Heth and Jed

By Shannon Tate


Musicians in the subway are like coffee from the corner bodega. It’s a hit or miss kind of a deal. Sometimes it’s good and sometimes…well, sometimes it’s just not. This week, we hit on the platform of the L train at Union Square, with Heth Weinstein.
This 30 year old musician has been at it since he was just five years old, either strumming, drumming, or singing, so he says. Most recently Heth has been concentrating on guitar and vocals with his band, which consists of he and his brother Jed, 28, who plays bass and does back up vocals. The duo teamed up and recorded a pop-rock album called “Clean” in 2003, co-writing all the songs. “Clean” could be associated with a “Goo-Goo Dolls” type of sound. The album was co-produced by Jamie Candiloro who is currently working with the brothers again on their next album which is due to come out this March and still remains nameless. Candiloro has also produced albums for R.E.M. and Ryan Adams, among others. This next album is again pop/rock with maybe a hint of folksiness and an intertwining of ambient sound. It’s a truly interesting and beautiful sculpture of sound and was attracting an extremely diverse crowd on the L train platform. The duo attributes this musical evolution to their time playing in the subway and on the streets. “By playing on the street, the sound got more global and more inclusive…my music has changed tremendously,” says Heth.
Heth and Jed’s childhood began like many talented musicians’…they were born to musician parents. “Our father was a musician, our mother was a musician, my father played with the Philharmonic in California and he gave up pretty early on and we just kept going, it was in our blood,” says Heth. After their father quit playing, he relocated the family to New Jersey where he started to book talent for a theater. Jed recalls this time and said, “I think probably the biggest influence for me, I think for him (Heth) too, was when we moved to New Jersey and my Dad was a promoter for one theater there… we literally grew up back stage, watching the greatest artists ever…from string quartets, and modern dance to all the great jazz people...that vibe and the energy really made us want to do that….seeing the great people do it.”
Throughout this memorable childhood, the two studied violin and then began to explore different instruments. Heth picked up the guitar, the drums and worked on his vocals. Jed studied jazz trumpet at William Patterson University and then branched into bass and vocals. “After you play music for a long time, you can kind of understand what needs to be done on another instrument,” says Jed.
The two have also been involved in a variety of other musical groups and have produced two other CD’s while they were in a band called Stately Wayne Manor. Manor took them to the heavier, grungier side of music. Heth also used to play on tours and records with the pop/punk band, “Dirt Bike Annie.”
With “Clean”, Heth and Jed sold nearly 5,000 albums last year, which is pretty impressive for a self produced record. Heth says that with this next album, “I don’t know what we’re going to do…we would really like to get some distribution, we might end up moving more towards established labels that have that kind of “reach”….but we haven’t really been looking for labels because we are having a career…our motto is “go out and get the fans”, not wait for a career to appear, but to have one…because then you’re waiting to be sanctioned and you’re waiting to be recognized, I just think it’s frustrating that people wait all their lives for something and they’d rather not reach for it.”
Heth and Jed often play at The Delancy, CB’s Gallery and the Apocalypse Lounge. The Apocalypse Lounge is on 3rd street, between avenues A and B, in Manhattan, the admission is free and they generally play there every third Friday of the month. Look for updates on the record and the show dates on their website: www.hethmusic.com


- Brooklyn College News

Heth's CD was picked as best of 2003 at Erasing Clouds. Read the story and interview here:
http://www.erasingclouds.com/0128tonydoug.html - Erasing Clouds

Heth

"Clean"

Independent

I have had a few nice musical surprises so far this year and Heth is definitely one of them. Heth's latest offering, Clean, is really pretty different from anything out there, yet it maintains enough pop appeal that you wouldn't really consider it different. Heth's music reminds me of enough mainstream artists that it took a few listens for the uniqueness of this to hit me. When you really sit down to pick it apart though, it's one of the most unique independent pop records in recent years. Musically, if you can imagine Duncan Sheik as the main songwriter in Depeche Mode and then add a hint of The Verve and a decent vocal helping of Crash Test Dummies (Life's a Photograph particularly brings the latter to mind) then that should give you a good start point. I dare say that fans of any of those bands will tremendously enjoy Heth's music.

What I enjoy the most about Clean is that it makes me feel good. The music is upbeat and positive without dipping into to many clich? When it does occasionally dip into clich?t comes off more in a "sing along" style then in a "look how cool and with it I am" style. This album is a great listen if you like synth influenced acoustic rock with nicely done, clean vocals. There are no tricks or gimmicks to be found here, just good music. Find it at www.hethmusic.com

Key Song: My Headphones

Mark Fisher
- 1340mag

Heth
Clean (2003)

review by: Michael Walls
Date: 2/14/03

Flattery gets you no where. Well, okay – it gets you bumped to the top of the CD pile. But that's it. After that, you're on your own.

The CD Clean from Heth (as in Heth Weinstein) arrived at my door with the usual marketing materials that accompany just about every other press package I get. Except, Heth starts off his letter, "I've been coming to your website for a while and think it's awesome!" Hmmm…Heth has some potential.

My wife picks up the CD and comments, "Hey, he's kinda cute. Looks like Beck." Well, there you go. All the ingredients for a great CD.

Regardless of what Heth looks like and whether he enjoys our site or not, I would have eventually listened to his CD and come to the same conclusion. Heth could be the next big thing – following in the footsteps of other single-name artists like Sting, Bono, and Beck.

With the popularity of male singer/songwriters today, and with the right exposure, financing and planet alignment, Heth could easily be singing along side the likes of Ryan Adams and John Mayer – and with much more clever lyrics then the silly fluff John Mayer is singing about.

Heth has a great vocal presence, similar to that of Kevin Griffin of Better Than Ezra, with a wide range and natural style. His acoustic guitar playing is similar to that of Freedy Johnston. Throw in some layered guitars, keys and melodic rhythm, a brother named Jeb to help play some of the instruments, and an REM producer named Jamie Candiloro, and you have the potential to create a great CD.

And that's what they've done. Six extremely tight and well produced songs, starting with "Falling Together" – a bit of an '80s throwback tune using funky synth sounds and echoey vocals. "My Headphones" reminds me of The Smiths with its mellow, Johnny Marr-type guitar playing and catchy vocal hooks in the end. "Life's a Photograph" is one of my favorites, mostly because of it's Better Than Ezra sound, vocals and lyrics. The single off this CD (should the planets align for Heth) would be "So Easy" – a perfectly structured, played and sung, hook-heavy song. It starts with a clean, acoustic guitar – brings in some subtle rhythm and haunting vocals, that eventually build into a multi-layered production – with Heth's vocals reminding me a bit like Bono. I really enjoy this song.

My only criticism of this CD is the very fact it's only 6 songs, running just under 20 minutes in total music. But I guess I'd rather have 6 great songs, then 6 great songs and 6 crappy songs. Just put the CD player on continuous play and you won't notice when it ends.
- 2 Walls Webzine

http://cdbaby.com/cd/heth - CDBABY.com