Noel Heroux of Hooray For Earth
Saturday night Hooray For Earth played a midnight set at Brooklyn Bowl. When I arrived, there was already a sizable and interesting crowd for The Sadies with Andre Williams. I was not aware of these guys, but apparently Andre Williams is somewhat of a legend from the old time rock n’ roll era, as well as revolutionizing sleaze rock in the 90s. Being that he’s about 75 years old, this guy has been around and knows a thing or two about a thing or two. He looked straight out of the 50s with a perfectly pressed white three-piece suit (complete with a fedora) and bright red silk shirt. This attracted a rockabilly type of crowd, and had everyone on the floor dancing to The Sadies’ blues’tinged guitar licks with Williams’ weathered vocals. I’m not sure how much crossover there was with the Hooray For Earth crowd, but there was a fresh line forming outside the venue just for them.
Hooray For Earth w/ Zambri
Hooray For Earth took the stage right on time, combining vocal forces with the ladies of Zambri for the whole set. The last time I saw them was last year at Pianos, when I interviewed band leader Noel Heroux (which happened to be my first interview for BestNewBands.com ever). At that time, the band had released their Momo EP, were almost done with their full length, and I had mentioned that I could envision them playing a larger venue with their grand Neverending Story sound. On this night, Brooklyn Bowl was that larger venue, and although their sound didn’t make me think of an 80s children’s film quite as much this time, they did fill the space with their full, multi-layered songs extremely well.
Most of the set consisted of songs off their now released LP True Loves, including the title track that has this video to go with it:
Although they did not play “Surrounded By Your Friends,” the track off Momo that I had most strongly associated with the band, it was nice to see how the band had evolved in their live show from what I remembered. Instead of sounding more synth-based, Noel rocked a darker, more raw sound on his guitar to compliment his sincere and straightforward lyrics. The synths were certainly still there, and the band is still building on everything they’ve done, but doing it with more of an edge. It was also great to see how much more of an audience the band now has, and is continuing to grow. I imagined them being epic before, and seeing them again has made me more confident in this prospect. Hooray!
Hooray for Earth are playing Deja Fest in Raleigh later this month, and then go on tour with Cymbals Eat Guitars in the fall. The last date lands them right back in New York playing Bowery Ballroom with Beige October 27th.
Hooray For Earth “True Loves” (Cereal Spiller Remix) from Cereal Spiller on Vimeo.
