Though mostly known for country music royalty—the likes of Dolly Parton and… Read Full Bio ↴Though mostly known for country music royalty—the likes of Dolly Parton and Johnny Cash—Nashville has a flourishing indie-rock scene, that along with the neighborhood streets, the hills, and the woods—make this a perfect place for Heypenny to create their world of indie-pop-fun-rock.

With outstanding performances like their "Road To Bonnaroo" show, which had them marching through the capacity crowd accompanied by an 11-piece marching band thusly winning them a coveted spot performing at the 2009 Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, to their "CopCar Release Party" which featured performances by 7 of their favorite regional bands and local artists painting giant 8'x5' versions of the pages from their EP, which is packaged as a coloring book, they've been rapidly building their profile and fanbase, inking them as a must see live show.

Heypenny recently headlined the final night of Next Big Nashville at Mercy Lounge, closing out the festival to a sold out crowd. Running with big ideas and surprises, they played a short 7-song set of blistering, high energy songs and then made a surprise move to the middle of the crowd with an upright piano, string quartet and horn section, blanketing the audience in a hundred feet of white Christmas lights. Suffice to say, they think big and deliver.

Three years ago, Ben Elkins lived about 150 miles south of Nashville in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He experimented with sounds and spaces and new ways of writing songs. Through these efforts, Heypenny was born and an album called Use These Spoons was completed and Elkins relocated to Nashville, TN and recruited long-time friends Kevin Bevil and DJ Murphy on guitar and bass respectively.

Though never fully distributed, Use These Spoons made waves in the blogosphere and garnered accolades throughout the region/country/Western hemisphere for its pop-infused balance of rhythm, harmony, and DIY brilliance, ultimately selling out of all their pressings.

What started out as a quiet, solitary and patient endeavor has over the last year erupted into a staccato-rock band that finds company with contemporaries, while channeling the pop-appeal of Michael Jackson, and the naiveté of Sesame Street.

The band, now a complete 4-piece, who’ve been known to dress in tailor-made Neapolitan-colored marching band uniforms or futuristic LEGO-MAN/robot outfits, put on an explosively energetic live rock show that rivals most. And it’s their DIY aesthetic that makes it something wholly unique and special. It’s the attention to detail—those custom, hand-made uniforms to the old-fashioned, big-knobbed, wood-paneled television sets that bathe the audience in abstract colors, flashing and pulsing with the songs—that gives the audience and actual show.

At last years, SXSW, the band performed as part of the Red Gorilla showcases—their time slot competing with Peter, Bjorn & John—and the bar was at capacity with a line serpentining into the street. At Bonnaroo, the band was thrown into an unforgiving slot, performing opposite Yeah Yeah Yeah’s, Grizzly Bear and Santigold, yet they still managed to attract quite a crowd and leave them with an impression. Graham Hawthorne, drummer for David Byrne emailed the band after their performance and said that he happily stumbled onto the set and that it was perhaps “the best thing he saw at the festival.” It’s little things like that, going in as the underdog and winning the hearts, minds and ears of strangers that keeps them going and make them pour everything they have into perfecting their craft and giving their fans something memorable.

Heypenny is currently finishing up their follow-up to Use These Spoons. It will be released in 2010 with subsequent tours to follow.

Radio
Heypenny Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Radio what do you want to play?
Let me in, I gotta sit down for a minute

I know a bird that has flown away
How do you ????

Wait till the planning committee hears
tear it up, and start out again on another

Tell me again, what he said for years?
Frightening, how does she stay under cover?

CHORUS:
tell the radio,
there'll be no more adorning
wear your black clothes
we're a nation in mourning
(x2)

He gave her a candle and made the day
honestly, those are the things you remember

And writing a poem is another way
Romeo, again and again all a winner

What does it take to forget a war?
everyday, everyone hearing about it

What does it take to forget a love?
everything wanting to go on without it

CHORUS (x4)

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Heypenny's song Radio tell a story of loss, grief, and the struggle to move on. The song starts with a plea to the radio to play something, almost as if the singer is searching for a distraction from their pain. "Let me in, I gotta sit down for a minute" suggests that the singer is overwhelmed and needs a moment to collect themselves. The mention of a bird that has flown away suggests that someone has left or died, and the singer is trying to come to terms with this loss. However, they are struggling to do so, wondering how they are supposed to go on without this person. The line "Wait till the planning committee hears tear it up, and start out again on another" suggests that the singer feels like their life has fallen apart, and they need to rebuild it from scratch.

The next verse reveals more about the person who has gone, and the impact they had on the singer's life. "He gave her a candle and made the day" suggests that this person brought light into the singer's life, and "writing a poem is another way" implies that the singer is trying to find a way to express their feelings. The line "Romeo, again and again all a winner" is perhaps a reference to the tragic love story of Romeo and Juliet, suggesting that the singer is struggling with a similar kind of loss.

The chorus is a declaration of grief, with the singer telling the radio that "there'll be no more adorning" and urging listeners to wear black clothes. The repetition of this chorus several times throughout the song emphasizes the depth of the singer's sadness and the collective mourning that they feel.

Line by Line Meaning

Radio what do you want to play?
Asks the listener what kind of music they want to hear on the radio

Let me in, I gotta sit down for a minute
Asks the radio to let him relax and listen for a bit

I know a bird that has flown away How do you????
Mentions a lost love and wonders how to forget

Wait till the planning committee hears tear it up, and start out again on another
Refers to someone proposing a new plan to fix a problem

Tell me again, what he said for years? Frightening, how does she stay under cover?
Asks someone to repeat what they said, and expresses surprise at how someone else can keep their secrets

tell the radio, there'll be no more adorning wear your black clothes we're a nation in mourning (x2)
Tells the radio to stop playing happy music and join in on grieving

He gave her a candle and made the day honestly, those are the things you remember
Remembers a small romantic gesture

And writing a poem is another way Romeo, again and again all a winner
Suggests that poetry can win over someone you love time and time again, referencing Romeo's success in winning Juliet's heart through his poetry

What does it take to forget a war? everyday, everyone hearing about it
Questions what it takes to move on from the constant reminders of war

What does it take to forget a love? everything wanting to go on without it
Questions what it takes to move on from a lost love

tell the radio, there'll be no more adorning wear your black clothes we're a nation in mourning (x4)
Repeats the chorus, emphasizing the need to mourn as a nation

Contributed by Alexis F. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

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TRACKS