Two California based indie bands, Playing Tourist Forever and Hit Me Herold, teamed up for a night of music at One World Café Tuesday.
Playing Tourist Forever and Hit me Herold are on a month long tour across the West Coast and already played shows in San Francisco, Portland and Seattle.
Hit Me Herold is based out of San Francisco and the three members Jack Connor, Chris Lee and Max Volens have known each other since grade school. They began playing together in high school and have pursued music ever since.
“We play a mix of indie rock, emo and a math-type combination of these various genres” said lead singer Jack Connor.
Hit Me Herold is currently a part of Ronald Records and has a three songs entitled “very, very, very different perspective” along with a collaboration album titled “Taco Cat” featuring California band The Chili Banditos.
“We are currently waiting on everything right now,” Connor said. “Our friends helped us set up a little recording studio in the mountains of Southern California where we belted out a 13 song album and we are waiting to get the final mixes back from them,” Connor said.
Since Lee of Hit Me Herold moved to the U.S. he has taken a huge interest in playing and writing music. He is a self-taught drum and guitar player, but has focused his efforts toward playing bass and singing vocals for the band.
Volens has been drumming since high school and hopes to pursue music with his bandmates following the release of their first full length album.
Playing Tourist Forever formed two-years-ago in Palmdale, California, when lead singer Doug Jenkins and bassist John Carlo recruited Kevin Height to play drums.
They released their first song titled “Strawberry and Saltwater” in April 2016. Their sound is a blend of indie rock with elements of experimental electronic music. After their winter tour the band plans on writing more music to keep their live shows fresh.
“I think right now we are just trying to focus on writing more because we have been playing this material for a while,” Carlo said. “Hopefully by summer we will have more stuff to share with everyone.”
Both bands have never visited Idaho and said the snowy road conditions almost forced them to cancel the show.
Following the tour, both bands will finish up at VLHS Arts and Entertainment in California, a favorite venue of both bands for its crowd and the inclusion of a skateboard park inside the venue.
So far the best stop of the tour was the Red-light house in Seattle where they had the opportunity to connect with other indie bands.
After Moscow the Bands will travel to Boise and Montana stopping in small towns along the way.
To hear more form Hit Me Herold and Playing Tourist Forever, their music is available on Facebook and Bandcamp.
Alec Sullivan can be reached at [email protected]