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May 2015 BottleRock

May 2015 BottleRock

by Bonnie Durrance

April 28, 2015
in Monthly

The Iron Heart

What could be a more intense start than to play a major music festival for your first gig? Just ask The Iron Heart, whose first live performance was at BottleRock 2013. Everyone has to start somewhere.

“We weren’t really even a band yet,” says drummer Joel Fennie. “Two months before the show, we were going into the studio to do three songs for a school project. Napa Connections found out about it and invited us to play. We were so nervous!”

The band members—Fennie, Thomas Fine (vocals/guitar) and bassist Justin Altamura—grew up in Napa Valley and have known each other for years. Fennie and Altamura met in high school and had a punk band called Once Over and “just kept jamming,” then, most recently, added Fine on vocals. The result is a blues-punk-grunge-rock fusion that’s as driving and melodic as it is unique.

Today, they practice several times per week and play shows on weekends all around the Bay Area and beyond. The band has toured California and plans a larger U.S. tour this summer. Its debut EP, “V,” was released in April 2014. A new album, called “Salon des Refuses,” is in the works and will be released in groups of three songs over the next several months. The full album will be available in the fall. Its last segment, Misophonia, was recorded at Dave Grohl’s (Foo Fighters) studio in Los Angeles, which features a custom-built Neve 8028 console (circa 1970s), which Grohl purchased after the studio (where it was originally located) closed in 2011. It’s the same console used by countless other bands, including Nirvana, Fleetwood Mac and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. “It was one of the best experiences of my life,” says Altamura about using it for the recording, adding that The Iron Heart got to use some of the instruments in the studio, too.

The Iron Heart will hit the BottleRock stage on Friday, May 29. “Playing at the first BottleRock was incredible,” says Fennie. “It was like a dream. This time, we’re more established and we think it’ll be even more fun. I’m excited rather than nervous.”

“After two years of practicing, touring and recording, we’ll be able to present ourselves with confidence. It’s something people won’t want to miss,” adds Fine.

We certainly don’t!

The Deadlies

Napa-based The Deadlies, also known as “NorCal’s Most Dangerous Surf Band,” will take their surf rock party to the stage at BottleRock on Friday, May 29. Founding members James Patrick Regan (lead vocals/guitar) and Bob St. Laurent (bass/vocals) began playing together 30 years ago as boyhood friends in the East Bay. Their first band, St. Laurent, lasted 12 years until they decided to take a hiatus to Hawaii, where they opened an art and flower shop in Paia, Maui, and “started jamming in the parking lot,” says St. Laurent. “That’s where James came up with the idea of doing surf music—and it popped.” Tymber (originally from Seattle) joined the group as drummer a few years ago. “She’s an entertainer, a nut,” says St. Laurent. “We tried out 19 drummers—17 boys, a transvestite and a Tymber. She beat everyone.”

The band has released four CDs, the most recent of which, self-titled “The Deadlies,” was released this January. Its latest video, “Hippie Groove” is viewable at www.youtube.com/user/theDeadliesTV. When not practicing four nights per week and playing gigs on the weekends, St. Laurent hosts Napa Valley’s KVYN 99.3 FM’s “Good Morning, Bob!” radio show on weekdays, doing news, interviewing guests (“all the bands that come through town”), featuring adoptable pets, a psychic on Thursdays and more. The band is also the house band for Bay Area TV 20’s Creepy KOFY Movie Time, the San Francisco Bay Bombers roller derby team and the “unofficial” house band at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, Vallejo.

“We played BottleRock last year, too. It went fantastic! We like to make it a party; bring beach balls, dancers and stuff,” he adds. The music has a definite Dick Dale influence, but with injections of hard rock, country and punk. “We’ve been dubbed ‘The Led Zeppelin of Surf.’ I love that!” The stage signs and billboards are on surfboards they can ride before or after the shows. “We have them always, wherever we go,” says St. Laurent, citing his favorite surf spots as “Bolinas and anywhere north of that where people aren’t.” Where does the band go to decompress? Hanalei, Kauai, of course. Aloha!