Dull Days And Wild Nights With The Hard Fall Hearts!

Hey guys and gals. Back again with another “Featured Artist” and this time I got the “Hard Fall Hearts” for you. This is an awesome up and coming band out of San Diego, CA that mixes several styles very nicely, like punk, rockabilly, psychobilly and more. I came across their music several months ago and I was able to check out one of their shows at Cane’s in Sand Diego and I thought to myself’ “Damn, I gotta get these guys on the website!”.

Their first full length album “Last 24 Hours” is readily available, so go check it out! And be on the lookout for their live shows too.

I had a chance to have a little Q&A session with Eli (drums, vocals) and Bryan (guitar, lead vocals) to tell everyone what the Hard Fall Hearts are all about and here it is. Enjoy………..

Jay, The Opening Set: First off, thanks for taking the time to answer a few questions for everybody. Introduce yourself and your bandmates and what instrument you each play.

Hard Fall Hearts: Bryan Kelly- Guitar/Vocals, Rocket- Upright,Electric Bass/Vocals, Eli Rinek- Drums/Vocals

Jay: How long have you guys been playing together and how did you form the band?

HFH: 2 yrs. this spring of 2010. Interesting how we all met to say the least. Rocket and Eli were playing together in a band called The Del-Fi’s, a more jump blues outfit. They were not in agreement the way things were going and direction of material so decided to move on. At the same time Bryan had his band The Handsome Devils but was not happy with the rhythm section. A mutual friend put us three together and we decided to do a rehearsal. At the same time Rocket and Eli had a show already booked for Eli’s B-day at Tower Bar and needed to fill the slot. Basically we met at Bryan’s rehearsal space, went over the material, loved it and decided we would play our first show that Fri. This all happened within 24 Hours, hence the title for our first full length release ‘Last 24 Hours’. We’ve told this story countless times and always come back to the reason we all started playing together as nothing more than “just meant to be!”

Jay: In listening to your music, I get reminded of great bands such as Reverend Horton Heat, The Living End, and Tiger Army. You guys blend some punk, psychobilly and rockabilly in your songs and do it very well. How would you describe your music and who are some of your influences?

HFH: As far as a band and the influences of our sound, well you hit the nail on the head! We’ve always loved the bands that you have mentioned as well as many others. Our new full length actually has a lot more punk influence as well as some old school rocksteady. We’re putting out a very diverse release but still staying true to our Rockabilly roots. These new tracks will not disappoint!! We’ve played a few out live already with great crowd response.

Personal influences include:
Bryan: Brian Setzer (Stray Cats), Chris Cheney (Living End), and old Green Day.

Rocket: Takes notes from every great Slap Bass player and would love to “boldly go where no upright player has gone before!” Although his music preference is more diverse including Cocteau Twins, Slow Dive, and My Bloody Valentine.

Eli: My influences come any where from Scott Churilla (Rev. Hort. Heat, Supersuckers) to Stewart Copeland (Police) to Abe Cunningham (Def Tones) to Buddy Ritch. Some of my favorite bands are Bouncing Souls (Mike McDermott rips skins!), The Knockouts (Sweden), Social Distortion, The Smiths, The Cult,
and A.F.I.

Photo by Roobie, The Opening Set

Jay: You guys have been playing mostly shows down in the San Diego, CA area but recently you have started to perform in other Southern California cities and counties. Is that something you guys are purposely trying to do? Do you guys plan on doing nationwide gigs?

HFH: Yes we play SD, LA, OC, and Riverside counties a lot lately. We’ve played some great venues such as The Viper Room, The Belly Up, The Derby, Canes, The Mint, Radio Room, The Vibe and SD County Fair just to name a few. We’re doing a mini tour through Arizona this December including The Blooze Bar in Phoenix. We’ll be doing a more extensive Southwest tour this Spring/Summer and working on getting to Europe within a year or so.

Jay: What are some bands that you guys have played with?

HFH: Lee Rocker, SuperSuckers, Koffin Kats, Chop Tops, The Caravans, Stellar Corpses, Brigette Handley and The Dark Shadows, Cash’d Out, No Dice, The Quakes, Reckless Ones, Deadbolt, Frenzy, The Howlers, Hillbilly Hellcats etc.

Jay: Something that I noticed right away with your music is the length of each song. Most rockabilly and psychobilly songs barely hit the 2 minutes mark, but all of your songs are over 3 minutes long except for one(”Back To You”, which happens to be the one that sounds most like traditional rockabilly and one of my favorites). Are some of the solos in your songs improvised to make the songs long? Or were the songs just written out that way from scratch?

HFH: We’re fortunate enough to always be composing new material and ideas. I guess we find it difficult to cut those ideas down to two minutes. If it works as a bit of a longer song… it works!!
We do have a couple shorter tunes on this next album but for the most part 3 to 4 min. songs. Think of it as getting more for you money!! Haha…

Jay: More for your money….what the consumers want to hear. Ha ha. Ok, Speaking of writing, who writes all of your songs? And to me it seems like on your album, you did a good job of mixing up minor and major chord songs throughout. Any preference?

HFH: Bryan wrote most of the first album ‘Last 24 Hours’. We all composed ‘Slave to Love’ on that one though. The new album we’ve all composed the songs, Bryan lyrics on 2/3rds. Eli lyrics on 1/3.

We all prefer Minor chords. We feel they have more of a dark, heavy feeling. It conveys emotion well.

Jay: What do you prefer: Small, club venues or big stage venues?

HFH: Actually we enjoy playing all size venues especially if there is a good stage, sound, and lighting. If any one of these suck, it could ruin the whole night. A small venue with good sound is better than a large venue with lousy sound!!

Jay: That’s very true. I have been to many shows where the sound is just bad and you go home with a bad earache, literally, because some of harsh frequencies that are not adjusted properly. Anyways, are you guys looking to hopefully sign a big record deal? Or are you guys trying to keep it “underground”, so to speak?

HFH: Right now we’re on a small Indie label, Double Barrel, Records. This is a stepping stone to bigger and better things. We would like for as many people in the world to hear us. If that means signing on a major label, then so be it.

Jay: Me, personally, I believe in supporting independent artists so I am constantly purchasing music off of sites like Amazon.com (where I happened to find your album) and going to live shows. It is one of the main reasons why I started this website. How do you feel about people downloading your music illegally and piracy in general?

HFH: Piracy is unavoidable, but actually helps upcoming bands get exposure. Kinda like the old school days of bootleg copies on cassette tapes, ha ha! We believe that playing live is where the money is at these days. Gotta have a killer live show!! Selling your recordings should just be bonus.

Jay: I’ve heard the same thing from other musicians. Seems like live shows IS where the money is at. Besides music, do you guys have any other hobbies?

HFH:

• Bryan- Movies, attending live music/shows
• Rocket- Gear Head/Hot Rods, Antiques
• Eli- Surfing, Martial Arts/Yoga, Gardening

Jay: Wait a minute. Gardening? That is very interesting. How did that come about?

Eli: Ha ha! I eat a lot of organic vegetables. It’s way cheaper to grow you own dude! If you want the whole story, well I was raised by hillbillies and we grew our own food since I was a lil guy. Ha ha.

Jay: That’s a good way to look at it, especially in this economy. Alright, so what are the future plans for the band? New CD? More tour dates?

HFH: Well we’re heading into the studio to record a new full length album this month (Nov.) It will be due to be released this spring of 2010. We just came out on Rebels of Rock-n-Roll Vol. 2 on Straight Razor Records. We’re touring the U.S. and Europe in 2010 and 2011.

Jay: And last but not least, What are some locations (online and retail) where your fans can buy your current CD, “Last 24 Hours” and where can they find out the latest news on you guys?

HFH:

• CDBaby
• Myspace
• Facebook
• YouTube
• itunes
• rhapsody
• amazon

Jay: Thank you guys for your time and good luck in all your future endeavors! We’ll be sure to catch another show soon.

HFH: Thanks bro!! Keep an eye on our calender for upcoming shows near you!!

Thanks again to the Hard Fall Hearts. Check ‘em out!

Photo by Ashlee Lumley Photography