Heaters kicked off Saturday’s Local First Street Party and head east next week. Earlier, they stopped by Local Spins on WYCE to play a new spacey song in Studio X and talk about their music. (Podcast, video)
Space Cowboys: Heaters performing during Local Spins on WYCE.
By their own admission, Grand Rapids’ Heaters love “weird sounds.”
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“We like that kind of classic, straight-up garage rock/surf rock sound, but we like weird noises, too,” says Nolan Krebs, who sings and plays guitar and bass in the pedal- and effects-rich band which also features bassist-guitarist-singer Andrew Tamlyn and drummer Josh Korf.
Local First Kickoff: Heaters at the Local First Street Party on Saturday. (Photo/Taylor Mansen)
Indeed, while the group’s last EP was “really sparkly and like sunshiney,” Krebs says Heaters didn’t want to do the same thing again for the new record, “Holy Water Pool,” which gets released in September on Brooklyn’s Beyond Beyond is Beyond Records.
The result? “This one is like space cowboy,” suggests Tamlyn.
Heaters — with help from another guitarist, James Allen — unfurled that “space cowboy” vibe in Studio X during Local Spins on WYCE, performing a brand new song, “Gumdrop,” which incorporates all the garage, surf and psychedelic elements that have distinguished the band and earned it accolades far beyond Michigan’s borders.
“I think we have a pretty original sound going on,” Krebs offers. “I don’t think we really have anything in mind as an end product for our music but what feels good, what’s fun to play and what’s challenging to play, so we’re just doing our own thing.”
Check out a video of the band’s performance of “Gumdrop” below with a full podcast of Episode No. 41 of Local Spins on WYCE here.
The band on Saturday launched the annual Local First Street Party outside Bistro Bella Vita in downtown Grand Rapids, with The Lippies, Molly Bouwsma-Schultz & Friends, The Concussions, Seth & May, The Accidentals and Hannah Rose Graves. Check out a photo gallery and video from that at Local Spins here.
This week’s podcast of Local Spins on WYCE also features a new track by The Legal Immigrants (which officially releases its new album in early July) and The Accidentals (an unreleased song performed live last month during the HopCat presents Local Spins Live at River City Studios series), along with tunes by many bands performing this weekend at the Local First Street Party or Festival of the Arts in downtown Grand Rapids: Brad Fritcher + trois, Valentiger, The Concussions, The Mines and Jukejoint Handmedowns, plus Lady Ace Boogie and Greensky Bluegrass.
HEATERS, “GUMDROP” (Video by David Specht)
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