'Hey, Killer,' Local H Returns With New LP

By Tankboy in Arts & Entertainment on Apr 13, 2015 9:10PM

Local H's last couple of albums have been higher concept-driven affairs. There was the break up album that was Twelve Angry Months, followed by the politically minded Hallelujah! I'm A Bum; both were albums that showcased the band was only getting better with age and not flabbier. After the Hallelujah! I'm A Bum tour ended longtime drummer Brian St. Clair amicably left the band. Frontman Scott Lucas bought on new drummer Ryan Harding and immediately started playing shows and trying out new material.

The new album Hey, Killer feels like a band letting loose and allowing itself to explore songwriting outside the constraints of any unifying concept. Reportedly Lucas and Harding booked studio time without having an actual album written, so they built much of Hey, Killer off riffs collected on the road, driving it with the natural collaborative energy between the two in the studio. As a result Hey, Killer comes across as more a "greatest hits before they're hits" album, each song striped to its clearest path to attack so every note lands effectively. Amusingly, in a statement Lucas says, "The record's called Hey, Killer—not Hey, Filler," and while we can hear that line delivered as a chuckle, the fact is that's a pretty fair descriptor of the LP. Twenty-five years into his career Lucas has lost none of his edge. If anything this material is some of his sharpest yet.

This is a hard hitting and hard rocking collection of songs and Local H continues to display their talent for creating tracks that pound away yet never feel dumb, offering enough actual, hummable, melodic variation to satisfy listener looking for every flavor, from pop to punk to metal to heavy grooving tunes that variate from feeling like slow molten flows of lava and hundred foot cliff dives into free fall. As the first full release of this latest chapter in the development of Local H, Hey, Killer see the band with absolutely no intention of slowing down or letting up as they continue further into their already long career.

Below we have your first listen to "Age Group Champion" ahead of the album's release tomorrow. Beneath that is a list of all the local events the band is participating in over the next week to celebrate Hey, Killer finally making its way out into the wild.

Tuesday
The band performs on Fox 32's Good Day Chicago during the 9 a.m. hour.

Thursday
The band plays a Q101 Studio 7 session streaming online at 6 p.m. Want to attend? You might be able to.

Friday
The band plays a show at H.O.M.E. in Arlington Heights.

Saturday
The band plays a Record Store Day in-store performance at Reckless Records on Broadway at 3p.m. then a show at Tailgaters in Bolingbrook that evening.

Sunday
The band will play their big 25th anniversary and album release show at Metro with old pals Fig Dish reuniting to open this show. If you only make one Local H-related even this week, this is probably the one you'd kick yourself for missing.