DEAD HEARTS
Bio:
Ferret Music's newest signing Dead Hearts may be the closest in sound to the beginning roots of punk/hardcore on the label. "More with Dead Hearts than any other project we've been in, we have got to live out our high school hardcore fantasy" says Jeremy Smith (guitar). "We've played shows with 7 Seconds, Agnostic Front and Slapshot which are some of my favorite hardcore groups when I started playing in bands." Before you label Dead Hearts an old school revival project you should know that the group is a modern hardcore band. A band that is raw, discordant and punk at heart but not afraid to reference metal and rock in their sound. "Our vocalist is screaming his head off but you can understand every word he says and sing along" Jeremy explains "kids can pick up a lyric sheet and identify immediately with what he is talking about. That's something that is not to plentiful in the scene today." The band composed of Jeremy, Derek Dole (vocals), Tom Mayer (bass), Pauly Issue (guitar) and Josh Heatley (drums) hail from the frozen climes of Buffalo, NY. The members were gathered from such acts in the local punk and hardcore scene as The Control, Can I Say and The Pavers. Discussing the formation of the group Jeremy explains "I had a hard time writing in my old band because everyone wanted to get their own mark on the music. I gathered all the open minded and flexible players in these bands so we could have fun in a project rather than it seeming like work."
After playing two shows a month after their start in 2004, Dead Hearts were approached by labels wanting to put the record out and people wanting to book them. "As soon as we put up a myspace page, this label from Long Island State Of Mind Music wanted to put out our demo. It was unbelievable!" After no less than three labels asked to put out the band's first release, the band seceded to whoever could get the album done by Dec so they could tour off of it. That first tour was with Marathon and Another Breath through the east coast. The response for the band's music was shocking as they quickly sold through 40 copies of their EP at one Florida show. For a group that started for fun, Dead Hearts was attracting more work than any of the members previous projects. As of this writing, Dead Hearts have completed four national tours including a six and a half week run by themselves that was self-booked. August 2005 saw the release of a one sided 12 entitled No Love, No Hope on the Netherlands based Reflections label. This release attracted the attention of hometown hero and old friend, Andy of Every Time I Die. After witnessing the band perform he told them to send music to Ferret to check out. "Ferret responded by saying that they loved the music but that they couldn't sign anyone at that time as they just signed a bunch of bands." Jeremy recollects, "However Rick (Barnhart) of the label kept writing us every few weeks to see what we were doing and if we were still a band".
A few months later when Dead Hearts played CBGB's with Bane and Comeback Kid to 750 kids, the label was on hand to witness the band blow the place away. Dead Hearts was signed to the label shortly after. The band recently locked themselves in a recording studio with John Naclerio (Senses Fail, My Chemical Romance) to record their upcoming Ferret debut Bitter Verses. The fourteen song calling card is a concept piece based around the theme of insomnia and what sleepless nights can bring. Lyrics handled by Jeremy he says of the theme "I've worked overnights most of my life since it's a flexible job that allows you to take off for tours. However staying up all night can suck the life out of you and the album deals with how sleepless nights can lead to fucking up your life and fucking up your life can lead to sleepless nights. It's a vicious cycle that it's hard to break from."
Dead Hearts Website
Dead Hearts @ MySpace