Heartless Bastards reviews, music, news

At age 22, Erika Wennerstrom moved to Cincinnati and met Mike Lamping. They hooked upand began playing gigs as the Heartless Bastards, which was originally formed as a fourpiece band with members Dave Colvin on drums and Michael Weinel. They played their firstlive show at The Comet, a bar in the Cincinnati community of Northside, in August 2003.After parting ways with Colvin and Weinel, the group reformed as a three piece with KevinVaughn on drums. The band was signed to Fat Possum Records in 2004 after Patrick Carneyfrom The Black Keys passed on a demo he received from Erika. The second fu ...read more

At age 22, Erika Wennerstrom moved to Cincinnati and met Mike Lamping. They hooked upand began playing gigs as the Heartless Bastards, which was originally formed as a fourpiece band with members Dave Colvin on drums and Michael Weinel. They played their firstlive show at The Comet, a bar in the Cincinnati community of Northside, in August 2003.After parting ways with Colvin and Weinel, the group reformed as a three piece with KevinVaughn on drums. The band was signed to Fat Possum Records in 2004 after Patrick Carneyfrom The Black Keys passed on a demo he received from Erika. The second full-length album from the band, All This Time, was released on August 8, 2006.The band road tested many of the tracks on the record prior to releasing it and received ravereviews from audiences. The album relies less on guitar riffs and belted vocals and more onmusicianship, without leaving behind the group’s unique sound. On the prestigious modern rock station WOXY, the band was ranked #12 on the 97 Best of2005, putting the band among the likes of Spoon and ahead of blues rockers The WhiteStripes. According to Wennerstrom, the name of the band comes from a question on a Mega Touchtrivia quiz game at a bar. A question asked the name of Tom Petty’s backing band, and oneof the options was “Tom Petty and the Heartless Bastards.” She thought it was funny, andused it when she later formed a band. Taken from last.fm « hide