Heavy Glow - Midnight Moan

With her long red dreadlocks wrapped high up on her head, my hippy neighbor from across the street stops by for a visit.

"Who's that?" she asks as soon as she walks through the door and hears the excellent blues-rock pumping from my speakers. She notices the tunes before I let her in because I have the volume up pretty high. I'm surprised I hear her knock. "Where are they from? I could totally hear them on the radio."

"I know. Right? They're called Heavy Glow," I tell her after turning the groovy-ass song down just enough for us to speak without yelling at each other. "They're from Cali. San Diego. You'd like them, I'm sure."

She doesn't hesitate and sits down, joining in the rock-fest I'm enjoying. I explain to her that she's listening to Heavy Glow's new full-length album, Midnight Moan, and what I already know about the three-piece band. I tell her how the group formed about 3 years ago and have released remarkable music about every year since. And how the new recording is legitimately FREE, along with their self-titled debut ep.

I go into detail what I know about twenty-something Heavy Glow front-man Jared Mullins after hearing his songs and exchanging a few emails with him. He's an extremely talented singer-songwriter/instrumentalist who listens to everything rock-oriented, from the 50's to the 90's. Doesn't care too much for the 80's. I let her in on the fact that the self-taught guitarist used to be the drummer with virtuoso Heavy Glow bassist Joe Brooks in another band, but later strapped on a Gibson and moved up to the mic himself. He was the one writing the songs anyway. Then I point out how Mullins and Brooks added a fantastic drummer, Dan Kurtz, on Midnight Moan and their rockin' 2010 ep, The Filth & The Fury.

My neighbor expresses that she really likes Mullins' voice, along with his guitar licks, and we bask in the light that is Midnight Moan by Heavy Glow. I let her know that I'm going to call Mullins later tonight to talk a little about the 9-song rock album. She can tell I'm excited. I really love this band.

I'm so excited I blow it and forget most of what I wanted to ask, but one of the very first things I have to know is: what is a Heavy Glow? I search the web for a reference but the only thing I find is a song by a band who I'm not gonna mention. Anyway, the song goes, '...standing in line to see the show tonite and there's a light on...heavy glow...'. Mullins assures me that's not where his band's name came from, but when people ask about it he always says (that group I'm not gonna mention) were writing about Heavy Glow. We share a chuckle. It was actually the name of one of the first songs the band recorded and it's featured on their first release.

Then I wanna know about the new album's title - Midnight Moan. What is that? Is that what I'm gonna make the woman do tonight? "Exactly," Mullins tells me, but adds that's it's also about a certain "longing."  I think the dynamic purple and blue artwork is captivating and I ask about that, too. "Our drummer (Kurtz) came up with it. He put it all together," he said.

Midnight Moan continues the tradition of the band's previous two efforts and contains some spectacular blues-oriented rock songs. The opener, "Lose My Mind", is a prime example and gives me a Stevie Ray Vaughan flashback, but it doesn't take too long for me to learn the seductive "Slave Dance" while listening at the same time. You don't move your feet around a lot but you gotta have one foot a little forward and then you rock your hips slowly to the sexy groove. Focus about 5 feet in front of you and nod your head once every couple seconds or so. Look to the sky when the guitar solos kick in, but be sure to keep your hips shakin'. It's easy. Anyone can do it.

"All My Money", "Collide" and "Purgatory Blues"  add to an already heavy dose of rock but I'm also treated to a few unexpected moments on Midnight Moan. One of my favorites is an acoustic song, "Smithereen". It's just Mullins and his 12-string on this one and it highlights his songwriting, guitar-playing and mass-appealing voice. I'm surprised when Mullins tells me he's had this one on the back-burner for a long time. "It's probably the oldest song I had written," he said, adding that he wrote it during his college years, before any of the Heavy Glow stuff. I'm delighted that he finally decided to put it out.

"Smithereen" transitions perfectly into the short and beautiful instrumental, "Midwestern Lullaby," which contains a purposely-placed bit of silence before the final song. It's the calm before the storm, if you like, because on "Diggin' a Ditch", Heavy Glow pull out all the stops. It's impossible for me to sit still during Brooks' frenzied bass lines and Kurtz's rambunctious drumming. Mullins' 'specializes in mud' here and the riffs are dirty-n-nasty. Lovin' it.

Not only do I love the music, but I can relate to many of the lyrics on this album, which bring to light Mullins' own reflection on various relationship and life issues. "I tend to write the music and bring it to the band. Everything I write is very personal," he says.

Mullins is a song-writing madman. Don't be surprised when Heavy Glow start recording more music for us early next year. The songs are already there. "They're already coming into the live set," he said.

For now, download Midnight Moan  - and Heavy Glow - free from Bandcamp. Then do yourself a favor and fork out a few bucks for the band's other release, The Filth and The Fury, so you can have all their music so far.

--Heddbuzz

http://xj793a.bandcamp.com/

http://heavyglowmusic.bandcamp.com/album/heavy-glow

Heavy Glow - The Filth and The Fury”EP

Electronic distortion - to reproduce or amplify (a signal) inaccurately by changing the frequencies or unequally changing the delay or amplitude of the components of the output wave. (The “Filth.”)

Audio feedback - when a sound loop exists between an audio input and an audio output. The frequency of the resulting sound is determined by resonance frequencies in the microphone, amplifier, and loudspeaker, the acoustics of the room, the directional pick-up and emission patterns of the microphone and loudspeaker, and the distance between them. (The “Fury”)

Add the two together and you have The Filth and The Fury.  Use it skillfully and surround it with expert guitar playing, world class rock drums, driving bass, catchy lyrics, and soulful vocals, and you have Heavy Glow’s The Filth and The Fury EP.

Although the EP’s name is the same as a 1999 video rock documentary on the Sex Pistols by Julien Temple, Heavy Glow’s performances are more akin to the 1969 psychedelia of Jimi Hendrix.  Guitarist and vocalist Jared Mullins displays his axe virtuosity like a circus ringmaster. He tames feedback and turns it into melodious waves of sound in much of the same way Hendrix did during his performance of “Can You See Me?” at the Monterey Pop Festival.  He adds various distortions - from Hendrix’s and Clapton’s fuzzboxes to Link Wray’s dislodged amplifier tube sputter.  Mullins’ guitar playing is a master class in tone. Mullins’ vocals fit beautifully and provide an expressive and accessible foundation for the power trio.

Joe Brooks provides the bottom. He thumps and bumps crunch in a way Dickie Peterson of Blue Cheer fame would fully appreciate.  Dan Kurtz is a madman.  He is a power drummer, with exacting rhythm, that would have Buddy Miles and Ian Paice on their feet waiving flicked Bic lighters.

Now here’s the kicker.  The EP was cut live in one room over a period of six hours.  Let me say that one more time - the EP was cut live in one room over a period of six hours.  Incredible!

How did they do it?  Well, talent helps - so does the steady hand of guitarist and producer Stevie Salas.  Salas has worked with Rod Stewart, Mick Jagger, George Clinton - even Justin Timberlake.  He just seems to know how to get the best out of these boys.

The EP contains five songs - all of them gems.  The most radio ready are "I Almost Prayed" and "Bourgeois Baby" which share a certain drive and complexity that have you up and rockin’.  Then there is "Hot Mess" with a riff that descends directly from Hendrix’s "Manic Depression"  "Love Ghost" does things with feedback and fuzz that make you know the band was reared on a steady diet of hard rock.  To finish the EP Heavy Glow performs "Red July," an early 1970’s power rock ballad of Bootsy Collin-esque bass combined with Clapton’s Cream-era guitar tones, accented by Stewart Copeland-like drumming, over which Mullins croons about “hot summer, red July” with mantra-like repetition.

Don’t know where the band name Heavy Glow came from.  At first I thought it might have originated from the lyrics of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ song "By The Way."  After listening to the EP I’m not so sure.  It might just be taken from the light at the end of a burning medical marijuana cigarette.  Now, that’s more like Heavy Glow.


- Old School

Buy here mp3: The Filth & The Fury [Explicit]