100.9 The Creek presents The Band of Heathens

Withtheir ninth studio album, Simple Things, The Band of Heathens camehome—geographically, as they returned to their longtime base of Austin for therecording; sonically, in an embrace of the rootsy, guitar-based rock with whichthey made their name; and thematically, with lyrics that speak to appreciatingfriends and family and our limited time on this planet. It’s a confident,assured statement of a group finding its place in the world amid uncertain andtroubled times.

“Itwas a return to embracing our influences, our natural instincts, the way wesound when we get on stage,” says guitarist-vocalist Gordy Quist. “Many timesin the past, we'd take a song and stretch to make it into something else sonically,because that's exciting and fun to do in the studio. This time around, we triedto use some restraint and embraced our first instincts, trusting the songs werestrong enough. With the subject matter, there’s a sentiment of focusing on what'simportant as we go through this journey together—don't waste time, because thisis all we've got.”

“Gordy and I each have a natural sound when we sing, butthere's something even more special and unique when our voices blend together”says guitarist-vocalist Ed Jurdi. “So it was just about harnessing andembracing that. Good, mid-tempo rock and roll—that's our breadbasket, andthere's not a lot of that music being made right now.”

Thoughthe members of The Band of Heathens now live scattered across the country,coming back to Austin (where they first formed in the early 2000s when Quistand Jurdi were among four songwriters playing regular weekly sets at the late,lamented club Momo's) was crucial to the making of Simple Things. “The city has grown and undergone many changes overthe years, but the intangibles that make Austin a unique place are still aliveand well,” says Jurdi. “I feel like the band wouldn't have come togetheranywhere else. As Austin has evolved, the band has evolved too, and now comingback feels like a very full circle moment.”

Theyworked in a studio called the Finishing School, which was founded by the band’sclose friend and sometime producer George Reiff; Quist took over the studioafter Reiff passed away in 2017, and upgraded with gear including three ofFreddie Mercury's actual vocal mics, which have previously been used onrecordings by David Bowie, the Rolling Stones, and AC/DC. “It’s our owncommunal space and we’re very comfortable there,” says Quist.

Insome ways, the new album is a logical extension of Remote Transmissions, thelivestream series that Band of Heathens started soon after the pandemic shutdown the world in 2020 (and which was documented in last year’s RemoteTransmissions, Vol. 1 album). Unable to tour, the group convened every weekfor a year, playing covers of songs new and old, responding to a disorientingtime by reconnecting with music they love.

“Thesewere all the songs we grew up on and learned how to play in garage bands,” saysJurdi. “It was good to get back in touch with that, as a survival mechanism andas a creative outlet.”

Asopportunities started to open back up, they extended the experiment with the“Good Times Supper Club” on Patreon, offering fans the chance to watch the bandwork and to participate in the creative process. “Rather than get together oncea year for two weeks and make a record, now we're getting together almost everymonth, for three or four days or a week, and trying out some new songs,” saysQuist. “The frequency of having to do that really dovetailed well into theworkflow of making this record—taking little bites and small chunks of stuff,and then taking some time to listen and then go home and write. As we startedputting some of this new material together, it started snowballing in terms of,‘Oh, there's a good direction here. I got an idea for something that could workwith this batch of songs.’”

Afteralmost twenty years on the road, the domestic solitude of lockdown led to newsources of inspiration for the musicians. “Being at home and going out in thebackyard to play with my daughter,” says Jurdi, “taking a walk and talking myneighbors, things that normally are incredibly mundane—but they weren’tmundane, because that hadn't been our mundane life.”

Thetitle track of Simple Things took a while to cohere but started in theearly days of the pandemic. “I just remember theworld feeling like it was exploding,” says Jurdi, “I was talking to Gordy alot—What the fuck are we going to do? How are we going to keep the bandtogether?’ On a deeper level, my daughter is going to school on the computer athome and isn't out in the world, spending time with her friends. So the song isabout figuring out what's important, what we need to be thankful for, and howwe address this adversity without it being overwhelming and overcoming us. Howcan we harness the beauty in that and appreciate the moments and be present inthem, without being swallowed whole by what's going on around us in the world?”

Quistponders coming home in a different way on “Long Lost Son,” which he co-wrotewith his friend Jeff Whitehead. It’s the experience of leaving home, seeing theworld, and that feeling you get when you come back,” he says. “It's thatspecial spot in your heart where the place you've been running from retains anew kind of charm and you realize how fortunate you are to have grown upthere."

Jurdirecalls that “Don't Let the Darkness” began with a couple of simple butprofound observations—a friend remaking one night that “If you weren't here, wewouldn't all be together,” and then bass player Jesse Wilson talking aboutbeing “a lot closer to a little further away.”

“Istarted thinking that there's a lot of sadness in the world,” says Jurdi. “Thatsong is like a pep talk for my friends and myself. Like, ‘Hey, there's a lot ofstuff coming at you, but how do we keep these forces the forces of darknessout?’ It’s sort of a mantra, to figure out how to get closer to being in thespot you want to be and keep the bad shit further away.”

Fromday one, The Band of Heathens have remained proudly, fiercely independent—turningdown label offers, maintaining complete ownership of their catalog, buildingtheir audience one show at a time. ‘There's a survivor's spirit within thisband that we've had from the first record,” says Quist. “I see a lot of artistsout there screaming, ‘Hey, we're outlaws, we're independent!’ and they'resigned to a subsidiary of a major label and live completely within that model.Now we don't necessarily go around waving that outlaw flag in everybody's face,but I truly feel we've been the ultimate indie band for 17 years. We've alwaysbeen living outside the lines, industry-wise, and that spirit helped us duringthis time when it was all taken away from us.”

WithSimple Things, they extend this achievement—creatively, personally, andpractically—in the face of a challenging and turbulent landscape in music andbeyond. “We’ve been able to grow witheach record,” says Jurdi, “all the while doing exactly what we wanted to do—which,believe me, has not always been the best thing for our career or commercialsuccess. There's never been anyone there to tell us, ‘Guys, don’t do this,you're fucking up completely.’ That was the whole thing to us, the idea ofbeing in a rock and roll band is freedom, right? We grew up with icons andheroes that not only represented music, but a lifestyle, an attitude, and a wayof doing things.  Those ideas molded usin our youth and we've carried them with us ever since."

“We'verealized,” says Quist, “it's us, it’s our families, and it's our fans, andthat's really all that matters.”