The Weathered Heads: Sinners, Saints & Schydes

How many college-aged dudes does it take to plug in a light bulb? Well, I don’t know the answer to that, but I do know it takes roughly six in the case of The Weathered Heads to plug into the ideal jam pop outfit. They offer a seamless blend of unpretentious rock ‘n’ roll, jazz, jam, soul, and pop. While six members may seem superfluous to some, it is certainly not where these guys are concerned. You will find no frivolous use of the tambourine or sexy background singer eye candy here. Each member brings a unique piece and critical function to the group and they’re somehow all doing something that gets noticed. Whether it be Woggon’s keyboard mastery, Andy Bauer’s soulful grooves, Bullard’s scorchers, Nick Novotny’s commanding back beat, Birdsall’s reinforcing sax riffs, or Craig Weatherhead’s adept songwriting and musicianship—you’ll be drawn from one to the next at different points in the show. It’s basically like how the Power Rangers were pretty tough individually, but you knew they were going to be way better when they teamed up and became Megazord.  See them this Saturday at Ed’s (no name) Bar for the release of their debut album, “The Sinner”.

The Interview Part:

We like to let people interpret song lyrics on their own, because a song may mean something to a person, and something completely different to another person

You guys formed in Winona, correct? When was that and how did it happen?

Yeah we formed in Winona. Originally it was myself, Johnny, and Chris playing together and we formed back in 2012. So we’ve been playing together for quite a while, figuring out each other’s styles, learning how each other operates, and so on. We went to get some pricing quotes on recording a demo back in 2012 with Brett Huus over at Soundstrations in La Crosse, WI. Andy was actually interning for him at the time—we didn’t know him at this point. We didn’t have the funds at the time to go through Brett, and we got a message from Andy later asking if we’d be interested in having him record for us. So after the demo is recorded, I find out he plays bass. At this point, we don’t have a bass player, and Andy is an awesome guy so we ask him to join. Andy introduced us to Trevor. Andy and Trev introduced us to Little Baby Nick. Andy, Trevor, and Nick all go/went to school over at Saint Mary’s University. Chris, Jonathan, and I are all townies and went to Winona Senior High School.

This Saturday is the release of your debut album, The Sinner. What is the title referring to—pent up Catholic school guilt?

Haha, the title comes from one of the tracks off the album called “The Sinner”. Basically I think it’s fairly catchy, and we just love that song. We try not to get too involved with serious matters like religion, but I suppose by naming the album that we are asking for it. We like to let people interpret song lyrics on their own, because a song may mean something to a person, and something completely different to another person, and we like that as opposed to telling people exactly what they should be thinking of while listening.

Ok, so what are you guys giving up for Lent then?

For lent we’ll be giving up The Dirty Thirty at MC’s (forever known as Schydes). Also, Inter-band communication. Our only means of communication will be YouTube videos that are responses. For example, if Trevor wants his pillow we would respond with a YouTube video of Arwen from Lord of the Rings saying “if you want him, come and claim him”.

Where and how was The Sinner recorded and who will be producing it?

We did everything ourselves. Andy recorded and mixed everything at 4th and Kansas (his house). We tracked some drums at Saint Mary’s, but a huge majority was done at Andy’s house. Over the summer, Nick also lived there so on top of recording it was just the spot to be so it really became everyone’s second home. Our buddy Camden Webster from C-Side Productions mastered it. He’s great at what he does and is so easy to work with.

I assume the band name the Weathered Heads comes from Craig’s last name which is Weatherhead. What would you have named the group had Craig’s last name been Radiohead?

See now the name wasn’t something that came about right away. For a couple years we were known as Black Magic and then we changed it when we added Andy, Trev, and Nick…and also because we’re not an 80s metal band haha. We threw around tons of ideas for new names, and I think it was Andy that actually came up with the one that stuck (The Weathered Heads) because it fit with my last name and some of the other options that we were throwing around. If my last name was Radiohead, I think we’d probably have to disregard everything though and go with the Walter Cronkite Tribute Band, Larry Birds and The Eagle, or Meeser Tucker and The Dawgs. Or maybe Wizard dinner.

I’m sure having 6 people in a band can be trying at times, just as it can be a lot of fun. Briefly define each member of the band’s personality with a different cinematic character. For example, our bassist Andy is Ash from Evil Dead because…

We actually need to go between cinematic films and television characters to get some accurate descriptions:

Jonathan – Dr. Shepard (McDreamy) from Grey’s Anatomy or Lone Starr from Spaceballs because most people think he’s very handsome and also because he thinks he’s #sick

Chris – Wall-E or HAL 9000 (the robot from 2001: a space odyssey) because Chris is a robot and you never know what you’re going to get, but every once in a while you get feelings from him and he makes you feel things.

Nick – Dug (the dog) from UP because if you have a problem with Nick Novotny you have a problem with life.

Craig – Admiral Adama from Battlestar Galactica. An amicable leader who is not afraid to buckle down and make the hard choices when needed. Trevor picked that one for me. Anything from BSG is full nerd status, but I’m a nerd so I’m fine with it. That’s how you get fans right? Battlestar Galactica references?