Heartless Bastards

Formed in Cincinnati, OH - 2003. the Heartless Bastards perform garage rock with a heavy dose of blues reminiscent of the Black Keys.

History
At 22, Erika Wennerstrom moved to Cincinnati and met Mike Lamping. They hooked up and began playing gigs as the Heartless Bastards, which was originally formed as a four piece band with members Dave Colvin on drums and Michael Weinel. They played their first live show at The Comet, a bar in the Cincinnati community of Northside, in August 2003 wowed crowds and haven't looked back since. After parting ways with both Colvin and Weinel, the group reformed as a three piece with Kevin Vaughn on drums, and Mike Lamping on bass. to The band was signed to Fat Possum in 2004 after Patrick Carney from The Black Keys sent them a demo he received from Erika.

Rolling Stone reviewed their debut album "Stairs and Elevators", released on Fat Possum Records, and opined, "the Heartless Bastards are a small-town band who are ready to show the big city no mercy". The Village Voice proclaimed: "deadeye accurate in pitch and message... what we've got is a hard, gnarled voice singing simple-seeming melodies that feel archetypal rather than ordinary, which is no easier to explain than it is to do". Stylus gave the group high praise, stating, "{Erika Wennerstrom) and her two band mates have created an album with more rocking songs and fat hooks than most bands can dream of. It’s not just that they rock, it’s that you believe what you hear, that they love the sound they make, that Wennerstrom lays her soul bare in her lyrics without sounding like Sarah McLachlan, that the women of rock who labored to make it OK for a girl to dream of playing guitar deserve far better than Avril Lavigne or Kelly Osbourne as their descendants."

The second full-length album from the band was released on August 8, 2006, once again on Fat Possum Records and is titled "All This Time." The band road tested many of the tracks on the record prior to releasing it and received rave reviews from audiences. The record itself is a huge leap forward creatively and sonically for the band, not relying as heavily on in your face guitar riffs and belted vocals. Those elements are still present at times throughout the record, but "All This Time" shows multiple layers of musicianship and confidence in creating a sound that is still unique to the group.

On the prestigous modern rock station WOXY, formerly 97X, the band was #12 on the 97 Best of 2005, quite an accomplishment considering the band was among the likes of Spoon, and ranked ahead of other blues-based rock band The White Stripes.

According to Wennerstrom, the name of the band comes from a question on a Mega Touch trivia quiz game at a bar. A question asked the name of Tom Petty's backing band, and one of the options was 'Tom Petty and the Heartless Bastards'. She thought it was funny, and used it when she later formed a band.



Discography

 * 2005 - Stairs and Elevators - Label Fat Possum Records
 * 2006 - All This Time - Label Fat Possum Records

Members

 * Erika Wennerstrom (Vocals, guitar)
 * Mike Lamping (Bass)
 * Kevin Vaughn (Drums)

Reviews

 * Rolling Stone Review of Stairs and Elevators
 * The Village Voice Review of Stairs and Elevators
 * Stylus Review of Stairs and Elevators
 * PopMatters Review of Stairs and Elevators
 * Blender Review of Stairs and Elevators
 * BlogCritics.org Review of Stairs and Elevators
 * Prefixmag Review of Stairs and Elevators
 * Sponic Zine Review of Stairs and Elevators
 * Live Review from Grog Shop 6/24/2006
 * Stylus Review of All This Time
 * Pitchfork Review of All This Time
 * Blender Review of All This Time
 * THe Austin Chronicle Review of All This Time