The Blind Hearts

A fine bit of alt-country here. 'Crying Shame'. Melancholia is often done best old school. And so it is here. Forget all your emo attention deficit disorder and singer-songwriter loneliness. 'Crying Shame' is riddled with sadness below its rocking drums and guitars. Absolutely gorgeous. Download here. - shout4music.com

The Blind Hearts is a London – England based indie folk rock band made up of Andy Gyves (Vocals), Dan Clark (Guitar, backing vocals, keys, harmonica), Tom Smith (Guitar), Simon Julian (Bass) and J Hirano (Drums).

All experienced musicians with a ‘signed’ background, they have melded together to set their own direction.The racing tempo is texturised by the layers of instruments with a Dylan’esque vocal to sweep the combination together. The Blind Hearts swirling sounds capture the listener in a comforting angora jumper, inviting a foot tap or even a full blown wander round the dance floor.

Whilst harking back to an bye-gone era, they retain a freshness and energy which engages the 21st Century and it is of little surprise their festival performances have been so well received.

Just listening to this on an overcast morning, I find myself lifted towards the summer sunshine. - indiebandsblog.com

This band was my pick of the unsigned music for the Sunday Night Music Club on Absolute Radio (5th Dec). The lads are true hillbillies that blend folk, country and blues to produce a well aged bourbon! Distinctive vocals with a creative stylish drum beat that asks you to dance! - Absolute Radio (UK)

The London Music Blog have found a real gem here. The Blind Hearts are a ragged, country blues act heralding from... wait for it.. Manchester, Mansfield, London and Japan. There are times when listening to tracks from their debut album ‘Standing On the Shackles’ when you feel like you’ve just stumbled into a smokey Nashville Whiskey bar, which is a tribute to the live, rawness of their work. Having said that there are other moments when you can certainly hear a commercial, dare I say ‘sing along’ edge, which certainly won’t do any harm to their popularity in the UK market where folk, acoustic rock is thriving, just ask Mumford and Sons, Fleet Foxes, and Stornaway!

‘(O Lord and I) Keep on Losing’ is one such tune, with an infectious chorus, that has already been snapped up for a compilation by Midlands based label Horus Music. ‘Standing On the Shackles delves more into their American blues inspirations, with dirty distortion and a tight funky backline throughout. For a sample of the vocal excellence of Andy Gyve’s look no further than ‘She Cries’ a powerful, emotive song that also owes much to the steady, yet intricate drumming of J Hirano. My personal favourite is ‘Before We Fall’ rich in vocal harmonies, brilliantly produced, and sure to be a crowd favourite at any live gig across the country. If it’s an acoustic balled you’re looking for have a listen to ‘Set a Fire’ a simple but beautiful number, which wouldn’t seem out of place in an early Dylan album. All in all the future looks bright for ‘The Blind Hearts’ who are playing in London in The Bedford, Balham on 14th December, a show which i’ll certainly be checking out! - The London Music Blog

"Powerful and energetic...awesomely cool Dixie-blues" - Dave Knight

It seems that Sea Sick Steve meets David Gray is the best way to describe your music. Would you agree that’s a fair assumption?

David Gray?! Yikes. Haven’t heard that one before. I’m sure David Gray is the most wonderful human being you could hope to meet but the few things of his I’ve heard do tend to make me want to go and jump off a bridge. People mention Richard Ashcroft a lot when talking about Gyvesy’s voice…that’s maybe nearer. Sea Sick Steve however…now you’re talking.

I’m curious, what exactly are London Hillbillies?

Er…hillbillies from London. Alright, sorry, nobody likes a smart arse…we’re hillbillies purely in that we listen to a few country blues records now and again, and we’re basically not very bright. The singer drags the average IQ in the band down to under 10, and I’m looking forward to hearing his reaction to that when he reads this. Actually only 2 of us are actually from London – our drummer J is from Japan, and as might be slightly apparent as soon as he opens his fat Norvern cake ‘ole, Gyvesy is a manc.

You might be an enigma, is there such thing as British Country Music?

We’re an enigma disguised as a bamboozling mystery. Actually “country” tends to make people think either of Tammy Wynette or the new breed of Garth Brooks type steroidal cowboys in massive Stetsons, which I’m at pains to point out we’re not – the country stuff we’re into is more when it’s crossed with blues a la Dylan, Johnny Cash, Little Feat and JJ Cale. Chuck Berry is arguably as much a country guitarist as a blues one.

We’re in a long line of British bands doing their version of American stuff. You had Elvis & Little Richard’s music flying over the Atlantic where The Beatles heard it & made it their own before it flew back over and Brian Wilson heard the Beatles version of it and made his own version of that…the tunes fly back and forth across the ocean constantly. I mean, the Stones are basically a country blues band with a bit more thump.

Your sound might not fit into todays music, but is a breath of fresh air. But, is it possible that you might fall into the category “hmm it doesn’t fit in the English music scene.”

Only in the way that you could also say about virtually every massively popular English band when they started out. The Smiths, The Stone Roses, Pulp, The Verve, even something which became as wallopingly, housewife-ingly mainstream as Dire Straits…all these bands didn’t follow the trends at the time, and look what happened. Meanwhile, anybody remember Northern Uproar, Gay Dad or Menswear? They all fitted squarely in the “today’s music” bracket at the time but unfortunately when tomorrow’s music came around they were caught a bit off guard.

Have you performed abroad?

This band hasn’t yet, it being early days, but if anyone wants to make any offers…J’s played all over the place and I’ve toured Europe & played in the US with other bands.

Wow, the slide guitar in your song Standing in The Shackles is totally rare for British artists. Have you ever heard Ben Harper give the slide his magical touch?

Yeah, Ben Harper’s one of the people I definitely need to hear more of. There’s a massive list of people who I’ve heard and loved but haven’t got round to getting more of their records. He’s on Beth Orton single called Stolen Car that I got ages ago & I loved his playing on that.

What are you listening to at this moment and time?

I like Treetop Flyers – look out for them, they’re new & gonna be massive. I was in Morrison Steam Fayre with a couple of them til a year ago. Quite liked Mumford & Sons’ stuff, having played a show with them a couple years back. Mostly it’s old stuff though…Dr John, JJ Cale. The Charlatans and Kasabian are never far from my stereo. Oh, and Chico from the X Factor.

Lastly who is the biggest Music Freak in your band and why?

If it was just the Freak bit, Gyvesy will tell you it’s me…he’s obsessed with the idea that I’m actually Alan Partridge, but then he is a big football hooligan thug from Manchester and can barely even speak English as far as I can see. If by that you mean massive music fan, it’s our bass player Simon. He’s a walking encyclopaedia of The History Of Recorded Music and his record collection is bigger than my flat…if you ever need a team mate in a pub quiz, I heartily recommend getting him along. I’ve had more free pints courtesy of his knowledge of the B-sides back catalogue of obscure 1960s soul bands than you can swing a Stray Cat at. - MusicVita.com