Sculpting a rock and roll of the future, Meet….Heartwood

heartwood

Some more good old rock for your Sunday listening, excellent guitar work and I’m picking up on those LA 70s vibe going on as well. Reminds me of Promised Land Sound and that’s a good thing. give a listen to Heartwood, today…. from their soundcloud
Heartwood is an Alternative Indie Rock band from Downtown Los Angeles. After meeting in 2013, they quickly realized that their musical energy and camaraderie was undeniable. Their influences include rock legends such as Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Led Zeppelin and The Beach Boys, as well as modern acts like Radiohead, The Arctic Monkeys, and Green Day. Based on a deep-rooted appreciation for their heroes of the past, the band creates their own stamp on Rock n’ Roll with a fusion of pop-oriented hooks, creative soundscaping and in-your-face trombone solos. Heartwood is on a mission to bring rock back to the forefront of music, and with these new elements they are sculpting a rock and roll of the future.

Hi our name is….

Heartwood

People say we sound like…..

The Beach Boys, Led Zeppelin, and Radiohead combined

We are….

Michael, James, Pat, and Chris

We are from…….

Sunny Los Angeles!

Who are some that have an influence on you

Some of our heroes are CSNY, The White Stripes, Radiohead, and Pink Floyd

How old were all of you when you started to play and who plays what in the band

Michael plays guitar, trombone, and sings. He’s played trombone since he was 8.

Chris plays bass and sings. He’s played bass since he was 14.

Pat plays guitar and sings. He’s played guitar since he was 11.

James plays drums and sings. He’s played drums since he was 10.

Can you tell us about the process you use, from writing the songs all the way

through getting the songs out…

It started with just Michael writing the songs, but pretty soon Chris started

bringing songs in, and honestly we all hang out very often and songs kind of just

get written when we’re together. Michael’s kind of the lyricist and Chris is kind of

the melodic guy, but no position is absolute by any stretch of the imagination.

Regardless, once we have chords, melody, most lyrics, and a basic form. We’ll

bring it to rehearsal to test out the instrumentation, what we want each section of

the song to sound like, etc. It’s all very collaborative; everyone usually has at

least one idea realized on every song. Then we have a live version of the song

completed. Whenever it comes recording time, we usually get down the live

version first, with the basic 2 guitars, bass, drums recorded, then we move on to

see if there’s anything we’d like to add to spice it up as a record. That’s basically

the whole process.

your thoughts on the state of rock ‘n’ roll in 2015….

It’s hibernating a little bit at the moment. When it comes down to it, Rock is a

feeling — a very guttural feeling. There are plenty of ways to make that happen,

but at the end of the day that’s what Rock is. Right now there aren’t very many

people creating that feeling, but it comes in waves. There’s no doubt in our minds

that the next wave is coming soon.

what are some of the challenges you face as musicians and how have you

overcome those challenges

This industry is very difficult, and there are inherent aspects of it that can easily

demotivate you. It’s very hard to get your music heard and cut through the noise.

But we strongly believe in the music we make, and we’ve begun to realize that’s

all the matters in the end.

A few albums that you can’t go too long without listening to….

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot by Wilco (Michael)

American Idiot by Green Day (James)

13.0.0.0.0 by This Town Needs Guns (Chris)

Abbey Road by The Beatles (Pat)

If you could pick any time to travel back to for music, where would you go and

what year would it ….

I think we’re split on this one, but the late 60’s were awesome, as well as 92-98.

Who are all of you currently listening to ….

Staple Singers – Michael

The Robert Glasper Experiment – James

Meshuggah – Chris

Kendrick Lamar – Pat

If you could open for any Band right now who would that be and why?

Hm… Probably a band like Cage the Elephant or Arctic Monkeys. We strongly

resonate with their music.

My youngest is 13 and in a band, what advice can you give him….

Practice smart. If you really love it, keep doing it and don’t be afraid to look at the

areas you need to improve in. That’s how you get better the most quickly.

Our plans for 2015..
Release these new singles we have lined up and play as many shows as

possible. We’re really trying to get our music out there and if we get enough

support we’ll try to get a tour going by the end of the year.

you can keep up/follow Heartwood….

Heartwood, Facebook
Heartwood, Twitter

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Scott

Co-founder of 50thirdand3rd, stepped away to spend time with family and write. From Pittsburgh, now in Florida, Cool Canadian artist wife, 4 great kids, and two granddaughters!! I'm a lucky guy!

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