Balancing back catalog with new music is an evergreen challenge for touring bands, but for veteran folk/rock combo the Head & the Heart, the decision to feature up to 10 songs nightly from their latest album, Aperture, is a pure reflection of their enthusiasm for the material. The group have North American shows on tap through early October and will next visit Boston tomorrow (June 5).
“Everyone is so invested because we’ve all been so heavily involved in the writing process from the beginning,” says vocalist/guitarist Jonathan Russell. “Playing these songs live is the next domino to fall, and it’s already feeling much more connected and richer and more spiritual, really. Everyone’s lives are so embedded in these songs. Yes, we’ve been a band for 15 years and know what to expect in terms of touring, butI think we needed to almost drop a bomb on that and forget a lot of it, because it was starting to feel a little stale. It’s already feeling much more human and almost silly again. We feel like a fresh band that’s really hungry, which is an exciting feeling.”
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Driving that vibe is the fact that the Head & the Heart self-produced Aperture, their debut for Verve Forecast, for the first time since their beloved self-titled debut in 2011. “The album was almost live takes across the board,. and we finally were able to do that based on the way we wrote the songs and the ability to actually pull all that off now,” Russell says. “So when it came to learning the songs for tour, it was kind of the easiest process we’ve ever had. We didn’t really want to change a lot based on how natural and how live the record is. We relied less on production, so the songwriting and the arranging is really the statement. All we have to do is show up clear-headed and try to be present, and then the songs do the driving.”
The group have enjoyed success with the new album’s first single, “Arrow,” which spent nine weeks at No. 1 on the Triple-A radio chart, while fellow fresh cuts “Finally Free” and “After the Setting Sun” are being played live almost every night. “When we were setting up the record, someone said it sounds like the Head & the Heart covering the Head & the Heart,” Russell laughs. “It has made performing them feel very natural, because the songs feel so in our bodies. On [the 2022 album] Every Shade of Blue, we took some leaps with production and genres. By the time we started performing those songs, there were a lot of growing pains. I didn’t play guitar on some of them, so I was just running around the stage singing these intricate and challenging parts. I enjoy that, but it’s not as effortless as this batch of songs, which really allow us to communicate and connect with an audience.”
Russell is also touring sober for the first time in his life — a potentially scary proposition made much easier by the support of bandmates Charity Rose Thielen, Matty Gervais, Chris Zasche, Kenny Hensley and Tyler Williams and a new regimen on the road. “For a long time, I was using things as Band-Aids that were kind of working, but not really, like exercising,” he admits. “The biggest thing for me is that I got sober, and I’m already noticing that my connection with myself and spirituality has grown. There’s less dissonance in my life. Part of that us doing yoga, going to meetings and meditating. I’m actually really excited to be that present on stage. It has never happened for me before.”
Amid an itinerary that includes visits to such storied venues as New York’s Central Park Summerstage and Los Angeles’ Greek Theatre, one particular show sticks out: an Aug. 16 support slot for the Lumineers at the 70,000-capacity T-Mobile Field in the Head & the Heart’s adopted hometown of Seattle. “We’ve been in those venues very rarely — like for a hockey game that was being played outdoors,” Russell says. “But when you’re actually on a bill with a band like the Lumineers, it’s going to be pretty big. We’re only doing one show, so how do you practice for something like that? I’m excited and nervous, but I love that kind of a challenge. It’s still hard to wrap my head around, in all honesty. Maybe we just go straight into AC/DC mode and be like, this may never happen again and we want pyro, and yes, we’re the opener!”
And even though Aperture is barely a month old, Russell concedes that “there are several things that got started and then for whatever reason were not finished” during its sessions and could potentially resurface down the road. “They’re like little puzzle pieces floating around. My brain is starting to want to gravitate towards new again. Still, now that we’re playing in front of people, especially when they’re hearing songs for the first time, we’re almost overtaken by a youthful energy and worried won’t sound professional (laughs).”
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