Long Island band heavy on the heart. offer up a deliciously edgy but catchy alternative rock meets emo sound that they describe as “raw, emotional and heartfelt” and “for the beautifully broken.”
The band started out with guitarist Costas Themistocleous writing and demoing new songs outside of his comfort zone during the pandemic. He teamed up with vocalist Nikki Wilmes in December 2020, and they began writing and vocals to some of those songs. Six months later, Costas’ previous band broke up and the duo continued writing music that turned into an EP, which they recorded in September 2021. Nikki got pregnant in that time, went on maternity leave, and Costas focused on finding the right musicians, which saw Andrew Nicolae (bass) and Nick Kolokathis (drums) complete the lineup. They debuted as a band in January 2023, opening a show for The Color Fred and Alex Melton.
On the sound they’ve crafted since, Costas told us: “Ah man, to anybody who hasn’t listened to heavy on the heart., to me, the ideal way for you to listen to our music for the first time would be on headphones or speakers that you listen to everything on, in a quiet environment, maybe a night drive or a dimmed living room. Choose a song and listen to it. Choose another and listen to it. Listen to the lyrics. Listen to the emotion the instrumentation is trying to resonate. Then listen again.”
Our latest taste of this is Pretty Pills, which was released earlier this month. It opens up with light drums that continue under rolling guitars and Nikki’s engaging vocals, which flow into the catchy chorus “I’m weighed down, I said I’m weighed down, You know I’m weighed down.” The vocals intensify with the fast-paced lines “My body aches, My brain don’t feel the same, Hypocritical, I’m dreaming wide awake, These sheep laugh in my face, These pretty pills are fake, But I just can’t ignore them, I can’t let em go to waste,” which flows into an extended chorus. The pace slows with a laid-back guitar lick, before fast-paced vocals bring the track to a delicious conclusion.
On the track, Costas said: “The reception to Pretty Pills has been amazing. From a numbers standpoint, it has been the best 72-hour release period for us, and the feedback and response have been awesome. A lot of love for the song and a lot of love for the video on YouTube. If you haven’t listened to Pretty Pills, definitely expect a darker sound. But while the song is moody and dark, there is an undertone of hope. Turn your pain into power.”
Pretty Pills is the band’s third single since their debut EP It’s You That Has To Think, which was released in 2023. It follows on from the excellent Say It All/Said Enough, which comes to a heavy ending, and the more laid-back Smokin’ All The Weed. The EP is packed with more alt-rock goodness, including the lively Toe To Toe, the fragile yet powerful Wasting and its lead single Catch Me If I Fall, while we also love the sound of their debut single Mr. Know It All.
The heavy on the heart. sound has been influenced by a wide range of artists, including the likes of Blink-182, P!nk, As Tall As Lions, Enter Shikari, The Dangerous Summer, The Starting Line, Taking Back Sunday, Fred Mascherino, Green Day, Third Eye Blind and Mac Miller.
And on what inspires them to write music, Costas explained: “As redundant as it sounds, life. Most nights, I am noodling around with a guitar on the couch or sitting at the piano in my living room and just getting lost. But then I find a riff or phrase or chord pattern that makes me feel some type of way and I run with it. I bring the music to the band, we formulate the song musically and then Nikki and I sit down and write out the melodies and lyrics. Sometimes we bump out a song in a day, sometimes a song takes weeks.
“A future song we will be releasing is actually an older idea that just finally found its life in this moment. We typically sit down and translate the emotion of the song on paper. What’s cool is having the male and female perspective, finding the parallels in emotions of 2 different beings, finding the relation and the honesty which hopefully finds its way to an audience. Songwriting is so rad.”
heavy on the heart. have a busy few months ahead, including a few more singles, new tours ready to announce and, potentially, a full-length record in the works. And Costas added: “We are heavy on the heart. You are heavy on the heart. This is our moment.”
You can follow heavy on the heart. on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok, and check out their music on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube.
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