The Heartless Bastards

Dayton/Cincinnati band The Heartless Bastards have recently come into my consciousness, via a pal who lent me the band's 2006 "All This Time" CD and a few bloggers who have sang their praises. Coolfer Glenn even mentioned them to me last night at Mercury Lounge, where this picture below was shot back in April.


photo by ProductShopNYC

On my initial hearing of the CD, I'm likin’ the simplicity of their sound - 2-3 chord, straight-up rock songs, with somewhat clumsy bridges, but a good nerve underneath it all. Led by singer/songwriter Erika Wennerstrom’s smokey vocals, The Heartless Bastards find a cool way to mix pounding rhythms and raspy guitars. Clearly, more listening is required.

The band is heading to Chicago after tonight’s Columbus (Cow town!) gig, for a show at Empty Bottle, then an exciting slot at Lollapalooza on Sunday.

Hear some of their tracks at MySpace and watch a cool clip of their song Brazen from last December.