Pack your bags. Drive across the country. Join a band. This all seems like a movie plot we’ve seen time and time again--a plot many of us are unable to think of in a realistic light. For those who have ventured down this path do not often reach the light at the end of the tunnel. Following your dream and leaving those who care about you behind can provide for one hell of a story…assuming you accomplish what you are setting out to achieve. For Tyler Williams, deciding to leave his job, family, girlfriend, and current band behind and travel across the country to play in a band that he thought would be his big break seems to have worked. Tyler is beginning to experience everything that comes with being in a successful band: making an album, getting signed to Sub Pop, and touring alongside famous acts like Dave Matthews Band and Iron & Wine. His band The Head and The Heart are showing up on many people’s radar since selling approximately 10,000 albums without the help of any label--quite the feat in today’s plummeting music market. The Head and The Heart have since been on a steady rise to fame: a television debut on Conan, a European tour with indie heavyweights Death Cab For Cutie, and sold-out shows across the country.
Having spent several years of his life in Richmond, Tyler Williams decided, after hearing a demo from his former roommate’s new project in Seattle, Washington, that he would take this chance and relocate to the West Coast. Almost three years since that move, a lot has changed. Not only has his trip paid off, he even decided to move back to Richmond. After seeing The Head and The Heart perform to a packed Bonnaroo crowd on the final day of what feels like a week-long festival, I decided to give Tyler a call and congratulate him on his success. I was curious about the events that placed Tyler where he is now, and was anxious to hear about the inner workings of The Head and The Heart.
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I’ve read that you lived in Richmond for quite a few years before moving to the West Coast to pursue The Head & The Heart. What are a few things that you can reflect on that only a person who lived in Richmond would remember?
Oh man. I remember some friends and I would ride our bikes to Hollywood Cemetery late at night and sneak in to light off fireworks. That’s one of my most cherished memories from when I first moved there. Jonathan [Russell], who is also in the band and [was] my roommate at the time, and I would go out there all the time. Another thing would be Church Hill. That’s probably my favorite neighborhood in all of Richmond. I like all of Richmond, but Church Hill has a special place in my heart.
How was the transition from Richmond to Seattle? I’m told you were initially sent a demo of The Head & The Heart song “Down in The Valley,” and you subsequently packed your bags and travelled to Washington. That’s quite the commitment!
Yeah, I was listening to the song with my girlfriend. We couldn’t believe that it was the same guy who I grew up with and, at one point, had wanted to play music with forever. It was such a quick and drastic change for the better. I was getting tired of trying really hard to do music in Richmond and not really breaking out of the area. It seemed like the right move at the right time.
I’m going to assume that a high level of nervousness set in at some point?
I was actually pretty naïve at first. I thought, “Sure! I’ll move across the country and everything will be fine.” I think that the day I started the drive, I got about as far as the Shenandoah Valley before I started to freak out. I was leaving everything I knew; my family, girlfriend, a somewhat stable restaurant job, even my band. It was pretty nerve racking when I realized what I was actually doing. Before then, it was kind of a cocky confidence that was driving me to do it. I just kind of put the blinders on and put my head down and decided I was going to do it.
Well it seemed to have paid off!
It’s pretty funny because before I was set to leave, I was with some friends talking about how Sub Pop was in Seattle and how I wanted to move out there and play music and get signed to Sub Pop. Never expected that to actually happen.
Did you meet Josiah Johnson before moving to Seattle?
No, the only person I knew was my roommate Jonathan. Jon had moved first, meeting Josiah at an open mic night, where they hit it off and began playing music together. It was a few weeks later that I was sent the demo and eventually took this leap of faith, hoping that I would enjoy playing music with these guys.
So you move to Seattle, then what? Was the priority to just start performing live or was it to record a demo?
We had a show the weekend after I got there. I had to learn all the parts and make up parts for certain things. It was pretty awful at first and I was actually pretty bummed. I thought it was further along than it was, and there was no way it was going to take off. But we all sat down after that first show and I was like, “Hey, I just moved 3000 miles. We’ve got to work really hard and make this happen.” After that, we began tracking demos and eventually got a practice room in an area called Georgetown. Over the next few months we interchanged a few band members until we had a solid lineup. From roughly September until February, it was a pretty scary time.
After you had solidified the line-up and began recording demos, did you have a specific sound or direction you wanted to work towards?
Somewhat. We had been jamming on songs for a while, and pretty much just wanted to have some demos out there so people could have something from us if they saw us at a show. Once we started recording, we realized that we could probably do an actual album. Sonically, my bass player, Chris [Zasche] and I were going for a muted 70’s tone for the rhythm section. I think we got that somewhat near where we wanted it. Other than that, we just put to tape everything that we had up until that point.
The initial run of your self-titled album was released independently. Could you tell us a little about that?
We basically started burning the record to CD-R’s and cut up all of our old blue jeans and began sewing them into sleeves. We started selling those and began doing a little touring around the west coast and people really wanted them. We’d sell out every night. We then decided to start actually pressing the CD through disc makers, and we’d sell those to record stores on consignment. By the time we signed to Sub Pop we had been through 10,000 records on our own.
I read that the local music stops couldn’t even keep the CD’s on the shelves.
It ended up being the number one seller of ALL records at Sonic Boom Records in Seattle. That was pretty ridiculous for us to see.
How did Sub Pop come into the picture?
They came about in a pretty funny way. We had been talking to Warner Bros and a few other major labels,when an article about us showed up on the front page of the weekend edition of the Seattle Times. A rep from Warner Bros was talking about how he wanted to sign us and there was a quote from me, which I actually felt kind of bad about, where I talked about how Sub Pop was one of the only labels who hadn’t expressed any interest towards us. They called us a few days later and apologized for not making contact sooner. I think signing to them was the right decision. It’s like a big family over there.
What are your thoughts on the re-mastering of your initial album?
I liked it a lot better. The only song we re-recorded was “Sounds Like Hallelujah.” For the initial recording of that song, we had actually recorded it the week after I moved to Seattle, pretty much in a basement. It was the only song that didn’t really match the rest of the album’s recording quality. We also recorded “Rivers and Roads” for the first time, making the album a full 10 tracks. Other than that, the other songs were just tweaked and mixed a little better than before.
After seeing you guys open on the final day of the four-day Bonnaroo Music Festival earlier this summer, I was blown away by not only the performance you gave but by the amount of people you were able to convince to overcome the exhaustion of partying for three days and make their away over to see your early set. I left after that feeling truly elated.
When we first heard what time we were playing, we were a little nervous. But then, we started getting a lot of tweets and saw some writeups about how we were one of the “Bands to Watch at Bonnaroo.” That started making us think that it probably wouldn’t be as bad as we might have anticipated. As soon as we got there and the crowd started filling in, it was insane to see so many people there, having partied hard for three days straight. It was incredible.
Bonnaroo was the first time I was able to catch The Head & The Heart performing live, and unlike some other bands I had seen for the first time that weekend, I left feeling very pleased with how well you guys held up live. Between the guest horn section you had on stage and the vocal harmonies between the band and the crowd, it was one of the most enjoyable sets I saw over the weekend.
The horn section was actually Iron & Wine’s tour section and it was their last day of being on tour. From about two weeks prior, Iron & Wine and The Head & The Heart had been touring, and we asked them to join us onstage. Everything came together there at Bonnaroo. It was fun, to say the least. It was one of those shows that happen every once in a while that we all just wish could happen every time.
What’s next for The Head & The Heart?
We are definitely touring for the foreseeable future. [laughs] We’re going to Europe for three weeks with Death Cab For Cutie, and we also have a show in London with My Morning Jacket in July. Then we come back and tour with the Decemberists for a few weeks on the East Coast. I’m really excited. I hope to actually have a Richmond Head & The Heart show at some point in the near future.
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