Indy Highlight: The Heavy

The Heavy are a refreshingly gritty rock band from Noid, England. They draw from musical genres they refer to as “the classics,” blending vintage rock, funk, soul, R&B and blues to create music that sounds vaguely familiar but isn't, because, while it mines from a host of influences, the sound of The Heavy is a beast all its own.

The band has an evident distaste for production technology, declining to put their music in a box and poke, prod and polish it before it reaches your ears.

“Most modern music sounds like computer games. There’s no guts, no rawness, no edge. It just sounds flat,” says guitarist Dan Taylor. “People are kind of listening to music with their eyes rather than their ears,” he says of today's producers.

These fellows see beauty in the imperfections, from brilliantly disgusting guitar sounds to hisses to microphones clunking about the studio. Which is why they love old records: “All the shit, basically, you can hear it. And it’s great,” says drummer Chris Ellul.

This beautiful rawness and soul is, for me, what makes their music so instantly seductive.

On stage and off, there’s a good dynamic between the band members. They sync up easily and play well off one another. They also appear to have complementary personalities, with the biggest one right where he belongs up front.

Evoking, at various times, the likes of Prince, Richard Manuel and James Brown, lead singer Kelvin Swaby’s vocal range is staggering. On stage, he channels scary, dirty blues singers like Howlin’ Wolf and Screamin' Jay Hawkins (the song "Sixteen" is a lift from the famous "I Put A Spell On You") while existing in a funky, sexy, boisterous presence that is completely his own. This man understands what it is to be a front-man, rather than just a lead singer. Swaby gives you a show.

With all the dirty lyrics and on-stage attitude, one may be surprised at how polite and down to earth they are. As they packed up their instruments and carried them to the van, I expressed surprise that they did this themselves. Taylor smiled and, with a shrug, said, "This part...it's so rock 'n' roll, isn't it?"

Them Crooked Vultures

Dave Grohl is, thankfully, back on drums. And in good company, with Josh Homme from Queens of the Stone Age and John Paul Jones, who needs no introduction. Supergroups are trendy these days, but having such legendary credits as Nirvana and Led Zeppelin makes this one stand out. I haven't even listened yet, but I certainly look forward to it. Their self-titled LP has an expected release of November 17th. More (but not much more) info is available on the band's website.