H3adgear — 30 November 2022 on Rocket Shop Radio Hour
H3eadgear joined host Tom Proctor on ‘Rocket Shop,’ Big Heavy World’s weekly local Vermont music radio hour on 105.9 FM The Radiator. Catch up with them at https://www.instagram.com/h3ad.gear
On Wednesday, November 30th, host Tom Proctor was joined by H3adgear, a Burlington-based indie band that brought some much-needed summery warmth to Rocket Shop.
The band is principally the songwriting project of Max Higgins, the guitarist and lead vocalist. They are supported by a disarmingly charming team of instrumentalists that are all fixtures of the local Burlington band scene in their own right: Castle Franks, Ben Schnier, and Danny LeFrancois (on bass, drums, and lead guitar, respectively) are all involved in other projects, where they perform different roles. “I think everyone’s band is their own project to perform their songs… Danny’s band plays songs that Danny writes, Castle’s band plays songs that they write… we all have fun in the band because everyone has opportunities to play different songs with different people,” said Max.
In this particular configuration, the musicians’ talents are mobilized to create a dynamic and delightful sound– Ben’s impassioned drumming and Castle’s mighty, solid bass constitute a powerful engine that powers Max’s original songs, brought to life by tender vocals, and lead guitar parts that are both evocative of classic country and arrestingly original. The band has been described by their fans as “Cutecore,” a name which they have accepted. However, their session at Rocket Shop also generated two more potential descriptions: ‘Indietonk’ and ‘Emotionally Available Emo.’ Regardless of their genre classification, the band’s sound is eclectic, bubbly, warm, and wonderfully refreshing.
The band originally formed in May of 2022, when Ben saw Max performing their songs at a singer-songwriter night at Radio Bean. “Ben came up to me after and said ‘Hey, can I play in your band?’ and I said ‘yes,’ but there was no band.” said Max. This was not a problem for long, however, as the two soon recruited friends Castle and Danny to help bring the band to life.
The last song of their set, “Supercomputer Heart” exemplifies the group’s style, featuring yearning lyrics, soaring guitar, and cloudy, emotionally complex chords. This tonal complexity is a consistent theme in the band’s music. “From the beginning, the songs felt a bit sad, but I didn’t feel sad playing them,” Max mused. “I’ve seen some people cry at our shows,” Danny added, “It was either because we were so bad, or because we were making them cry!”
In the future, the band plans to continue to play shows at venues all around Burlington. For updates on future events, (as well as colorful photos featuring the band members in a variety of different kinds of headgear) you can find them on their Instagram page.
Writeup by Gideon Parker
Monochrome photo by Abbey BK
Color photos by Luke Awtry Photography