The bands' story starts in Dayton, Ohio, where Wennerstrom found the name on a multiple choice video trivia game at a bar.
As a songwriting teenager during a time when Guided by Voices and Brainiac were packing local bars and three of the Breeders were still in town, Wennerstrom used to sneak into clubs to check out the scene. "I would just see those people—my music heroes—hanging out at the bar like everyone else," she remembers. "I could see myself in them. It gave me inspiration to do my own thing."
After doing the usual business of playing local shows, the trio set out the following year on a regional tour. One of the first gigs of the trip took them to a bar in Akron, where the Black Keys' drummer Patrick Carney just happened to be one of only a handful of people in the audience. This chance encounter led Wennerstrom and the Heartless Bastards to Fat Possum Records, with whom they released their debut, Stairs and Elevators, in early 2005.
The band moved on with critical praise in their back pocket, including a four-and-a-half star review from Rolling Stone, which took note that, when Wennerstrom “opens her throat on Stairs and Elevators … she sounds like she’s wailing on the shoulders of giants; her sad and angry vocals channeling all the swagger and spit of a young Robert Plant”
By whatever yardstick you care to measure, it was high time for Erika to get out of Dayton.
In true ascetic discipline, she moved to Austin, Texas in 2007 for a change of inspirational scenery and a new recording project. With the help of producer Mike McCarthy (Spoon, Trail of Dead), she assembled a group of musicians with whom she gave the songs life and uncovered yet another layer of Wennerstrom and the Heartless Bastards. Two of the new Bastards aren’t Texas ringers, but fellow Dayton brethren Dave Colvin on drums, and Jesse Ebaugh on bass, who actually played on the original demo that hooked Fat Possum, throw in one Austin native on guitar, Mark Nathan and you’ve got a new unstoppable force that “Take the stage and literally knock everybody down” – NY Times review of the Bastards SxSW record release performance.
The Decemberists’ guitarist Chris Funk said, "It's been a few years since I've had a voice on repeat in my mind. This voice seems to arrive in my ears while sound checking, often before the shows on a pre-show play list and after shows too -- the songs are just perfect and the band has found their spots behind this incredible woman. A unique and enduring artist arrived into our world once again."
The album, entitled The Mountain, (released February 2009) delivers the powerful howl that fans expect from the Heartless Bastards, but also weaves in adventure with mandolins, banjos, strings and Erika’s transcendent voice.
Brimming with confidence and creativity, The album Arrow (released February 2012) sees Heartless Bastards pushing their distinctive sound forward with their most eclectic, energetic collection thus far. The album – the Austin, Texas-based band’s first release with Partisan Records – is marked as ever by singer/guitarist/songwriter Erika Wennerstrom’s remarkable voice, at turns primal and pleading, heartfelt and heroic. Songs like “Parted Ways” and the searing “Low Low Low” expertly capture the Bastards’ multi-dimensional rock in all its strength and spirit. Following upon the difficult introspection of 2009′s acclaimed third album, The Mountain, Arrow stands as a powerhouse new beginning for Heartless Bastards.
“The Mountain was me going through some things after being in a relationship for nine years,” Wennerstrom says. ”This album is kind of like me being comfortable again.”
The Mountain
Heartless Bastards Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
But the blisters on my skin they tell me different
Bad dreams-sugarcoated tabs from hell
Drowning in the wishing well I save for you
[Chorus]
Stone cold sweat
I bleed to death every night
Someone turn the wheel before I drown
Beneath your mountain
Oh, it's so strange
Sometimes I see these things
That don't exist
Beyond my dreams
Wake up,with nerves sprayed on the wall
There's a saint across the hall,but she's not at home now
Empty-too full of fear to fill up
Too far gone to stop, too scared to move
[Chorus]
Heartless Bastards' "The Mountain" is a song that reflects the struggle between the conscious mind and the subconscious mind. The opening line of the song, "Alright, so maybe I dreamed it all," sets the tone for the rest of the song. The singer is questioning the reality of his experiences, as the blisters on his skin are telling him something different from what he remembers. He is haunted by bad dreams, which he describes as "sugarcoated tabs from hell." These dreams are so potent that they feel like they are drowning him in a wishing well.
The chorus of the song, "Stone cold sweat, I bleed to death every night, something here ain't exactly right, someone turn the wheel before I drown beneath your mountain," reveals the singer's inner turmoil. He feels like he is slowly dying every night, and something is not right with his current situation. The lyrics "someone turn the wheel before I drown beneath your mountain" seem to suggest that there is a person or situation that is weighing him down, like a mountain on his shoulders.
The second verse further illustrates the singer's feelings of confusion and fear. He sees things that don't make sense and wakes up with his nerves sprayed on the wall. He is living in a place where even the saint across the hall is not there to save him. He is too scared to move, too full of fear to even fill up. "The Mountain" is a powerful song that shows how desperation and fear can make a person feel like they are drowning.
Line by Line Meaning
Alright, so maybe I dreamed it all
I am unsure if my experiences are real
But the blisters on my skin they tell me different
There is physical evidence to suggest that my experiences were real
Bad dreams-sugarcoated tabs from hell
My bad experiences are disguised or made tolerable in some way
Drowning in the wishing well I save for you
I am overwhelmed and drowning in my own desires for someone else
Stone cold sweat
I am experiencing intense fear or anxiety
I bleed to death every night
My emotional pain is unrelenting
Something here ain't exactly right
My intuition tells me that something is wrong
Someone turn the wheel before I drown
I need someone to take control and save me from my situation
Beneath your mountain
The source of my distress is linked to the other person
Oh, it's so strange
My experiences are odd or unusual
Sometimes I see these things
I am experiencing hallucinations or delusions
That don't exist
My hallucinations or delusions are not based in reality
Beyond my dreams
My experiences are more intense or disturbing than in my dreams
Wake up,with nerves sprayed on the wall
I am jolted awake and feeling intense anxiety
There's a saint across the hall,but she's not at home now
There is someone nearby who could potentially help me, but they are unavailable
Empty-too full of fear to fill up
I am emotionally empty and unable to cope with my fears
Too far gone to stop, too scared to move
I am too caught up in my situation to make changes, and too afraid to make a move
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: HAMZA ROBERTSON, SAMI YUSUF, N UNKNOWN WRITER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind