Most bands have to worry about maintaining a high level of energy, not curtailing it. The Heavy are not most bands, and with a front man as irrepressible as Kelvin Swaby, playing with and adjusting to off-the-charts excitement is practically routine. Saturday night at the Double Door, Swaby and the band stepped on stage fully charged from the first number and were already pulling on the reigns by the third. The decision was as keen as it was necessary; had the band continued at the pace they set, everyone in the audience would have passed out by the halfway point. more ›

Chances are good that you've heard The Heavy--you just didn't know it. Since their formation three years ago, the UK-based band has made several trips stateside (and to Chicago specifically), playing in support of acts like Mayer Hawthorne and Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings while quietly building a following for themselves. more ›

We raved about The Heavy last time they landed in Chicago, and our prediction was spot-on. Here's what we said. more ›

Coming on like Curtis Mayfield in a Mack truck, The Heavy are a UK-based fivesome that takes both their soul and their rock in equal doses. Frontman Swaby's vocals occupy that sweet spot between flawless falsetto and lascivious drawl. The band backs his sexy crooning with a melange of beats and instruments plucked from the '70s and shoved through a hip-hop shredder feeding directly into a tube-blown analog console. They can craft a suitably quiet come-on like "Girl" that dampens pants while delivering an honestly solid dose of soul, and then just as easily construct a massive wall of horns, caterwauling guitars, and thundering drums to propel a neu-Blaxploitation theme like "That Kind Of Man." Clothes will be shed at this show. more ›