Subway Artist Profile
Shannon Tate
Musicians in the subway are like coffee from the corner bodega. It’s a hit or miss kind of a deal. Sometimes it’s good and sometimes…well, sometimes it’s just not. This week, we hit on the platform of the L train at Union Square, with Heth Weinstein.
This 30 year old musician has been at it since he was just five years old, either strumming, drumming, or singing, so he says. Most recently Heth has been concentrating on guitar and vocals with his band, which consists of he and his brother Jed, 28, who plays bass and does back up vocals. The duo teamed up and recorded a pop-rock album called “Clean” in 2003, co-writing all the songs. “Clean” could be associated with a “Goo-Goo Dolls” type of sound. The album was co-produced by Jamie Candiloro who is currently working with the brothers again on their next album which is due to come out this March and still remains nameless. Candiloro has also produced albums for R.E.M. and Ryan Adams, among others. This next album is again pop/rock with maybe a hint of folksiness and an intertwining of ambient sound. It’s a truly interesting and beautiful sculpture of sound and was attracting an extremely diverse crowd on the L train platform. The duo attributes this musical evolution to their time playing in the subway and on the streets. “By playing on the street, the sound got more global and more inclusive…my music has changed tremendously,” says Heth.
Heth and Jed’s childhood began like many talented musicians’…they were born to musician parents. “Our father was a musician, our mother was a musician, my father played with the Philharmonic in California and he gave up pretty early on and we just kept going, it was in our blood,” says Heth. After their father quit playing, he relocated the family to New Jersey where he started to book talent for a theater. Jed recalls this time and said, “I think probably the biggest influence for me, I think for him (Heth) too, was when we moved to New Jersey and my Dad was a promoter for one theater there… we literally grew up back stage, watching the greatest artists ever…from string courtettes, and modern dance to all the great jazz people...that vibe and the energy really made us want to do that….seeing the great people do it.”
Throughout this memorable childhood, the two studied violin and then began to explore different instruments. Heth picked up the guitar, the drums and worked on his vocals. Jed studied jazz trumpet at William Patterson University and then branched into bass and vocals. “After you play music for a long time, you can kind of understand what needs to be done on another instrument,” says Jed.
The two have also been involved in a variety of other musical groups and have produced two other CD’s while they were in a band called Stately Wayne Manor. Manor took them to the heavier, grungier side of music. Heth also used to play on tours and records with the pop/punk band, “Dirt Bike Annie.”
With “Clean”, Heth and Jed sold nearly 5,000 albums last year, which is pretty impressive for a self produced record. Heth says that with this next album, “I don’t know what we’re going to do…we would really like to get some distribution, we might end up moving more towards established labels that have that kind of “reach”….but we haven’t really been looking for labels because we are having a career…our motto is “go out and get the fans”, not wait for a career to appear, but to have one…because then you’re waiting to be sanctioned and you’re waiting to be recognized, I just think it’s frustrating that people wait all their lives for something and they’d rather not reach for it.”
Heth and Jed often play at The Delancy, CB’s Gallery and the Apocalypse Lounge. The Apocalypse Lounge is on 3rd street, between avenues A and B, in Manhattan, the admission is free and they generally play there every third Friday of the month. Look for updates on the record and the show dates on their website, at www.hethmusic.com.