Heavy Water

First and foremost, I’m going to drop a link here to this band’s YouTube channel, for those of you who aren’t interested in the article, feel free to jump right over and check their music out. You won’t regret it.

Most of us enjoy music, wether it’s being swallowed up by the poetry behind some well written lyrics, or just enjoying catchy melodies and good beats. I’ve always envied musicians for their natural talents, and dedication to mastering their craft. And while I’ve always loved music, I haven’t found much involvement beyond the realm of listening, until recently, when I was afforded an opportunity to get close to a band.

In reality, I didn’t know that local bands were still around. At least in my geographical area, it’s pretty rare to hear of any local bands playing. In fact, I think the landscape for music has shifted pretty drastically. It’s hard to find venues that support local bands play anymore, and the name of the game now is almost exclusively driven by internet precscece. This became my inspiration to write this article, in an effort to share the experience of a amazing local band.

Enter “Heavy Water”, a reasonably well known name now in the local Peoria, IL area. I’ve had the good fortune of following them to a few of their shows, with the intent of shooting some promotional photography for them. In the process of that undertaking, I was given opportunity to connect with the band, and get to know their stories and personalities.

As a four member ensemble, they create A powerhouse of metal, prog rock and rock n’ roll. Heavy Water was established as a cover band, with the intent of covering the complex songs that other bands won’t, and to come up with creative ways to translate songs into an entirely different musical genre.

My conversations with them have included several talks on their plans now to persue writing original music. They’ve always had plans to work on original material, and after solidfying their band with a newly acquired vocalist, they believe it’s finally time to bring those plans to fruition. The amount of talent, passion and creativity that exists between them, combined with the natural chemistry of the group, should all amount to a perfect concacution for some incredible new sounds. Something we should all definitely stay tuned in for.

Speaking of a new vocalist, why don’t we meet Heavy Water?

1) Dahlia, the (new) front woman of the band, is a landscape of incredible dynamic ranges, punctuated by a unique and surprising gruffness that fits into the vibe of the music ever so perfectly. Every note that echoes from her is teaming with an insane amount of emotion, that resonates with the audience, and genuinely connects them to her, and to the music. Her voice has a way of pulling you in, and watching a local band quickly becomes elevated, and transforms into a full blown emotional experience.

2) Barney, the bassist/vocalist. The level of complexity at which Barney can play is a feat, in and of itself. A key element of the sound, Barney can keep rhythm, and provide those low end sounds, a cornerstone of their musical genre, and walk through complex bass solo’s effortlessly. At the same time Barney frequently provides back up vocals, and even acts as the sole vocalist in tunes such as Tommy the Cat by Primus.

3) Eric, the drummer. Probably one of the more interesting things I’ve seen, is watching Eric assemble and dissassemble his monstrous drum set, which has enough pieces to make just about anyone feel lost, and the precision that he navigates it with is just madness. If a hurricane had structure, Eric’s drumming would be it. What appears to be whirlwind of chaos, is in fact, a perfectly timed dance between him, and his drums, that presents itself in pure, audible, power.

4) Marc, the guitarist/vocalist. Marc serves as the only guitarist for the group, frequently hammering out insane riffs and solos. Marc is also known for supplying some unique guitar parts, such as heard in the band’s cover of White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane, that are new, and fit the tunes brilliantly. In addition to his flying fingers, he also provides back up vocals for quite a few of the tunes.

At the end of the day, these four come together, and the result is an unequivocally amazing machine. A machine who’s precision, speed and timing manufactures some of the most incredible sounding music that I’ve heard. Behind the amazing music, are the amazing personalities, all of which are kind, inspirational, and incredibly talented.

At this point, I’m going to drop another link to their YouTube channel. Check it out. Subscribe if you like their sound, leave them some feedback in the comments (mention that you read about them here!), and be sure to share links to any musical projects that you’re working on, I am certain that they’d be interested.