HEELS has a new album.
And a new set of heels in the band.
The album is We Look Happy Here. And the heels belong to the band’s new bass player Buddy Forbess.
HEELS, which includes Josh McLane on drums and vocals and Brennan Whalen on guitar and vocals, released the album on their Altercation Records label.
“It’s the first time we’ve ever done something and we stepped away and said, ‘This is the best thing we ever did,’” McLane says. “We started out wanting to make the best record we could, and that’s what we did.”
And, he says, “This is, by far, the most fun we ever had in the studio and the least stress we ever had. We actually went in and had a good time. We went in and knocked it down.”
They recorded the album last March at High/Low Recording with Toby Vest producing. “He’s done every record we’ve done.”
This album has an upbeat title compared to some of their other albums. “Every record title we have is a reference to how we are at the time. Good People Even Do Bad Things was a joke in case the record sucked.”
Their new album title was a reference a fellow comedian made about a picture of him and McLane taken at a comedy festival. He said, “We look happy here.”
McLane thought, “Boom! Album title. Right there.”
“I really wanted to lock down the joy Brennan and I had writing this.”
And, he says, “Even with some of the songs being dark and kind of heavy, the overall feel to the whole thing — even Brennan’s slow, sad songs — is this very overarching happiness.”
Some people think “Goldsmith’s,” which talks about Whalen looking for his mother at the mall, is “super sad,” while others think it “denotes a happier time.”
And Whalen is “the only songwriter in the world to write a slow, sad song with ‘tapenade’ in it. Brennan is bringing in all cylinders on this record.”
As for himself, McLane says, “I’m very happy how my drums turned out.”
He also wrote the music and lyrics for “Ass or Grass.” “I wanted to write the ultimate dad theme to cut grass to.”
McLane also came up with the title for “Fellabug.” Or, maybe to be more accurate, it was his 4-year-old son, Gideon. “When my son picked up a ladybug that he thought was a boy, [he said,] ‘That’s a fellabug.’ That’s where that came from. I have no idea what the fucking song is about. I don’t care.”
Their song titles aren’t necessarily clues to what the song is about. “We almost never say the name of the song in the song.”
The album includes two of their older songs, “Brazil” and “Christ of the Ozarks.” But, McLane says, We Look Happy Here is their first album with “the least amount of old songs on it. This is almost all completely new shit.”
“I feel like this record was a real completed body of work,” Whalen says. “It’s an album as opposed to a collection of songs.”
Also, he says, “Songwriting-wise I’ve been in a more literal place. I like metaphor and waxing poetic as much as the next guy. But with this record, I’ve been more comfortable saying exactly what I mean. Which makes me nervous when I’m writing, but ultimately it feels very therapeutic.”
As for adding a new member to the duo, McLane says they wanted a bass player on their last record, Pop Songs for a Dying Planet, but that didn’t work out. “Last time, Brennan had to play bass on the whole record. Which is fine, but not what we wanted to do.”
After Forbess played on the new album, McLane and Whalen said to each other, “What if we ask him to stick around?”
“We’ve both been doing this for 10 years. We both wanted a change, but not a giant change.”
Forbess was perfect. “We wouldn’t have a bass player if it wasn’t for Buddy. We both know him, love him, respect him. He’s a genius guitar player.
“The first thing, he’s not a bass player. He’s a guitar player and drummer. So we’re getting a bass player that plays like a guitar player.”
“Buddy being in the band has completely reinvigorated my love for HEELS,” Whalen says. “Josh and I needed the breath of fresh air that he’s brought to the band.”
“There’s nothing that Buddy doesn’t touch that doesn’t come out gold,” McLane says. “I’m finally in my supergroup. Brennan and Buddy are my absolute two favorite people I’ve been in bands with. And now I have them in my band.”
“My favorite thing about HEELS as a listener and a contributor is there are no rules musically,” Forbess adds. “You’ll hear references of multiple genres throughout a performance, but they have this through line that ties it all together seamlessly.”
McLane and Whalen, who met 20 years ago, named the band “HEELS” after what people call “a bad guy in wrestling,” he says. It also means when you “hinge on your heels in boxing. You’re about to fall down, but you’ve got a little bit left in the tank. You’re on your heels and try to put back what you got left for that last punch.”
He and Whalen no longer live in the same neighborhood. “Because of life and stuff, we don’t get to hang out as much,” McLane says. “But we still talk four times a day. We still practice as much as we can. Sometimes after 20 minutes we realize we got what we got and we hang out the rest of the hour.”
McLane still does stand-up comedy, but, he says, “I mainly do stand-up at all our shows.”
And he still creates sandwiches at South Point Grocery, which, by the way, is slated to open a second location in November, he says. This store will be in Southaven, Mississippi.
His HEELS sandwich is still going strong, McLane says. “A take on something I’ve been eating my entire life. Frank’s RedHot sauce and I mix it with crunchy peanut butter. And I add that on bread with a strawberry jalapeño jam that I make. I top it with provolone cheese and bacon. It is fire.”
And, McLane says, “It’s really good when you’re sober. But it’s really good when you’re fucked up. Just like our new record.”