"Hearts' has Denver in palm of its handHearts of Palm rises to the top of our eighth annual local music survey
By Ricardo Baca
Denver Post Pop Music Critic
Article Last Updated: 07/27/2008 03:05:51 AM MDT
2008 Denver Post Underground Music Poll winners Hearts of Palm, up the stairs from the bottom: Leanor Till, Stephen Till, Matthew Till, Nathan McGarvey, Phil Donovan, Justin Croft, Dan Craig and Jared Black. ( Kathryn Scott Osler, The Denver Post )
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They say there is strength in numbers. And if that adage holds true in indie pop, Hearts of Palm is among the buffest bands in Colorado.
It stands strong as an imposing eight-piece pop orchestra — a collective that includes a soaring trumpet/sax horn section. But as the band overwhelms audiences with its colossal sound, the players also smother them with love, elation and smiles all around.
It turns out all that brazen delight was well-founded. Hearts of Palm was voted the No. 1 band in Colorado, according to the 2008 Denver Post Underground Music Poll. The band will play two shows at next weekend's eighth annual Underground Music Showcase on South Broadway.
Ever since its debut in 2006 playing under the misleading name Nathan & Stephen (after members Nathan McGarvey and Stephen Till), the band has been a fan favorite, charming audiences, critics and peers.
The natural stage presence is an outgrowth of the band members' long-standing friendships, relationships and family ties.
"How many people can say they're in a band with people they were friends with long before the band?" asked guitarist Stephen Till, husband to sax player Leanor Till and brother to bassman Matthew Till. "We're very lucky."
Added Leanor: "(Singer) Nathan (McGarvey) is our son's godfather, and (keyboardist) Justin (Croft) is our daughter's godfather. We practice twice a week, but we see each other a lot more than just that."
The connections run deep — all the way back to Colorado Springs, where McGarvey first met the Till family. (Other brother Jonathan Till played with the band until earlier this year; he also creates the band's handsome CD covers and websites). But the most relevant connection is the members' East Colfax Avenue church, a congregation known affectionately as Scum of the Earth, where they all came together.
Trumpet player Phil Donovan remembers hearing about McGarvey's "pop orchestra." "I asked to be in the band," Donovan said, sitting in his band's sweltering rehearsal space, just down the street from the church, "I told him, 'I play the flugelhorn, and it sounds like chocolate.' "
Religious, but not a religious bandIt wasn't long before Nathan & Stephen (& Phil & Co.) was bigger than most stages the band was playing. Croft and Matthew Till joined the fold, followed by Leanor Till, guitarist Dan Craig and, most recently, drummer Jared Black, who had played with Stephen Till in Black Black Ocean years ago. Not only was the band's former name deceptive, but some also mistook it as an overtly religious band.
"We're not a religious band so much as religion is how we know each other and how we define our values," said Leanor Till, known widely in Christian music circles for her work in Five Iron Frenzy. "We're not a band that has a religious mission. We've been offered Christian festivals, but we don't want to play them now."
Hearts of Palm's win this year says something about the new-era music-business model of giving your wares away for free. In March, the band played a CD-release show at Illegal Pete's downtown, giving the locally owned burrito chain 5,000 copies of its new "The Bridge" EP to distribute to its customers — gratis.
Beyond 5,000 physical copies (Pete's paid production costs), the band's four-song EP has been downloaded another 2,000 times from its website. (It's still available there: myspace.com/heartsofpalmband.)
"One of the biggest reasons behind us giving the music away was that we'd just changed our name," said Stephen Till. "And the (sponsor) worked for us, because Illegal Pete's is a punk rock venue."
It got people talking, all right. The Denver Post compared the move to the Starbucks model of selling CDs, saying that the giveaway was "one-upping the coffee giant." In the weeks following the release, local fans knew the words to songs such as "We Have No Water Here" and "Farewell Valentine." A college professor even referred to the band's strategy in his class.
"I was in a coffee shop downtown talking with a kid who was studying jazz," said Croft. "I told him I played in Hearts of Palm, and he didn't know who we were. But then when I told him about the CD, he said that he'd learned about us in his music business classes at UCD."
As happy as Hearts of Palm is with Morning After Records — the Denver imprint that released its two EPs — the members would be more content on a bigger label that could support their ambitious plans for touring.
"We definitely have something in mind," said Matthew Till. "But if it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen."
Among the label deals they admire: (2002 Underground Music Poll winner) DeVotchKa's with Anti- Records, and the Arcade Fire's relationship with Merge Records.
"I don't think you could ask for a better deal than the one the Flobots were offered," McGarvey said. Flobots signed with a major label earlier this year. pushing the group's independent release, "Fight With Tools," to national distribution, barely touched by the label itself.
Hearts of Palm is focused on two objectives: its first full- length record and its October tour, which will include the CMJ Music Marathon in New York City. Preliminary song titles are written on pieces of paper in the space, and as the band talks about the new jams, it's obvious each member contributes something.
A role for everyoneMcGarvey and Stephen Till are, respectively, the peacemaker and visionary. The business-minded Croft keeps things focused and is good about returning band-related e-mails; the rhythm-minded Black is the quiet timekeeper, keeping the beat in practice and performance.
Donovan is the band's constant source of energy, and Matthew Till is the workhorse, keeping things moving. Leanor Till gives the band a sense of gentle humanity, and Craig — the most technically trained among them — keeps the group looking foward.
In addition to keeping the peace, McGarvey also plays a special role as the group's public ambassador to drunken hipsters as a bartender at the Hi-Dive and Sputnik.
"The bar is a funny place," McGarvey said. "It's a weird place, too. I don't get a lot of questions, but I do get a lot of comments — a lot of, 'Hey, you're that dude.' "
And he is that dude — the dude who fronts Colorado's No. 1 band in 2008.
Ricardo Baca: 303-954-1394 or rbaca@denverpost.com