NHD - Nourallah Harvey Dezen

It would be absurdly macho to say that NHD “kicked ass” last night at Sam’s Burger Joint in San Antonio. These guys are too free spirited for such knee-jerk reductivism, but rock they did. They were in town to support their new album, And the devil went up to Portland, which hits the world publicly today.

Their set began with a cover of Phil Lynott's The Boys Are Back In Town. The boys in this case being the three principals, Salim Nourallah, Billy Harvey and Alex Dezen. My best memory of this song as played by its originators harkens back to an early 80s back packing trip in New Mexico. I had finished the 4 day trail and was hitch-hiking back to my truck at the trail head on the other side of the mountain and was picked up by some young guys with Thin Lizzy in their eight track. It was a nice respite from the road then and a welcome return last night as NHD made it their own — and I’m happy to say it kicks off the LP too. They finished the song with some sweetly delivered three voice oohs and then post-song the audience was invited to try some oohing, which sounded nice, but tapered off ineptly. Billy acknowledged said ineptitude with the kind of self-deprecating humor that laced the brew offered by NHD throughout the evening.

Salim introduced the next song, Hello From An Emergency Room in Hollywood, with the disclaimer that Alex had shown up at the recording sessions for the album woefully ill prepared. “All he had was the title and this one riff,” a guitar passage which Alex then proceeded to demonstrate pre-song, mentioning that he was glad Joe Reyes (renowned San Antonio guitarist and half of Demitasse, which opened the show with a bunch of new songs from their up and coming record) wasn’t seated front row to observe — like I said, self-deprecating and completely guitar-god-free. The song came off without a hitch, including the riff which Alex whipped out on an absolutely gorgeous turquoise/green Gretsch hollow body (a guitar which they seemed to sort of make fun of somehow, as if it were a too prissy kitty cat).

Anyway, the song unfolded into a clever short story in which the protagonist shows up at an emergency room sans a true emergency — he imagines he’s having heart problems but they are actually only of the romantic variety. The song features the somewhat outlandish rhyme, reservations/palpitations, as the character is invited to leave with his faux emergency and subsequently, while moping at the curb outside, gets mugged, facilitating his return to the hospital with a genuine need of their services. It was a brilliant set-up, the unfilled in story and naked guitar line then made abundantly clear and spot-on, like a partially obscured view into a world suddenly flooded with color and humor, complete with a twist ending.

The songwriting strategy so far revealed continued through the night with numbers such as Salim’s I Sent A Postcard, in which an unknown recipient turns out to be whoever is listening with intention — meaning you that is reading this right now and will still be you when you hear the song; and Billy’s Complicatedness, which sports the cleverly empathetic and perfectly phrased couplet, “before I knew you you I knew you were a mess / but I came to crave your complicatedness.”

All night long these three traded off guitars and bass, Billy and Alex swapping expertly composed and executed lead guitar lines (Alex's contributions on the blue-green babe were especially dirty, splatty fuzz tones on some numbers), each eventually even making it to the drums, which were otherwise held together by John Dufilho, another multi-musical wunderkind from Dallas, but well loved in San Antonio and not only for his brilliantly on point song Josephine Street, about locally legendary, but now no longer existing Tacoland. Richard Martin, who I was hearing for the first time this night, fleshed everything out with ambrosial chords and sound effects from his keyboard and melodica.

Oddball creativity was continually on call. At one point Alex donned some shades as Salim mentioned “it’s on the setlist” for him to wear them on a particular song. Looking like a cross between Ian Hunter and Andy Kaufman he goofed around, pretending to be unable to see the mic. Even though the Rayban move was noted on the script, spontaneity ruled. Further evidence of this aspect of their deal was revealed when Salim introduced Ballad of A Patient Man by mentioning that it was written in the car when the three of them were on the way to our house concert venue in San Antonio to play last year. This acknowledgement touched our hearts I have to say.

As the night unfolded the guys proceeded to play all but one song on the album along with one from the sessions that is not on the album, See You In Marfa, and some songs from their solo albums; Alex Dezen’s Death Metal and Disco (from Alex Dezen) and Billy Harvey’s Party House (from Dear Danger) among them. Each of these songs could stand as a single song distillation of their individual outlooks. In this regard I sure could have stood to hear Salim Nourallah’s Friends For Life — he’s got a very special knack for writing about loss. As it was, the Salim song they played in this section was one from his most recent solo album Skeleton Closet. Titled Terlingua, it’s a slo-mo raver with the timely refrain, “are we gonna live tonight?” Joe Reyes was invited to play on this one — “semitasse” someone shouted — providing reggae chords on an acoustic guitar handed to him by Alex with a good natured admonishment aimed at Salim’s nylon string baby which Joe had initially picked up, “that thing is a piece of shit.” Yeah, good fun, with emphasis on the two and four.

The final song of the night is also the last song on the album, You Thought You’d Be In Heaven, in which the loving vibes of the whole experience matched up perfectly with the songs advice which pretty much boils down to be present and be nice. At this point every one was on stage, with Erik Sanden, the other half of Demitasse, acting out the lyrics of the song with gestures, facial moves and the occasional vocal pitch in. All seven of them were running around doing whatever the song required to insure the paradisal possibility alluded to within.

After the show I went around the room with hugs and handshakes for all the players. When I told Alex it was lovely, he questioned my use of that term. He was right, though the time I had was lovely, so when I spoke to Billy a minute or two later “lovely” had morphed into “organized chaos” a term of endearment which you will totally understand when you see NHD play. Later that night I settled on “mayhem on a stick.” Pretty sure I finally got it right.

Do yourself and all the loving world a favor and go see them on this their album release weekend: 8 and 10:30 PM tonight at The Townsend in Austin and with a lineup of Palo Santo Records bands Saturday night in Dallas at the historic Sons of Hermann Hall.

Preview and purchase the album here: https://nhdmusic.bandcamp.com/releases But really, go see them this weekend and get it from them direct! - No Depression

THREE HEAVYWEIGHTS SWAPPING songwriting, vocal and instrumental duties make this new group (NHD – Salim Nourallah,
Billy Harvey, Alex Dezen) one of the most exciting and energizing alliances to hit the airwaves.
T
devil’s dice/I’m gonna roll the devil’s dice/Being bad sure feels nice/Gonna roll the devil’s dice...”
Nourallah and Dezen team again on “Gimme a Go,” with music by Nourallah. It asks an age-old question between a man and woman. “When are you gonna gimme a go?”
Billy Harvey slows it down with “Complicatedness.” The words are intimate and made me sit up and listen. “I did all the things to make me feel young/I did all the things to be dead and be done/I did all the things/I did all the things to help me feel good/I did all the things to be bad ’cause I could/I did all the things/And if I say I will see you again/Sometimes again is only pretend...” Things can get com- plicated, but he goes on to say that he craves her complicated- ness. Hmm, I think I’ve been there.
All three songwriters collabo- rate on “Somebody Loves Me.” It takes on a funky vibe with open- ing strains from a synthesizer and cool acoustic guitar licks that bounce in and out between the lyrics.
“You’re the Light” by Nourallah is about hope, prom- ise and finding the light we seek and the light we need in a troubled world.
The album comes to a reluc- tant close with “You Thought You’d Be in Heaven” written by Harvey. Smooth sweet Dobro licks kick off the song. The har- monies crafted by Harvey, Dezen, and Nourallah are as close to perfection as possible. But, they have so much intertwined in this song. They talk to each other and
T
In the world of music, each of thesethreeseasonedsongwriters are well established as stand- alone musicians. But, when they recently came together to record a collaborative album, the scale tipped.
Their debut album, And the Devil Went up to Portland, was recorded in Martie Maguire’s (Dixie Chicks) HEK studio in Austin and is the first official release to come out of that stu- dio. Bob Schneider, another es- tablished Austin musician, de- signed the album’s cool and eclec- tic artwork.
“This whole thing came to- gether with us goofing off and playing on each other’s songs in a round-robin songwriting set- ting,” said Dezen jokingly. “One night we looked up simulta- neously and said, ‘This is actu- ally pretty cool!’ We put some thinking behind the whole thing, booked some studio time, and went to work. It’s a beautiful thing to be able to collaborate with your friends, especially when they’re such uniquely tal- ented people.”
This album is a class act on all fronts. Lyrically, there is nothing to compare it to. The instrumen- tation is superb and arrange- ments unusual and exclusive.
Nourallah said, “It’s an anomaly that we actually formed a group together because there’s usually only enough air in the room for one lead singer at a
time. With us, it’s more like a mutual admiration society, so that kind of ego nonsense has never factored in.”
The song these three chose to kick off this album, “The Boys Are Back in Town” is a self-pro- claiming cover tune. (Not that either of the three of these boys ever left!)
Alex Dezen and Salim Nourallah team up for “Hello, From an Emergency Room in Hollywood.” Scenarios from a car wreck to a robbery that would cause someone to end up in an ER are scattered throughout the song and could be a movie soundtrack.
“I Sent a Postcard,” written by Nourallah could only be a true story. “I sent a postcard from Southern France/Where I played in a pub and nobody danced/A guy in the back swore at me in French...”
Billy Harvey wrote “Lose Or Take It All” and the message is simple. Either you come out on top or lose everything in the game.
With words and music remi- niscent of The Beatles, “Ballad of a Patient Man,” tells such a relat- able story. Written by Dezen and Nourallah, the arrangement and instrumentation are a rare com- bination with background chat- ter that comes to a halt with a cat’s meow. This song stands out.
“Devil’s Dice,” written by Billy Harvey is a dare. “Devil’s dice,
Irving, recently hosted the Steven Fromholtz Music Festi- val and Singer/ Songwriterawards.They presented The Texas Legend Songwriter award to Fort Worth native, Terry Rasor, on May 25 at the mu-
seum.
Terry has been writing songs
and performing since the early seventies. When he was only thir- teen, he was playing mandolin and singing in an award-win- ning Bluegrass band, The Sunset Harmony Boys.
In 1988, Terry formed his own band, Over The Edge, and since that time has played honky- tonks, saloons, roadhouses, fes- tivals, and cruises. He produced his own music festival, ‘Raz On
He is known for his resonating baritone: Terry Rasor
HE TEXAS MUSI-
cians Museum in
as ‘Thunder Lungs.’’
Everyone who hears Terry
perform walks away with a fa- vorite song or two. I have sev- eral, but “Up and Gone” is at the top of my personal list.
A haunting melody that lin- gers long after the chords die away, the lyrics carries a sad mournful message. “And I am so lonely/Lonesome as a man with no home/And you have forgotten/My life’s a nightmare/ Every night and day dear/Since the time that you’ve up and gone. ■
Be prepared to be entertained on a spectrum from deep and philosophical to downright funny by this trio: NHD
10 BUDDY JULY 2017
laugh about the song all while Harvey keeps singing. Then there are whis- tling solos that give it a vibe of three guys just hanging out, throwing back a beer or two and jamming.
NHD is coming to a city near you! Check out their tour schedule at nhdmusic.com And, if you can’t catch them at a live show, pick up this album and be ready to be entertained on a spectrum from deep and philosophical to downright funny. - Buddy Magazine

Composed of renowned solo singer-songwriters Salim Nourallah, Billy Harvey, and Alex Dezen, NHD is a dizzying array of talent too good to ignore, as they prove on their forthcoming debut album, And the Devil Went up to Portland, on which alternative country artist Nourallah, rocker Harvey, and The Damnwells frontman Dezen collaborate to create effortless folk and country tunes.

Nourallah recently talked with C&I about the release of their new tune and how NHD came together.

Cowboys & Indians: What drew you all to the Thin Lizzy song “The Boys Are Back in Town”?
Salim Nourallah: In NHD, we have three different band members living in three different cities. All three of us are frontman types who sing, write our own songs, and are prone to posting endlessly on social media. The lyrics seemed fitting for the “mayhem on a stick” tours that would commence whenever we’d all finally land in the same place together. “The Boys Are Back in Town” also happens to have three verses, so each of us could take turns with the lead vocal. If you’d like to know the order, it’s Alex on verse one, then myself, and Billy. Billy picked his verse because he wanted to sing the line “If the boys wanna fight, you’d better let ’em!”

C&I: What was the process like to make the song your own?
Nourallah: There’s a neat little video on our website that we shot while we were first working it up. We had a couple of free hours in Dallas one afternoon before the last show of the tour we were on. You can see that the song fell into sounding like “us” from the very start. We definitely wanted it to be fun and the opposite of badass or tough, which is kind of how Lizzy did it.

C&I: You all come from solo backgrounds. What made you want to start NHD?
Nourallah: Friendship and fun. I was looking to do some solo dates a few years back and I asked Billy and Alex separately if they wanted to join me on a bill. I figured one of them would flake out. When neither did, we all went out on this tour together. Billy and Alex had never met before that. They became fast friends, and our onstage chemistry instantly morphed into some sort of Rat Pack-esque variety show. More laughs than I’ve ever had playing live in all the years I’ve been doing this.

C&I: How did you develop your sound?
Nourallah: It just happened. All of us sing, write songs, and have fronted bands and solo projects for years. It came together naturally and without much forethought and definitely zero struggle.



C&I: Your album And the Devil Went up to Portland is fantastic. What aspects of the album are you most excited about and proud of?
Nourallah: Thank you for the props! I’m proud of all the songs, casual performances. and non-fussy production. I also think Bob Schneider designed one of my favorite album covers ever. I love how great the vinyl edition looks. I’d say it’s EPIC.

C&I: Do you have a favorite song on the album?
Nourallah: My personal favorite is “Complicatedness.” Billy sings that one. Our friend Bob S. had given me a five-disc “anthology” of unreleased Billy Harvey demos and this one grabbed me right away. I couldn’t believe he’d never put it on a record. It has a great mix of atmospheric melancholy, clever words, and a melody that will burrow into your brain immediately.

C&I: Are there any songs that didn’t make the album that we can expect in the future?
Nourallah: I have a song called “See You in Marfa” that we recorded and even performed in the studio on KXT. It just didn’t quite seem to fit in with the rest of them.

C&I: What’s next for you all?
Nourallah: We’re doing another Texas tour in late October, and then L.A. [Hotel Café, November 1) and New York City [date and venue TBA]. After we’re done promoting this record we’ll probably make another one early next year. - Cowboys and Indians