click to enlarge - File: Luke Awtry
- Bobby Hackney Jr.
When musicians hang out with other musicians, and particularly when booze or weed is involved, a curious game often takes place. I call it the "What If We" game.
"What if we formed a Hall & Oates cover band but everything is ska?" Or maybe the old-fashioned "Hey, what if we start a country band but only play synths?"
It's a form of one-upmanship to a degree, but it's also a fun way to dream up something that everyone involved knows will never happen. I can't tell you how many Blind Melon cover bands I've formed, bleary-eyed at the bar at 1 a.m., or how many "indie-rock collectives" I've agreed to join over a drunken text thread that I knew were just flights of fancy. No one ever gets bummed, because it's just par for the course when musicians hang: We form fake bands all the time.
Unless, of course, your name is Bobby Hackney Jr.
"The bands always actually happen when I'm involved," Hackney said, laughing as we spoke by phone over the weekend.
The singer of punk rockers Rough Francis and former drummer for Vermont new-wave/post-punk act the Static Age (among many, many other projects), Hackney has long been accustomed to forming bands in the course of a conversation, such as his new hardcore project with friend and Drowningman alum Simon Brody.
That still didn't prepare him for the genesis of his latest project. A few months ago, a new band was born backstage at Higher Ground in South Burlington, shocking Hackney. Maybe that's because this time, he wasn't even in the room when he joined the band.
"It was wild, man," Hackney told me. "[Rough Francis] was opening up for Dinosaur Jr., and everyone was just hanging out backstage afterwards, but I didn't hang too long."
Hackney and his bandmates, brothers Julian and Urian Hackney and bassist Tyler Bolles, are no strangers to hobnobbing with rock stars: Urian recently joined Iggy Pop's touring band as its drummer. Rough Francis' members are friends with Kyle Thomas, aka King Tuff, who plays in the stoner-metal act Witch with Dinosaur Jr. vocalist and guitarist J Mascis.
So Hackney took the backstage scene in stride, bidding good night to his bandmates and the guys in Dinosaur Jr.
"I get home, and my phone starts blowing up with this text thread between J and the other Rough Francis guys," Hackney recalled. He grew even more confused when he saw messages such as "Hey, here's the set list!"
"I texted back to see what was happening, and they're just like, 'Yo, you and Tyler are going to play with Heavy Blanket with J,'" Hackney continued. "I basically got drafted!"
Heavy Blanket are a long-running instrumental side project for Mascis, one of the most influential rock guitarists of the past 30 years. A psychedelic maelstrom of riffs, the project allows Mascis to tap into his heavier instincts. To perform the music live, he typically pulls together guest rhythm sections to form a power trio. Hackney and Bolles will join Mascis when Heavy Blanket open for former Sonic Youth bassist and vocalist Kim Gordon at the Higher Ground Ballroom in South Burlington on Thursday, March 21.
Hackney reckons Mascis got the idea from Thomas after Rough Francis backed up King Tuff on New Year's Eve in Burlington.
"He must have told J that we're a good crew to use," Hackney said.
"It's just wild, because I grew up listening to J's music," Hackney went on. "His band inspired Nirvana, which really starts to fuck with my head if I think about it for a second. And now I'm playing drums for him. Like, what?"
For now, it's a one-night-only sort of thing, but Hackney has learned never to say never when it comes to these kinds of spontaneous projects.
"Once you rip that seal and learn the songs, who knows what might happen in the future?" Hackney said. "Heavy Blanket doesn't play a lot, but we're all sort of part of this circle now, so maybe something will happen down the road."
Hackney and Bolles are practicing the songs Mascis sent them, but they won't get to jam them out until the day of the show. Ordinarily that's far from ideal, but Hackney isn't worried about it.
"They're pretty straightforward songs, so we're just going to kind of wing it," Hackney admitted. "It's sort of like jam metal, if that makes sense. It rips, though — I think it's going to be great. I honestly just can't wait because I think it's going to be really fun to make music with J."
I'm pretty excited myself to see the union of the two bands. I've long been used to the Hackney brothers pulling off all sorts of crazy musical feats, but the '90s kid in me has that extra bit of stoke going into this one.
For Hackney, it's another example of the power of saying yes.
"It's so crazy how you can just be having some drinks with friends, a few ideas get kicked around, and the next thing you know, your new band has practice on Wednesday," Hackney said. "It keeps happening to me!"
And long may it continue. For my money, just about every rock band I can think of could use a little more Hackney.
For tickets to Heavy Blanket and Kim Gordon, visit highergroundmusic.com.