…Stephen Heath is like a young Willie Nelson in a punk rock band. This is the CD I should have been waiting on the edge of my seat for. It blew me away. Definitely one of my favorite new albums. It fell out of the sky and into my ears from the gods of rock.
www.nofimagazine.com
…they’ve carved out a seventeen-sided gem (17 tracks)…acoustic Americana with a punk tinge…wonderful riffage…this album ambles along gently, the guitar is sparse and melodic.
www.mapsmagazine.co.uk
Hollywood infused rock n roll at its most hilarious, warms your heart while showing you the finger. Melodic and radio friendly, this record picks at your scabs while lowering your blood pressure. Edgy, dry witted and highly likely to pull a banjo on you when your back is turned.
www.2bob.co.uk
The approach and album are like an effervescent vitamin C drink for jadedness that is borne of a work ethic in honesty; an antithesis of a swagger but the epitome of rock n roll…ladies and gentlemen; HEATH! south east London's favourite adopted son.
Fish (J. Gatica) – www.thebluelightdistrict.co.uk
Acoustics are plucked erratically and there is a general feeling of Americana gone punked out and twisted...a bit PAVEMENT perhaps... excellent.
www.bugbearbookings.com
All the best bits of a great pop rock outfit that you simply can’t find any bad words to say about. ‘Sister’, which has to be one stand out song on this record, starts with a sweet dance along intro. This track is full of all the goodness a pop song needs, catchy, infectious and well crafted. ‘Nija’, is an incredibly unique and original song…
Mark Thomas - www.thebluelightdistrict.co.uk
Live Reviews
…the usual twenty people or so who fill the four foot space around the stage had somehow multiplied to a herd some one hundred and fifty strong. It was obvious why the place was full; HEATH! His teenage hard-on for ‘rock ‘n’ fuck ‘n’ roll’ is the divining rod that has led him to South East London; the sweaty kids chanting his name and worshipping at his feet are what has kept him here. He kicked off full-steam from the first chord. Each track he played had layers of his drawl, treacle-dropped in between his pretty-in-punk guitar playing. He danced every beat and meant every word. Heads nodded and unusual hand gestures were being thrown around by the crowd. Beautifully fragile songs about loves lost and conflicts never resolved are hidden underneath finger-tapped solos and sing-along choruses. …everyone in South East London is in love with him. Two encores. Two encores.
Ian Simpson - www.thebluelightdistrict.co.uk
"an intimate, noisy, beautiful set “
Fishwrap Magazine - S.F.
" Basically it's just him and his acoustic guitar - but wow! What a performer. Coming at you like a man with St Vitus dance on speed, Stephen rattled through a dazzling array of songs in manic fashion: it was akin to acoustic punk rock! Everyone who watched him was amazed and he has turned into a firm crowd favorite."
Wayne Bootleg -
HEATH! is David Rhee and Stephen Heath, and they are an amplified acoustic guitar and drums duo from Echo Park, California.They met in Los Angeles working at the same restaurant, and it was over their mutual dislike of foi gras and canard on the half shell that they formed a band. But I digress, lets keep it real. To site a few newer bands, they'd be at home on a bill with the White Stripes, Iron and Wine, Two Gallants, Scoutt Niblett and QOTSA. HEATH! shows are heart felt, spontaneous, and energizing. Always unique, with varying set lists, song structures, and song lengths, the audience is left with a singular experience. With only two members, Stephen and David have to use all of their powers to fill each song, to make every song count, to bring every song to life. Honesty is paramount, honesty in subject matter, performance and in how they are laid to tape; recorded live.
Self released and self produced, this CD was recorded in a large brick room on an inconsistent reel to reel four track in five days. Mistakes, botched harmonies, lyrical lapses all turn into something else. Something alive and varied, with nooks and crannies to grab onto, places to hide, and things to discover. The stories are about growing up and rocking out, dogs and families, regrets and remembrances, of times gone by, places of yore, and bowls of oatmeal. Enjoy.
more on the album...
The CD you are looking at is HEATH!’s first LP, thank you for listening to it. We recorded this in 5 days, starting January 10th, 2004 in a brick warehouse in Hollywood.
Our main goal going into these recordings was to capture exactly what we sound like live, and be done with it. Every decision after that was looked at with that in mind, will it help us achieve our goal, or just get in the way? Part of our band philosophy, and the reason we are a two-piece, is our minimalist approach, which always demands more of those involved. I find I am never less inspired or creative than when I have every convenience at my fingertips; it just makes me want to catch forty winks. Conversely, use up all my time leave me without a guitar, and I have ideas coming out my patootie! Being two forces us to always be more creative and to come up with different strategies than we would if we had another guitar, bass, keyboards etc. We have to think about what is necessary, and do away with the rest. Technology allows for so much these days, it is so easy to lay it on in the studio (or live), and make every band sound HUGE, and make every harmony, every chorus, perfectly pitched and timed. In my mind this does us all a disservice, it homogenizes much of what we hear, making the playing field so level that it’s not even interesting anymore.
I have an old Teac reel to reel 4 track tape machine, and it was decided, for reasons of simplicity and expediency, to record live in one room using this 4 track. We didn’t have enough mics, we didn’t have any sound baffles or walls to isolate the instruments, and we also did without any effects, compressors or limiters. It was all about getting a nice blend of our voices and instruments, doing three or four takes of a song, and moving on.
Working this way was a lot of fun, and very energizing, but also presented us with a challenge that even the most rudimentary studio’s don’t encounter; there would be no going back and fixing ANYTHING. Each of the four tracks picked up so much sound, that to re record a portion of one track would drastically change the entire sound, making it obvious and weird that something had been fixed. The vocals would drastically change my guitar sound as well. If Dave re sang one of his harmonies, his snare drum would sound completely different for that line. Changing the guitar would leave you with the old guitar still in the vocal mike, creating two warring guitar parts. You get the idea. By using this method of recording, we bound ourselves to picking one take of a song, and using the whole thing, warts and all. Which is exactly what we were shooting for.
You will hear some over dubs on a couple of songs, and one of the songs was recorded 19 years ago on my cassette 4 track, but for the most part, this is the sound of two guys in a big room. Dave plays a small kit, snare, floor tom, kick. I play a mic’d and amp’d acoustic thru a distortion pedal, which gets alot of feedback and a pretty huge sound.
This CD represents my life story, pretty much. These songs were written over the course of 10 years or so, and are about, or based on, a bunch of specific events or times in my life, though not all literally translated. Some are made up. All the songs came together and were completed playing shows and practicing with David.
The title is something my granddaddy used to say.
Right arm,
Stephen.
www.myspace.com/heathrockscom www.heathrocks.com
Read more...