Heavens Recent News

SPIN talks Heavens at CMJ!

Thu, 02 Nov 2006 00:11:00 -0800

Heavens continued the love with smooth vocals and precise percussion, but wasted no time getting down to business. Rarely taking breaks during their hour-long set, the pace was fast and each song highly developed. Some had Alkaline Trio frontman Matt Skiba receding from the microphone with an unblinking stare, while others saw him declaring melodic adoration. Imaginative playing from F-Minus's Joe Steinbrick was enough to conjure Skiba's thoughtful and impassioned lyrics: "Cut though miles of blood-red tape / Confessed a gaping mouthful / Too much too late" ("True Hate"). There was even a song dedicated to the stoners, but with such a hypnotic sound, it was clear Heavens were more than sky high.

http://www.spin.com

Spin.com reviews the new Heavens CD, Patent Pending!

Fri, 13 Oct 2006 00:10:00 -0700

The spawn of punk and goth reaches maturity.

Aging gracefully is tough for pop punks and goths alike: The makeup starts to look silly, for one thing. But Alkaline Trio singer Matt Skiba proves it's possible with Heavens, which imagines the Cure born to the Warped generation. Despite the occasionally cringe-worthy lyrics (arterial spray, guillotines, hearses), the songs are surprisingly tuneful and thoughtful. The title track's bouncing bass, deadpan vocal melodies, and almost quaintly dated '80s keyboards reveal a grown-up kid not quite ready to give up his childhood bloodlust. JOSH MODELL

www.spin.com

Heavens U.S. tour plans and Halloween show announced!

Mon, 09 Oct 2006 00:10:00 -0700

HEAVENS, the stellar new collaboration between Alkaline Trio's Matt Skiba and his friend Josiah Steinbrick, has announced a four week U.S. tour to support its debut album, Patent Pending. Released on September 12th via Epitaph, the disc has garnered high praise from the likes of Alternative Press, Spin, Kerrang! and Rock Sound The trek, which gets underway in Seattle on October 24th, counts an apropos CMJ/MySpace gig at Sin-E' on Halloween Night.

�Imagine the Cure born to the Warped Tour generation,� touted Spin, calling Patent Pending �surprisingly tuneful and thoughtful.� Alternative Press Magazine confers HEAVENS the highest possible review of 5 out of 5 �The cumulative effect of the songs on Patent Pending creates a chilling experience, where the imagery (both sonic and lyrical) stick with you far beyond the last notes played.� Elsewhere, Rock Sound gave the disc an 8 out of 10 rating, writing �Patent Pending is a Satanic-tinged, electro-rock requiem for a decaying world.�

Metal Hammer also bestowed HEAVENS with an 8 out of 10 rating, stating, �The songs are intimate pieces, full of eerie word plays and far-removed from the pop-punk of Skiba�s day job. There�s a definite magic� with Skiba�s vocals offering a throwback to the Cure of the early 80s. But it�s all so bloody relevant to 2006.�

And in a glowing 4 K review, Kerrang! raved, �Heavens paint electronic landscapes, but with drums that tap-tap-tap away at you; entrancing melodies wrap themselves around you with mesmerizing persistence. Skiba�s lyrics remain gloomy � there are guillotines, graveyards and gore. The subtle and aloof tone might throw off some A3 faithful, true fans will fall in love with this.�

The friendship that spawned HEAVENS began several years back when Skiba moved to Los Angeles and wound up becoming housemates with Steinbrick, himself an East Coast native. �We're both music nerds,� Skiba explained last June when Epitaph signed the band. �So one day we're both hanging out listening to music and Joe pulls out this cassette he had recorded with just these instrumental tracks. Even without lyrics I could tell they were amazing songs and said that we should start writing together. I had a sixteen-track in my room that I was using to demo Alkaline Trio songs, and once I fell in love with Joe's songs, I thought, 'I could write lyrics to these so easily.'"
Patent Pending's stark soundscapes will be fleshed out by a live incarnation featuring Skiba, Steinbrick, former Engine Down drummer Matt Compton, producer/bassist Ben Lovett (known for his studio work with Dangermouse) and others.

Confirmed dates for HEAVENS' maiden live voyage are as follows:

OCT 24 - Seattle, WA @ El Corazon
OCT 25 - Portland, OR @ Hawthorne Theatre
OCT 26 - San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of the Hill
OCT 27 - Los Angeles, CA @ Troubadour
OCT 28 - San Diego, CA @ SOMA
OCT 31 - New York NY @ Sin-E' (CMJ/MySpace show)
NOV 08 - Philadelphia, PA @ North Star Bar
NOV 09 - Baltimore, MD @ Ottobar
NOV 10 - Asbury Park, NJ @ Stone Pony
NOV 11 - New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge
NOV 12 - Boston, MA @ The Middle East
NOV 15 - Toronto, ON @ El Mocambo
NOV 16 - Detroit, MI @ Shelter
NOV 17 - Chicago, IL @ Metro

The new Heavens video for "Patent Pending" is now up!

Mon, 18 Sep 2006 00:09:00 -0700

With their new album, Patent Pending, out on the streets and available everywhere, the first video is now in!

It's for the song "Patent Pending" and it's a grainy, lo-fidelity broadcast performance piece that takes place on a foreign talk show with some interesting character hosts.

Check it out below!

Hevens "Patent Pending" Video

Heavens announce ticket sales information!

Thu, 14 Sep 2006 00:09:00 -0700

With their new album, Patent Pending, just hitting the streets, Heavens have announced that tickets are now on sale for their first ever run of live shows.

Use the link below to get yours before they are all gone!

10/24 � Seattle, El Corazon - Tickets

10/25 � Portland, Hawthorne Theater - Tickets

10/26 � San Francisco, Bottom of the Hill - Tickets

10/27 � Los Angeles, The Troubadour � Tickets

10/28 � San Diego, Soma Side - Tickets

11/08 � Philly, North Star Bar - Tickets

11/09 � Baltimore, The Ottobar - Tickets

11/10 - Asbury Park, Stone Pony - Tickets

11/11 - New York, Mercury Lounge - Tickets

11/12 - Boston, The Middle East - Tickets

11/15 - Toronto, CAN, El Mocambo - Tickets

11/16 - Detroit, Shelter - Tickets

11/17 - Chicago, Metro - Tickets

Heavens score 4 stars from Aversion.com!

Tue, 12 Sep 2006 00:09:00 -0700

Hip-hop has its flamboyant symbols of status and success: there's the omnipresent bling, jewel-encrusted pimp cups, expensive grills, high-end automobiles. Punk rock isn't so different, though its status symbols aren't quite as obvious. You're not truly anyone in the punk world until you have a slew of secondary, fan-only releases like DVDs and deluxe-edition albums, a diehard fan club. Most importantly, you need to have a side project. You know, just to show that the kids just can't get enough of you.

With Heavens, The Alkaline Trio's Matt Skiba graduates to the world of big-name punk rockers, launching a side project to complete his portfolio of extended re-releases, live albums, split releases and a signature guitar series. Joining forces with F-Minus' Josiah Steinbrick (who, despite a side-project is nowhere near punk-rock royalty) for the heavily electronic project, Skiba doesn't just expand his portfolio. He pulls off a neat trick: Unlike so many of his contemporaries, Skiba's side project isn't a carbon copy of his original band (a la Lars Frederiksen's Bastards) or an ill-informed, unrelated indulgence (see Bad Religion's Greg Graffin's dalliance in Americana). It's a perfect complement to his work with The Alkaline Trio, echoing some of its atmospheres and themes without relying too heavily on the full-time band's formula.

Steinbrick can take credit for much of that success. Teaming with producer Ben Lovett to pull things together, Steinbrick's songwriting and programming lets Skiba escape from the Green Day and Sisters of Mercy-lite influences that guide The Alkaline Trio to explore less obvious manifestations of the dark-rock formula. With songs firmly rooted in electronics with guitars occasionally stepping in to add extra flavor, Heavens departs from the punk foundations that guide the Trio and F-Minus for a sound that sits somewhere between AFI's cold, electro-rock experiments, The Faint's gloomy new-wave electronics and The Alkaline Trio's most Little-Sisters of Mercy moments.

That yields an album of songs that are solid end to end. Get past the band's ties to punk rock -- which aren't really all that relevant on Patent Pending -- and Heavens stumbled across a sound that ought to make shopping-mall Goth-punks and fans of The Sisters of Mercy, Bauhaus and pre-metal Ministry both smile. "Watching You" and "Gardens" let Steinbrick indulge his programmer's sense of timing, with spacious programming that simmers and seethes with pent-up energy. The title track channels everything from the omnipresent Alkaline Trio specter to The Strokes' distorted vocals and the clunky programming of Dntel. It's not all electro-spook on Patent Pending, as shades of the band members' punk past creep in: "Doves" moves from atmospheric electronics to crunchy guitars that trade punk's abandon for more deliberate guitar figures, while "Heather" is a simple dose of smoldering, Goth-clear guitars and Alkaline-esque themes and vocal melodies.

Skiba, expectedly, indulges a few lyrical clunkers that serve mostly to cement his band's ties to The Alkaline Trio's over-the-top moments. Whether singing about a girlfriend painting dying children and hanging out in a cemetery ("Heather"), while Skiba's infatuation with broken relationships, physical pain and self-righteous heartbreak serve to tether Heavens to the emo/pop-punk world.

Skiba's hammy lyrical moments are few and spaced out enough not to derail Patent Pending. Skiba finally has a side project, and more importantly, it's one he can really be proud about. If hordes of My Chemical Romance look-alikes smother dark-punk in an avalanche of cheese and take The Alkaline Trio out with it -- a possibility that seems more likely each passing day -- Skiba's got a job with Heavens. If only all punk rockers' side projects were this catchy, clever and unaffected.

- Matt Schild

Heavens are covered by Spin Magazine!

Tue, 12 Sep 2006 00:09:00 -0700

Who? This Los Angeles twosome with deep roots in punk and hardcore -- singer Matt Skiba also fronts Alkaline Trio and instrumentalist and arranger Josiah Steinbrick is a former member of F-Minus -- started making music together when the pair became roomies in L.A. The fellow "music nerds," as Skiba puts it, began recording a demo after a night of swapping favorite tunes led Steinbrick to share a tape of instrumental tracks he'd put together. Impressed by the songs, Skiba suggested they collaborate. Several trips back and forth between rooms later, the demo version of Patent Pending was complete, and Heavens were born.

What's the Deal? Patent Pending's eleven tracks are laden with images of slow decline in small towns, the haven of punk. Unlike the work of Skiba and Steinbrick's former bands, however, these images aren't set to thrashing guitars. Instead, Heavens take a cue from artists like Television and Brian Eno (which the band admit are reference points) and set Skiba's pensive vocals alongside Steinbrick's surprisingly beautiful arrangements. Their influences also align Heavens' sound with other Eno hat-tippers like Interpol and the Killers, but lyrics from the hardcore punk's imagination (thankfully) pervade. With songs chock-full of "arterial spray" and "warm, razor-blade embraces," no one is likely to forget where Heavens really came from. There's even the occasional love song...for a girl who divides her time between putting her head in the oven ("Another Night") and "painting pictures of death and decay" ("Heather"). Well, it's like they say: You can take the guy out of hardcore, but you can't take the hardcore out of the guy.

Fun Fact: Ever wonder how Gnarls Barkley got their name? Look no further than Heavens' own Josiah Steinbrick, who claims responsibility for the cheeky moniker. He was working on his album with producer Ben Lovett, Danger Mouse's roommate, at the same time Danger Mouse and Cee-Lo were crafting their now-ubiquitous release. When the crew went out to breakfast one morning in Spring 2005, Steinbrick mentioned something being "Gnarls Barkley," a term, as he told SPIN.com, he "had recently created to explain truly bizarre situations. [Danger Mouse] found this quite amusing and asked if he could use the name for the project. I gladly let him, [as] the tracks he played us were blowing my mind. The rest is pretty much history." KAITLIN FONTANA

www.spin.com

Heavens announce Fall tour dates and new album pre-sale event!

Thu, 31 Aug 2006 00:08:00 -0700

A limited number of tickets have been held for Heavens fans and will be available through a special presale that begins this Friday, September 1st, at 1 PM (Local Time). By buying tickets through our presale, you'll be able to get your tickets before anyone else AND save some money on service charges.

Click here to buy tickets: http://heavens.ducatking.com

OCT 24 - Seattle, WA @ El Corazon
OCT 25 - Portland, OR @ Hawthorne Theatre
OCT 26 - San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of the Hill
OCT 27 - Los Angeles, CA @ Troubadour
OCT 28 - San Diego, CA @ SOMA
NOV 08 - Philadelphia, PA @ North Star Bar
NOV 09 - Baltimore, MD @ Ottobar
NOV 10 - Asbury Park, NJ @ Stone Pony
NOV 11 - New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge
NOV 12 - Boston, MA @ The Middle East
NOV 15 - Toronto, ON @ El Mocambo
NOV 16 - Detroit, MI @ Shelter
NOV 17 - Chicago, IL @ Metro

Heavens new album �Patent Pending� in stores on 09/12/06!

For the latest news and info on Heavens go to:
http://www.myspace.com/heavensband

Click here to see other shows available through Ducat King Ticketing:
http://www.ducatking.com

Listen to a BBC interview with Heavens!

Wed, 09 Aug 2006 00:08:00 -0700

With their new album, Patent Pending, set to drop on 09/12/06, Heavens are making the rounds and doing interviews to get the word out on this incredible new release.

They recently did an interview with Mike Davies of The Lock Up show on BBC Radio, and the audio from the event is now online for you to hear!

Hit the link below and check it out!

www.bbc.co.uk

Epitaph signs Heavens!

Tue, 20 Jun 2006 00:06:00 -0700

(Epitaph, Los Angeles, CA) HEAVENS, the stellar new collaboration between Matt Skiba and Josiah Steinbrick has officially signed with Epitaph. Their debut album, entitled Patent Pending, is slated for a September 12th release.

The friendship that spawned Patent Pending, began several years back when Matt Skiba moved to Los Angeles from Chicago, and wound up becoming housemates with Josiah Steinbrick, himself an East Coast native.

�We�re both music nerds,� Skiba explains. �So one day we�re both hanging out listening to music and Joe pulls out this cassette he had recorded with just these instrumental tracks. Even without lyrics I could tell they were amazing songs and said that we should start writing together. I had a sixteen-track in my room that I was using to demo Alkaline Trio songs, and once I fell in love with Joe�s songs, I thought, �I could write lyrics to these so easily.�

On Patent Pending Joe Steinbricks stark soundscapes are sharp, crisp and compelling creating a perfect music bed for Skiba�s deranged tales of murder and obsession which he delivers throughout in a disarmingly silken tenor.

The duo will do some limited touring this fall and plans for a video are currently in the works. Music, track listings and more in-depth info. is available online now at Epitaph.com.