About Austinist
Austinist is a website about Austin and everything that happens in it. More about us.

Editor-in-Chief: ALLEN Y CHEN
Publisher: GOTHAMIST
Your Daily Editor Picks
Recent Comments
Austinist Sponsors
Photo Essayist
Foodoir
Favorites
Contribute

Latest tip:

What if you threw a festival and nobody came? <a href="http://pollstar.com/news/viewnews. [more]

 

Latest link:

 

Latest Photo:

 

Austinist Recommends
tom150_final2.gif

September 30, 2008

ACL Fest: Ohio's Heartless Bastards Break Out of the Garage

Like fellow Ohioans The Black Keys and Texas up-and-comers White Denim, Heartless Bastards, the garage all-stars from Cincinnati, are at the center of a return to rough rock, and provide an alternative to the unfuzzy rock of bands such as Vampire Weekend and Fleet Foxes. Sunday evening on the oft-underrated Austin Ventures Stage, megaphone-voiced singer Erika Wennerstrom led the set, with able assistance from the big bass rhythms of Jesse Ebaugh and the steady but hard-hitting drums of Dave Colvin. Playing a slew of songs from the excellent but underexposed All This Time, the still-developing band has put in a solid bid for future position on a more prominent stage, and although Wennerstrom seemed to be somewhat apologetic for "bombarding" the audience with unreleased songs, the strength of the new tunes was in line with that of the rest of the band's catalog. With assistance from occasional fourth members on lap steel and violin, the band's sound was fleshed-out and suited for the open air insanity of the festival circuit, and, sure enough, a two guitarists and a violinist set-up may well have provided the set's highlight. Although this country/bluegrass bent provided a welcome respite from the rockin', the crowd was undeniably enthused when the band shifted back to the dirty-ass blues rawk for which they are renowned.

Email This Entry







Advertisement: Austinist Continues Below!

Comments (2) [rss]

So there I was, standing in the Texas heat Sunday afternoon with my group of drunken friends in front of the Ventures stage. I was bicthin' about this group called "Heartless Bastards" that was coming on because I figured with a dumb name like that they will mos def suck ass. Well, before I know it I'm head bobbin' and thanking my friend Kristi for leading us to the Venture stage. This girls voice is simply profound. The band made me wanna rock out and score a movie with their music. Pure blues rock. So much emotion in her voice that I fell in love....I love you Heartless Bastards. Thank you.

 

Hey Dummies,

The breakout happened. Like, forever ago. Just cuz they're new to you ...? A-ist was already a year late when it wrote its a review of the Heartless Bastards...back in 2005.

This band is awesome. Stop pretending they're new and get some of that hipster cool cred by pretending you're the only one that knew about them all this time, you know, since way back when.

 
Post a comment (Comment Policy)

2003-2008 Gothamist LLC. All rights reserved. Terms of Use & Privacy Policy. We use MovableType.

Site Meter