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#WVOICES

The Heavy’s 2016 album Hurt & the Merciless

Popularity for genre-defying band The Heavy has been growing massively since their inception back in 2007. Currently on their worldwide tour, starting in California

and ending in Fuji, the Bath-born funk four-piece are on their way to Bristol to rock the night away.Their most successful hit, How You Like Me Now, has featured in several soundtracks and advertise-ments, including American comedy Horrible Bosses and critically acclaimed Mark Wahlberg and Chris-tian Bale drama, The Fighter. In 2010, they became the first band in history to get an encore from David Letterman in the US, and now they’re performing to sold out venues across the States.Meanwhile they’re relatively unknown within their own hometown, with Bath being missed off the tour set.“Playing the David Letterman show was a massive turning point for the band,” says lead singer Kelvin Swaby. “As Englishmen, we weren’t aware of the enormity of the show in the U.S” After their appearance on the show they began to notice the effects of their encore, but fame has never been part of the band’s priorities.“The music is what’s most important, so as long as we can keep writing that, then the fame aspect is something we need not worry about,” says Kelvin. “Celebrity is not something any of us are attracted to.”Growing up in Bath, Kelvin is glad that the spotlight of the states doesn’t follow him home.“I really enjoy being able to walk around Bath with no one knowing who we are, and even if they do, people are always super nice and non intrusive,” he says. “It’s where I was brought up, where our beast was brought up and will always feel like home.”The beast in question is their ominously named band, The Heavy, which consists of Kelvin on lead vocals, along with Dan Taylor (guitar), Spencer Page (bass guitar) and Chris Ellul (drums).

beauty and the beast... Kelvin Swaby,

frontman

of global

sensations the

heavy, talks

to W ’s Toby Cruse about

how a beast

was born in

Bath

I really enjoy being able to walk around Bath with no one knowing who we are, and even if they do, people are always super nice and non intrusive. It’s where I was brought up, where our beast was brought up and will always feel like home

“The Heavy always felt like the title of a 70’s horror movie,” laughs Kelvin. “Like something was coming to get you, like something you couldn’t run from. Unassuming but carrying a ton of hurt and weight, ready to unleash on whoever it would encounter.”We wonder if there’s ever any confusion over people expecting heavy metal music, but Kelvin says “eve-rybody that comes to see The Heavy, only expects The Heavy”.What to expect is their blend of old-school instru-ments and modern day technology, with a strong influence from original rhythm and blues, which he describes as their own “dirty little genre”.“I think the Americans truly relate to what we represent as a band that play with these memorable eras and genres,” adds Kelvin, explaining their surprise success which has led to the band selling out California hotspots the Roxy and Coachella festival, which in return has inspired the way the band records. “We wanted to bring the power and

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energy of what we do as a live, hardworking band to the recordings.”Named Hurt & The Merciless, The Heavy’s latest album is filled with heartbreak and revenge, with plenty of fire through the lyrics, which came from the band’s personal lives since their last album.“A lot can happen in four years, so we took every-thing potentially poisonous that was thrown at us personally and turned it into medicine,” says Kelvin.Having their personal lives bleed into their work has led to some of The Heavy’s most successful songs, including Short Change Hero, which is among Kel-vin’s favourites because of his own connection to the song, as well as it being a favourite of his late father.“You can never anticipate how anything is going to go once you put your soul on the line and show it to the rest of the planet,” says the singer. “It’s been an incredible response to what we do as a unit and fam-ily and I couldn’t be happier with the achievements of our filthy little beast.”

While the band may have just released their fourth album and are touring until July and are already planning ahead.“We’ll take each day as it comes but the plan to get the next album recorded and out in less than four years, is definitely on our minds,” he says. “We have plenty more songs in the trunk, so it’s up to us to snatch any and all available time to get it done and produce it.”The Heavy will be heading straight to Belgium following their gig in Bristol on May 18, but Kelvin hopes to swing by home before then, and a smaller performance from the band could be on the cards in Bath. The Heavy will be playing the O2 Academy, Bristol on May 18. Support comes from fellow Bath favour-ites The Family Rain and Bite The Buffalo.For more tour dates and details, visit www.the-heavy.co.uk

The Heavy, featuring Chris Ellul, Kelvin Swaby, Daniel Taylor and Spencer Page, play Bristol on May 18

Bath bands TheFamily Rain and Bite The Buffalo support The Heavy at Bristol’s O2 Academy