Heaven Below may be based out of Los Angeles these days, but there are plenty of San Antonio-based factors that beg to differ with those who label the hard rock/metal quartet a Hollywood band:
- Half of the members, including founder and lead singer/guitarist Patrick Kennison, are from San Antonio
- Heaven Below was formed out of The Union Underground, the now-defunct Alamo City band best known for the song Across The Nation, which was the theme to World Wrestling Entertainment's "Monday Night Raw" between 2002-06. That band featured Kennison on guitar, Bryan Scott on vocals and John Moyer on bass. Scott now sings for Cult To Follow, the S.A. band that opened for Queensryche on Aug. 7 at Sunken Garden Theater. Moyer went on to manage Heaven Below until he got the call to play bass in a little band called Disturbed that headlined the Rockstar Energy Drink UPROAR Festival on Sept. 11 in Corpus Christi and whose new album Asylum debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
But the biggest factor will likely be the fans who show up Saturday night at The Falls to catch Heaven Below's Horns & Halos Tour. Plenty of friends and family figure to be in attendance. But it's safe to say that despite Heaven Below's California digs, Kennison, bassist John Younger, lead guitarist Jesse Billson and drummer Chad Clark won't need to be reminded of the band's roots.
Heaven Below, which also plays Thursday in Austin at The Dirty Dog, released a self-titled album disguised as an EP on Aug. 17. There are six songs listed on the package, including a stirring rendition of Heartbreaker by Pat Benatar and radio hit When Daylight Dies. The latter was produced by Ben Moody (formerly of Evanescence, currently in We Are The Fallen), and it's a track that weaves each member's role seamlessly while progressing from an acoustic intro to an in-your-face rocker you can sing along to -- minus Guitar Hero. The EP becomes an album with extra content that can be viewed via computer, such as a look at the making of the record and the video for When Daylight Dies (see left), along with four extra songs that includes a cover of Golden Earring's Twilight Zone.
Although Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax will be at the AT&T Center on Saturday night, Kennison says Heaven Below won't hit the stage until sometime after 11:30, maybe even closer to midnight. So there's time to catch both shows. Fitting, in a couple of ways: 1) Billson is touring with a BC Rich Kerry King signature 7-string Warlock guitar and 2) the Big 3 show is sponsored by Jagermeister. Guess which drink the guys in Heaven Below prefer.
Kennison phoned me last week from his Los Angeles apartment:
Q: So are you guys an L.A. band or a San Antonio band?
A: We're definitely half and half. We need to think of something cool. Maybe Texa-fornian or San Hollywood (laughs)
Q: How long has it been since you played a show in San Antonio?
A: God, I was thinking that the other day. December 2009 at The Falls, and it was super cold that night. But it was a great turnout, we came close to selling out. We sold out our first show. I hear there's a buzz going on right now for this one.
Q: How much of an adjustment was it for you moving out to L.A. trying to make it amongst all the rock stars after having found a comfort zone in S.A.?
A: Yeah, well The Union Underground afforded me the ability to come out here and rub elbows with people. Just through our friends on Ozzfest (in 2001), I made a lot of friends. The only real adjustment to moving out to L.A. is that everything is so expensive out here (laughs).
Q: On the EP, fans get more for their buck. Why go that route instead of announcing it as a full album?
A: It's funny, it was a struggle between us and our management company. They insisted that since our band is new, we should release an EP. But we recorded over 50 songs, and we fooled people. It's truly a 10-song album, and we have another surprise coming. ITunes accidentally put the album up for $9.99 when people who buy the actual CD can get it for $3.99. So there will be four more bonus songs coming out probably next week, that we're about to announce, so there will be 14 songs total.
Q: How did it come about to cover Heartbreaker and Twilight Zone?
A: Yeah, I've always been a big fan of bands doing covers. Marilyn Manson doing Sweet Dreams -- when I heard that, I thought it was the greatest cover. Metallica, Disturbed were great bands doing covers. I've always been a fan of covers, and The Union Underground was afraid of doing them. We'd been playing Motorhead's Ace of Spades in our shows, and crowds would just go crazy. So I started singing Heartbreaker over the Motorhead riff, and we laughed about it for awhile. But then we looked at each other like, "Hey, we may have something here." I love hearing females rock because it's so empowering, and an artist like Pat Benatar is definitely one of those. If I were a female, I'd be doing the same thing (laughs).
Q: What did Ben Moody bring to the table as the producer of When Daylight Dies?
A: Ben is one of the first people I made friends with here in L.A. We immediately hit it off, not only musically, but his sense of humor reminds me of my friends in San Antonio and me. He was a big fan of The Union Underground. The guy has sold over 10 million albums, and you would never know it looking at his house or cars. When he heard my demo of When Daylight Dies, he was like, "Holy s---. This sounds like something Evanescence would do if we had a male singer." People are usually telling us two things about it: "No. 1, I can't believe those are your vocals, and No. 2, I can't believe you got Ben Moody to work with you on it."
Q: When Daylight Dies was on the Countdown to Devil debut CD, though, so why did you guys want to revisit and change up that song?
A: Yeah, it was an acoustic version and a full-band version. What happened was John Moyer from Disturbed was helping out with a managerial role, and he suggested that we put out the full-band version.
Q: So how much of a role did John have, and for how long, before he became Disturbed's bassist?
A: I would like to take some of the credit for him getting the gig in Disturbed. I saw Disturbed out here in NAMM, and I saw (guitarist) Dan (Donegan) and (drummer) Mike (Wengren) from Disturbed and said, "I have the perfect bass player for you guys, and you've already toured with him." You know, you're always making friends out here in L.A. He was able to return the favor and helped in a managerial role for the first three months. It's the favor system. That's another band where you hang out with them, and they don't worry about how successful they are.
Q: You were the guitarist in The Union Underground. Was becoming the vocalist in Heaven Below a conscious change of pace, or did you fall into it?
A: No, I didn't fall into it. I was already singing on a lot of Union Underground demos and even in soundchecks when our singer couldn't be there. I was just never able to be the frontman because I felt more conscious of having to entertain the audience. Everyone said, "You're already singing on these demos, why not become the frontman?"
Q: How much did the exposure from Across The Nation pave the way for the path you've taken into Heaven Below?
A: Yeah, I'm still getting paid from that (laughs). People request us to play that in Heaven Below, and a lot of people know that song from that (the WWE), but I'm too focused on developing this band. I don't want to become nostalgic before we've even started.
Q: Can you tell me about playing on one of Rob Zombie's records?
A: I did, here's what happened. Right after The Union Underground ended, I worked with a producer named Scott Humphrey who was working on a Union Underground record that never got finished. Scott hired me for some bonus tracks and said if I did a good job, you'll probably get the gig. It was two songs on Past, Present & Future -- the bonus tracks. I got along with the guys, and everything went great. And along came John 5, the greatest guitar player in the world, and he got the gig (laughs).
Q: So give me an insight into the mind-set of the band as you're about to embark on this tour here in Texas.
A: We're super excited because stations are picking up When Daylight Dies. And just the fact that there's hope for new music inspires us, whether it's us or any new band. I was worried with Guitar Hero and stuff that we wouldn't hear new music. I've carried over part of The Union Underground live show, like video production.
Q: And you're going to go on about 11:30 or 11:45, right?
A: Yeah, I wish I could be at the Slayer show, too (laughs). But we'll go on after those guys are done.
- WHO: Heaven Below
- WHEN: 11:30 p.m. or later, Saturday, Sept. 25
- WHERE: The Falls (226 Bitters Rd.)
- TICKETS: $10 at the door. For more info: (210) 490-5553
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