A special occasion
Frost Heaves and Hales to showcase new music at Greenfield show
In the words of Daniel Hales, singer-songwriter of the Greenfield-based musical collective The Frost Heaves and Hales, Saturday night’s show isn’t just a performance – it’s a celebration.
The Frost Heaves and Hales will perform at 12 Federal St.in Greenfield on Saturday at 7 p.m., celebrating a new album, honoring one of Hales’ biggest musical influences, Velvet Underground, and supporting the newly-reopened Federal Street Books.
For Hales, who has spearheaded the band since 2005 with the goal of making its performances a unique, multifaceted and oftentimes a participatory experience, Saturday’s show stands out for a number of reasons.
“This one is a special occasion for sure. It kind of fell into place when I was talking to my friends at Federal Street Books, one of the best used book stores in Franklin County,” he said. “It had closed. Friends of mine bought the space and talked about wanting to have a party to celebrate the re-opening.”
With the bookstore reopening on Oct. 12 – and The Heaves putting their finishing touches on a new album, “Repointing the Steeple,” Hales said the stars aligned to create a night of music, while celebrating local business and the spirit of Greenfield itself.
“All these different things seemed to come together at once. There's a lot of good venues here. But we liked the idea of having it be next door to the book store.”
In the spirit of the band's prior shows, which characteristically include video projections, poetry readings and other non-musical elements of theater and performance art, Hales said this show would be no different, offering listeners a mix of the band's original music and a tribute to one of Hales' most profound musical influences – Velvet Underground-era Lou Reed.
“Part of the celebration is going to be a Velvet Underground singalong. I feel that Lou Reed was at his peak during those years. We're going to play a set of our new stuff and some oldies, and then do a set where people can sing along.”
Why Velvet Underground? Why Lou Reed? According to Hales, the answer's in the lyrics.
“Writing is the part of the process I enjoy most. I'm one of those weird people that care about the words. To me, Velvet Underground is one of those bands where the lyrics resonate as well as the tunes themselves,” he said.
As for the band's newest album – their first full-length since adapting the poetry of “Alice in Wonderland” to music in early 2014 – Hales remained humble about his abilities as well as that of his bandmates.
“I write the songs, but what (bassist) James Lowe brings to the table is huge. He’s very much my partner in crime. The new record is so near and dear, I guess thematically there’s a lot of continuity that made these songs hang together.”
Within the course of the album, however, shades of classic and contemporary bands alike are evident, spanning from Velvet Underground's Lou Reed to Wilco's Jeff Tweedy while hitting upon everything from Fugazi to fuzzed-out 1970s psychedelic rock along the way.
“There'll be three new songs off the new one we play for the first time, along with some old favorites. It'll be exciting to play those for the first time,” he said. “We're excited to band together with Federal Street Books to make this happen. And if anybody is raring to keep going, we'll be heading to the People's Pint afterward.”
The Frost Heaves and Hales will perform at 12 Federal Street on Saturday at 7 p.m. Doors open at 6 p.m. For more information, visit https://www.facebook.com/events/432730934111476/
This post originally appeared at masslive.com.