Heavens, Darker My Love Preview

Heavens, Darker My Love
Metro, Chicago
Friday, November 17, 2006

Alkaline Trio with synth, Rhodes, programming, synths, organ, and Wurlitzer? Heavens no.

Heavens may be a side project for Alkaline guitarist/frontman Matt Skiba, but this isn’t the Skiba you know from his full-time gig. Fans looking for the metallic, brooking punk of Alkaline Trio will be very surprised by Heavens’ debut full-length, Patent Pending, which owes more to Depeche Mode and The Cure than it does the Ramones or Misfits.

While Skiba is undoubtedly the face of Heavens, his partner should get the credit for creating the concept. Josiah Steinbrick (ex-F-Minus) became housemates with Skiba when the native Chicagoan moved to Los Angeles a few years ago. Steinbrick played Skiba a tape of some instrumental songs — drum-machine beats, layered synth, and lots of pop experimentation — he was working on, and Skiba immediately fell in love. So while “Matt Skiba Of Alkaline Trio” is the first thing you’ll see on the jewel case sticker Steinbrick is the heartbeat and handles most of the instrumentation on the record. By no means is Skiba anonymous, though. He wrote all the lyrics, and you’ll instantly recognize distinctive Skiba-isms (“My knife wants to hide deep inside of you” from “Counting; “High time we swore off everything we know/sit tight, we’ll be back with six six six in two” from the title track) and the ominous vocal melodies.

Openers Darker My Love also have strong punk roots, though unlike Skiba, who will undoubtedly return to Alkaline Trio, DML’s Andy Granelli and Tim Presley want nothing to do with the genre anymore.

Granelli was one of the dudes in The Distillers. You know, one of the three guys you knew nothing about because he wasn’t Brody Dalle? And even though his time with the band would be considered a success by most — the group’s last record, Coral Fang, earned the band loads of acclaim and fans — Granelli apparently doesn’t think so. The Los Angeles Alternative did an interview with Darker My Love, the band Granelli started with ex-Nerve Agent guitarist Tim Presley before quitting to play with The Distillers full time (then returned after he split from The Distillers), in late July, and in that piece he called his former band “fucking lame” and said the music wasn’t any good. Presley wasn’t any less harsh, calling punk boring and close-minded.

This explains Darker My Love’s adventurous self-titled debut (released in August by Dangerbird), a fuzzy, swirling brand of shoe gazing psychedelic rock heavy on echo and apt to turn into stoned jams, very similar to pre-Howl Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. It definitely ain’t punk, and Presley and Granelli couldn’t be happier.

Whale|Horse open also play.

— Trevor Fisher

Click here to listen to streaming samples of Heavens.

Click here to listen to streaming samples of Darker My Love.

Category: Stage Buzz, Weekly