspiration behind the band’s name, The Heavy Hours?
THH: It was the only name all of us didn’t hate! It was a series of words found in a WB Yeates poem – a collection of works from his autobiography.
TV: Who are some of your musical influences and inspirations?
THH: Delta Spirit, J Roddy Walston, Nathaniel Rateliff, My Morning Jacket, Kings of Leon, John Prine, Dan Auerbach, Sturgill Simpson, The Lumineers, Richard Swift, Oasis, Avett Brothers, Heartless Bastards
TV: You just released a new record, Gardens, what was the writing and recording process like for this record? Anything you all did differently then past records?
THH: Not really. We all have 1000 voice memos on our phone. We come together during practice to combine them, arrange them, add lyrics, etc. etc. Some Gardens songs were written in a day, others over the course of a few years. We didn’t plan for / intend for this record to be released by any sort of label so, this record is exactly who we were and what we wanted to do at that moment in time. It’s special because of that / we hope people can feel and hear it in the lyrics.
TV: What does the typical writing recording process look like for you all? Do you write the music or lyrics first? What/who plays what particular role if there is any?
THH: ^see above answer. We all contribute to the songs – matching verse and chorus ideas. Lyrics always come last for some reason. We will rehearse a song with fake “word salad” lyrics and a different name all the way up until it’s time to track it.
TV: You just wrapped up a tour supporting Brett Dennen, how was that? Was it great to be on the road again?
THH: It was kismet. Brett and crew were all stand-up individuals. We had lots of fun, had a lot of great crowds, made a lot of new fans – it was really good to be on the road again.
TV: How have the fans responded to your new material? Did it meet your expectations? Is there anything you would have done differently on this record that may have been from feedback?
THH: We’ve heard nothing but great feedback – we had NO expectations so, we are excited just to know people are going out of their day to spend time with the music. Since we were able to sit on this album for a little before it’s release, we did indeed do something differently with it’s release than we had originally intended; we added an 11th song (When I Fall In Love) – it’s the very first song we ever came up with so, it felt fitting to add it.
TV: As a band, how did Covid and the whole crazy shut down effect you? Did you use that downtime to focus on writing/recording or getting to take advantage of the down time and focus more on life in general?
THH: CoVid days sucked for the band. We wanted to be out on the road but were obviously not able to. Our manager rented us an RV and sent us out on the road anyway – we stopped by radio stations and played parking lot shows. When we weren’t doing that – we were in Woodstock NY with Simone Felice and David Baron, our producers, recording and writing the Wildfire EP.
TV: What are your plans/goals for 2022?
THH: More tours, more tunes, more tacos.
TV: Anything you’d like to say to your fans before we conclude this interview?
THH: If you offer us a couch, we will sleep on it.
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