The Heavy (band)

The Heavy
The Heavy playing at Bowery Ballroom in New York City in 2010
Background information
Origin	Noid, England (In reality, the City of Bath)
Genres	Neo soul, Indie rock, Funk
Years active	2007 (2007)–present
Labels	Ninja Tune
Website	www.theheavy.co.uk
Members
Chris Ellul Spencer Page Kelvin Swaby Daniel Taylor past members Hannah Collins and Corin Dingley

The Heavy are an indie rock band who claim to be from Noid, England, allegedly a small hamlet near Bath. However, no such place appears to exist.^{[citation needed]}

History

Guitarist Dan Taylor and vocalist Kelvin Swaby, the core of the group, became friends in 1998 when they bonded over vintage R&B music and Jim Jarmusch films.

The band released two singles in the last half of 2007. "That Kind of Man," the first single, was released on Don't Touch Recordings, before Ninja Tune heard it and promptly signed the band. The Heavy released their first album Great Vengeance and Furious Fire co produced by Corin Dingley on September 17, 2007 in the United Kingdom and 8 April 2008 in the United States.

On 26 March 2008 The Heavy were the Artist of the Day in Spin. The band were also mentioned in the Rolling Stone Hot List in May 2008. They played at the 2008 South By Southwest music festival on the 89.3 The Current Stage and collected one of the Best Discovery awards in Spin Magazine's Best and Worst of SXSW 2008.

The Heavy appeared on the 2009 album Johnny Cash Remixed with a version of "Doing My Time". On 2 October 2009 their second album The House That Dirt Built was released by Ninja Tune. A song from that album, "How You Like Me Now?," was used in a Kia Sorento television commercial, which was broadcast during the 2010 Super Bowl, appears in the soundtrack for Driver: San Francisco and it was used throughout The Fighter featuring Christian Bale and Mark Wahlberg.

Musical style

The Heavy play a mix of guitar-heavy neo soul and rock using crunchy guitar, funky horns, and Curtis Mayfield-like vocals. Their songs incorporate many different styles; for example, "Sixteen" samples the horn line from Screamin' Jay Hawkins's "I Put a Spell on You". "How Do You Like Me Now" samples the song "Let a Woman Be a Woman" by Dyke & the Blazers. "Oh No! Not You Again" emulates garage rock; and "Girl" is a combination of spoken word and rap.

Television and film appearances

"How You Like Me Now?" is featured in several television series episodes: the sixth season finale of Entourage; the fourth episode of Community; the third episode of Rookie Blue; and the second season summer finale of White Collar. It was used in promotion of the NBC series Outlaw. The song is featured throughout the 2010 feature film The Fighter. It is also featured on the soundtrack of the baseball video game Major League Baseball 2K10, and was played during final cut of the Victoria's Secret 2010 Fashion Show. On top of this, it is featured on the MLB Network show Intentional Talk. It was featured in the 2011 film Horrible Bosses as well as the trailer for The Change-Up. It was also featured in the alternate ending for the film Limitless.

The band played the song on the Late Show with David Letterman on 18 January 2010. David Letterman enjoyed the band's performance and asked the group play to an encore of the song, which was the first time that Letterman had ever asked a musical artist to perform an encore on his show. During the encore, Letterman and his band's leader Paul Shaffer contributed in a call and response section. The band was backed by the horns section of Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings for this performance. On 9 June 2010 "How You Like Me Now?" was featured in the opening montage of Hockey Night in Canada's broadcast of Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals.

Their song "The Big Bad Wolf" also featured on the end credits of hit BBC Cop Drama "Luther" broadcast on 14 June 2011

"That Kind of Man" from the band's first album was featured in "Filthy Lucre", an episode of the series Californication.

"Short Change Hero", from The Heavy's second album, has been used in the promos for the new Syfy series, Haven, and also in the 2010 film Faster. "Short Change Hero" was used in the March 2011 gameplay trailer for the Batman: Arkham City video game, and as the theme for the second season of Strike Back.

The band was asked to record a cover of the song "And When I Die" for the fourth season finale of True Blood. It also appeared on the third True Blood soundtrack.

Discography

Studio albums

• Great Vengeance and Furious Fire (2007)
• The House That Dirt Built (2009)

Singles

• "That Kind of Man" (2007)
• "Set Me Free" (2008)
• "Oh No! Not You Again!" (2009)
• "Sixteen" (2009)
• "How You Like Me Now?" (2009)
• "No Time" (2009)
• "Short Change Hero" (2009)

Compilations

• Verve Remixed Christmas (2008)
• Johnny Cash Remixed (2009)

External links

• Official website
• The Heavy on Myspace
• The Heavy perform "How You Like Me Now?" on The Late Show with David Letterman (includes encore performance)
• Live at SXSW at Minnesota Public Radio's website
• Live at epicerie moderne at intimepop.com