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The Exploding Hearts
Posted under music, punk by patrick
The town I most associate with hippies and Poison Idea, Portland has produced some excellent music in the past 5-10 years. The Riffs, Soda Pop Kids, Defiance, and The Exploding Hearts have all seemed to dry themselves off long enough to put out some quality records.
The Exploding Hearts formed in 2001 and fused influences from The Buzzcocks, The Jam, Generation X, The Boys, and The Real Kids. They made music so catchy you couldn’t help being in a good mood, and it’s exactly the type of music you wouldn’t expect. At the time, the Hardcore / Street Punk scene had all but taken over, but The Exploding Hearts were a band teenagers could relate to with songs about love and failed relationships. They put out 1 full-length in April, 2003 titled “Guitar Romantic” that’s some of the catchiest power pop these ears have ever heard. It’s easy to dismiss the band as just a revivalist 1977 punk band, but there’s so much more behind the stretch jeans and leather jackets. They seemed to fully understand what made their sound work. They were playful, but had an intense and confident quality that made them so relatable that you felt like you knew them. They were the guys you hung out with, struggling with life and love, just like you were. The band was gearing up for an anticipated nationwide tour when they went on a weekend tour down the West Coast.
Tragically, the band was involved in an accident, a mere 2 months after their albums release, en route from a show in San Francisco. 3 of the 4 band-mates’ lives were taken when their van lost control and rolled on Interstate 5. The surviving member, guitarist Terry Six, went on with 3 ex-Riff’s to form The Nice Boys in late 2004.
Dirtnap Records released the aptly named Shattered in 2006, which consisted of alternate mixes and previously unreleased material recorded during the bands entirely too short existence.
Sleeping Aides & Razorblades
You’re Black & Blue
I’m A Pretender
