q/a : the heavy comes to ‘mess with your minds’

The Heavy are exactly that. Dirty, gritty, raw bluesy rock from Noid, UK, a tiny village in the back country southwest of Bath. Core members guitarist Dan Taylor and vocalist Kelvin Swaby have been making music together for almost two decades, and the current lineup, including drummer Chris Ellul and bassist Spencer Page, released their second album, The House That Dirt Built, in late 2009.

Mixing unrefined American styles, The Heavy creates a feral concoction that pulls from soul, garage rock (“Oh No! Not You Again!” featuring The Noisettes frontwoman Shingai Shoniwa), blues, reggae (“Cause For Alarm”), funk, and hip-hop (“Girl”). From the The Sonics to Parliament to James Brown, The Heavy have taken the best and rebuilt it into their own dirty house.

Their hit single “How You Like Me Now?” may have sampled the song “Let A Woman Be A Woman” (originally written by Dyke & the Blazers) but the following cut, “Sixteen,” does not sample Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ “I Put A Spell On You”–rather it reassembles the classic’s nucleus with a Heavy twist and the hedonistically impure rhyme: “Now what the devil want, believe the devil gonna get, he gonna stretch her out, like a tape in a cassette.”

With the vintage crunch of a scratched 45, The Heavy are real–a Black Keys that’s added horns and an emcee on the mic. Howling and growling, Swaby draws inspiration from Curtis Mayfield, Prince and Al Green while his coarse lyrics defile your body, leaving you feel grubby immersed in their glorious groove.

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Read the interview on OMN.

day three : hard to say goodbye to such a solid sasquatch

“Nothing gets me out to Sasquatch at noon,” said a concertgoer after witnessing the soulful, bluesy grit of UK rockers The Heavy who kicked off the final day of Sasquatch on the main stage. It’s an endeavor to stay inside the The Gorge Amphitheatre for 10 to 12 hours of music, and often festival goers neglect a few early acts for a later start. But numerous fans continued to gush praise for The Heavy, remarking that the quartet, plus guest brass, should have replaced Pavement on the Sunday night bill.

MCing a solid mix of tracks from their debut as well as their most recent release, The House That Dirt Built, The Heavy’s lead singer Kelvin Swaby told the crowd, “I think we need to make some more noise,” as they mixed reggae with souled out horns in a blend of anthemic blues rock. The crowd that was filtering in and filling the pit was treated to blazing energy and immediately threw up arms and swung hips to “Sixteen” and “No Time.”

Guitarist Dan Taylor and bassist Spencer Page were impressed not only by the “outrageous setting” but also the response, especially from all American audiences, saying that they prefer playing the USA to Europe. “The American crowd is not reserved about enjoying themselves.” Always letting loose, they did so in a riotous manner as The Heavy closed the first set of the last day with “How Do You Like Me Now?”

Posting up on the side stage was the thin-mohawked Kelvin Swaby to witness an utterly different breed of soul-inspired grooves. Yellow tambourine in hand, a carefree Mayer Hawthorne brought his timeless, white boy Motown to the main stage. Bopping and clapping on sugary tunes like “Your Easy Lovin’ Ain’t Pleasin’ Nothin,” the sun peaked out to shine on his sunny soul music. The audience screamed when asked and smiled at his cheesy, endearing interludes. From the jazz club to the open air, Mayer Hawthorne and The County soaked up the adoration with funky basslines and a few bars of Snoop Dogg’s “Gangsta Luv,” a track which Mayer Hawthorne remixed for the Top Dogg.

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Read about sets from Neon Indian, She & Him, MGMT, Passion Pit, and more on OMN.