Heartless Bastards Bring Gates Of Dawn To NPR

NPR PREMIERES NEW HEARTLESS BASTARDS SONG

“GATES OF DAWN” FIRST TRACK FROM RESTLESS ONES OUT JUNE 16

NPR has premiered “Gates of Dawn,” the first track from the new highly anticipated Heartless Bastards record, due out June 16 on Partisan. Titled Restless Ones, the album is the band’s fifth and was produced by GRAMMY® Award-winning producer John Congleton (St. Vincent, Angel Olsen, Swans). Restless Ones was tracked in August 2014 during a 10-day session at El Paso, TX’s renowned Sonic Ranch. Located on 2,300 acres of pecan orchards bordering the Rio Grande and Mexico, the studio – the largest residential recording complex in the world – provided the perfect setting, miles away from all real world responsibilities and thus able to fully invest themselves in the act of creation.

“We took a lot of chances,” says singer/songwriter Erika Wennerstrom says, “taking the sounds in different directions in order to grow. I don’t ever want to make the same album twice.”

Heartless Bastards — Wennerstrom, guitarist Mark Nathan, bassist Jesse Ebaugh, and drummer Dave Colvin — have spent the past decade in motion, boldly pushing their unique brand of rock ‘n’ roll into new shapes over four acclaimed albums and nearly non-stop roadwork. Now, with Restless Ones, the band sets out once again, blazing a path to a place of shifting moods, seasoned songcraft, and unbridled spontaneity. Restless Ones is the follow-up to 2012’s breakthrough Arrow, the album finds Wennerstrom exploring as-yet-unvisited avenues of sound and sensation, her bravery and ambition readily apparent in the emotional timbre and the sheer physicality of her songs. Her spellbinding vocals are of course front and center, her one-of-a-kind voice as primal, cathartic, and indefinable as ever.

Restless Ones was finished in the fall with two mixing sessions at Congleton’s Elmwood Recording in Dallas. Heartless Bastards’ next challenge is bringing the album’s studio-crafted songs to the stage.  “It’ll be fun to chuck it all at the wall and let the collective experience of band/audience dictate the conversation of the music,” Ebaugh says.  “That’s the mission ultimately: rock ‘n’ roll communion.”  See below for full track listing and album art.

The confirmed Heartless Bastards tour dates are below. Tickets are on sale now, with Craig Finn (of The Hold Steady) supporting. Heartless Bastards also announce their interactive website experience around the new album at RestlessOnes.net where fans will be able to share photos, videos and check out new music directly from the band.

Confirmed tour dates below:

April

10 – San Antonio, TX – Maverick Music Festival

11 – Baton Rouge, LA – Baton Rouge Blues Festival

May

10 – Atlanta, GA – Shaky Knees Festival

June

10 – Hattiesburg, MS  – Thirsty Hippo #

11 – Birmingham, AL – Saturn #

12 – Nashville, TN – Mercy Lounge #

13 – Raleigh, NC – Cats Cradle #

14 – Baltimore, MD – Ottobar #

15 – New York, NY – Webster Hall

17 – Philadelphia, PA – TLA #

18 – Pittsburgh, PA – Mr. Smalls #

19 – Cleveland, OH – Grog Shop

20 – Toronto, ONT – Horseshoe Tavern/NXNE #

21 – Detroit, MI – St. Andrews #

23 – Grand Rapids, MI – Wealthy Theater #

24 – Columbus, OH – A&R Bar #

25 – 26 – Cincinnati, OH – Woodward Theater #

27 – Chicago, IL – Sausage Fest #

29 – Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue #

30 – Omaha, NE – Slowdown #

July

1 – Kansas City, MO – Record Bar #

2 – Dallas, TX – Trees #

24 – Newport, RI – Newport Folk Festival

# – Craig Finn supporting