Heartless Bastards

By Michael Yoder
Press photo

Credit a barroom video game for coming up with one of the most badass band names in rock and roll - the Heartless Bastards.

According to lead singer and guitarist Erika Wennerstrom, she was playing a Megatouch quiz game at a bar in her hometown of Dayton, OH, when a false answer of "the Heartless Bastards" popped up for Tom Petty's backing band. She thought it was funny
and used it when she formed her band in 2003.

By 2004, the Heartless Bastards were making a name for themselves in the Midwest music scene, alongside fellow Ohio brethren The Black Keys. Highlighted by Wennerstrom's powerful voice and stage presence, the Heartless Bastards possess a muscular, riff-heavy rock sound that holds up with the hardest in the scene.

A move to Austin, TX, and a decade later the band stands on the cusp of becoming a household name with the Valentine's Day release of their new album, Arrow. Backed up by bandmates Jesse Ebagh on bass, Dave Colvin on drums and Mark Nathan on guitar, Wennerstrom calls Arrow the band's most introspective and cohesive album to date.

Produced by Spoon drummer Jim Eno, Arrow takes listeners through a soundscape ranging from Americana ("Low Low Low") to psychedelia ("Simple Feeling").

Wennerstrom spoke from her Austin home about putting the new album together, her love of coffee and what it's like to live in the same town with another musician who has a backing band with the same name (James McMurtry and The Heartless Bastards).

Fly Magazine: How are things in Texas?

Erika Wennerstrom: Oh, pretty good. Right now, I'm picking out t-shirt designs and ordering some coffee cups for our tour [laughs]. No one has rock and roll coffee cups - at least that I'm aware of.

FM: Is Austin starting to feel like home now that you've been there a few years?

EW: Oh, definitely. I just recently got a place on my own - a teeny little house. It's nice and peaceful, and I have all of my stuff here. I was staying at a friend's because I was on tour so much. Now I have a nice little home to come home to.

FM: Is it a coincidence that your new album is called Arrow and it's being released on Valentine's Day, or was that planned?

EW: It's actually a total coincidence. Our new label - Partisan - thought it would be really funny with our band name being the Heartless Bastards to release it on Valentine's Day. I said, "Yeah, that's pretty funny. Let's go for it." And then I told them, "It's funny and it's a total coincidence, but I was going to call the album Arrow. And I don't want to change it just because of that." I named the album Arrow because of our song "The Arrow Killed the Beast." All of my songs are like my kids - I love them equally - but I'd put that one as one of my favorites on the album.

FM: Yeah, that song felt like Texas when I heard it.

EW: I wrote that one in West Texas out in the desert. I went out and stayed at a friend's ranch for a couple of weeks. It's really hard for me to sit down and focus sometimes. I get melodies in my head all the time, but to sit down and actually finish something is just so hard for me to do. And I will find anything to distract myself. I think it's because the songs I write and the subject matter is very close to me, and maybe I put my heart on my sleeve a bit. It can take a while for me to sit down and be comfortable with that.

FM: You've said recently that Arrow is the strongest album that you've done to date. What is it about this album that stands out compared to the other ones?

EW: Arrow's the closest I've ever gotten to taking an idea that was in my head and making it sound how I wanted it to sound. I attribute that to my band. We've been playing together now for three years. We all started playing together right before the release of The Mountain. This will be the first album they're on. We're all really close, and we all have similar and broad tastes in music.

FM: How does that translate to recording?

EW: If I'm like, "Oh, I'm sort of thinking something like an R&B Curtis Mayfield- inspired song" or something more like Ennio Morricone or T. Rex, they're going to be into all of that, even though they're completely different. We were all pretty in tune in working together and in how to get the songs to a certain point. And then when we worked with Jim Eno, he would say, "What are your inspirations for these songs?" or "How would you like to approach recording these?" He took into account a lot of the directions we wanted to head, and he helped us get there instead of deciding how he would want us to sound.

FM: Would you rather be in the studio or on the road?

EW: I really like them both, but I'd probably say the road, just because of the energy of playing live. I feel like I'm almost a nomad by nature now. There's a book I read years ago called American Nomad, and it talks about how once you've lived that way for a while, it's hard to sit still in one place. I do find that when I'm home for a while and haven't done a tour, I look forward to getting back out on the road. Every day is a different environment. I love the energy of playing live in front of people, and it makes me feel good when people sing lyrics to songs that I've put my heart into. You can't get that kind of experience from just recording.

FM: Growing up as a teenager in Dayton, did you ever imagine traveling around to different parts of the country and having people sing your songs?

EW: I've wanted to be a singer since I was old enough to do anything. I think I was 3 years old and used to say, "I want to be a singer when I grow up." As far as what we've accomplished as a band, sometimes I look back now and I'm like, "Wow, I'm really proud of what we've done." It's been a lot of work, and the band certainly hasn't been an overnight success. But I've always felt that I was capable of doing this, and I've always wanted to do this. If you put enough work into something and continue on with it, eventually good things can happen for you.

FM: Since you've lived in Austin, have you ever encountered James McMurtry and talked about having the same band name?

EW: One time, I was at the Continental Club with a friend, and I was ordering a Guinness. My friend said, "You're standing next to James McMurtry," because she knew we have the same band name. I looked over, and he was drinking a Guinness, too. I thought, "Whoa, we have the same band name, and we drink the same beer." But I was nervous about introducing myself because I didn't know if he would be the type who would joke about us having the same band name or if it's been more of an agitation for him. But so far, we've been able to coexist just fine.