There’s an old saying that time waits for no man. (Or in this case, for no band.) But Hallelujah the Hills sure is good at making time puff and wheeze while it tries to catch up to them. “It would seem far stranger to me to stop getting into vans with Brian, Ryan, Nick, and Joe more than it would to stop doing it, at this point.” said Ryan Walsh, frontman of the band.
With their 10th anniversary racing ever closer, the local indie rock band has shown no signs of slowing down, with yet another full-length album being worked on in anticipation for their show at Cuisine en Locale on November 13th. They are even getting a book written about their exploits. Written by UK author M. Jonathan Lee of The Radio and The Page fame, it is actually no coincidence that these two forces would collide for this project. “He asked if he could open his second novel, The Page, with some of our lyrics. We said yes, and then, somehow, it’s led to this book about the band he’s working on right now.” Ryan said of their initial encounter. “He’ll be at the show. Say hi to him.”
The band’s 5th full-length album, which is titled Deluxer Mandatory and is up for pre-order at the moment (hint, hint), marks even more brand new territory into which HTH can tread for their upcoming show. “We purposely tried to get lost and confuse ourselves with these new songs but I think they turned into the most compelling batch of music we’ve ever made.”
Despite having this new and unproven ground to traverse, there are some things that time will never be able to strip away from HTH. “Over the years, Joe Marrett has played bass, banjo, cuatro, tambourine, and lead guitar. But no matter what instrument he’s holding, he always rocks back and forth the same exact way. Look for it.” Also, Hallelujah the Hills as a whole also has a very tangible energy that is singular and distinctive in all their live performances.
If that wasn’t enough, the band’s support for this show is incredibly solid too. “I was so impressed when I heard Landlady two years ago. Then, when Adam (the lead singer of the band) opened for us in Brooklyn last year, he told he used to see HTH shows in Boston long before he started Landlady. I couldn’t believe it! Meanwhile, Eternals are creating this fantastic, subtle, beautifully melodic body of work that I’ve really been enjoying the last couple of years.” said Ryan of the openers.
But, when it comes down to it, this show is really all about Hallelujah the Hills and celebrating what they’ve created. “Creating new things is fun. People enjoying the things you create is also fun. Thinking about how to create a new thing that fits into the grand scheme of all the other things you’ve created is fun too. We’re building a little world here.” And it’s up to us fans to explore it.
(As a special treat for all you HTH fans and AP readers, Ryan put together a list of songs that he feels like signifies the band at various points within their discography. You can check it out below!)