Head for the Hills—They’re Back!

It was just a year ago when Head for the Hills played the Aquarium. Next Wednesday, March 18, the four-piece newgrass music diddlers from Ft. Collins, CO will be back.

These folks have played with the best: David Grisman, Sam Bush, Nickel Creek, Tim O’Brien, Peter Rowan, Bruce Hornsby, Hot Buttered Rum, and members of String Cheese. They’ve also played Wakarusa, the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Yarmony Grass, and many more festivals.

Formed in 2004, the band came together mainly for fun. “When we created the band, we didn’t really know that we were actually going to be starting a band and trying to be successful,” says Matt Chapell, the mandolin player of the group. But a year later they found themselves on the road, and last year they dropped their debut album, Robbers Roost, just about around this same time. They will be going back into the studio in April to begin work on their second full-length CD.

Their sound is an amalgam of the vast musical backgrounds of each of the players. None of them really grew up playing bluegrass, having found it six or seven years ago. Chapell started out playing electric and acoustic guitar. “I was trying to play punk rock,” Chapell admits.  Adam Kinghorn (guitar) also was grounded in metal and punk. Matt Lowen, bass, is still into Frank Zappa and classic rock.

But, Joe Lessard, the fiddle player, is the real ringer in the band. He is in two straight up hip-hop groups, outside of his work with Head for the Hills. In fact, one song on the CD, “Scribes Eye,” is a hip-hop tune with some jazz/techno strains coming through the bluegrass instrumentation. “We try to use that,” Chapell says, instead of trying to restrict Lessard’s urban bent.

“His hip-hop groups are just straight up hip-hop. They have no other influences basically ... We use each other’s influences and try to work accordingly and write accordingly ... We’re trying to do other styles of music when we play, not just playing bluegrass, maybe some jazz songs or something like that into our repertoire.”

Chapell also adds, “I think bands like Railroad Earth have got to have influenced us to a certain extent. We don’t have a drummer so it’s kind of hard to really rock. We’ve done things lately that have had a little more rock and roll flair to it as far as adding the occasional electric instrument and that sort of thing. Our main focus is always make sure to keep the traditional going, always get back to traditional roots but feeling free to expand a little bit and follow our other influences.”

Some of their songs are jazz-laced and moody, set off by the fiddle.  Others have a definite Railroad Earth feel. And, their title cut has gypsy fiddle influences.

Everyone in the band sings, but not necessary on every song. The CD is blessed with the guest voices of Sally Van Meter, who produced the album, and Alli Repetti. Still, the four male voices respectably manage.

Catch Head for the Hills at the Aquarium next week. It will definitely take your mind off blizzards!

Who: Head for the Hills

When: Wednesday March 18

Where: Aquarium, Fargo