Panther Heart

A few years ago, I was in a folk-pop band called, The Clouds.  When we broke up, two separate bands formed in the aftermath:

California Lions and Panther Heart.

Much like the splintering of At the Drive-in, the two groups created were diametrically opposite:  the former, a pure pop band and the latter, an art/orchestral rock band.

I wasn't involved with either, but I did attend both groups' shows.

California Lions were a tight, cohesive unit with concise, if not quirky pop songs, a self-contained group with a Hollywood producer to boot.  Their songs were catchy and would sometimes be played in the background of reality shows on MTV.

In other words, they were pros.

Panther Heart were the antithesis of that.  Their first show was a fully improvised 60-minute set, complete with psychedelic projections and interpretive dance.  The next time I saw them, they performed a song cycle that would soon form the basis of their first two ep's, "Panther Heart Defeats the Dire Wolf," parts 1 & 2. 

These songs intrigued me.  They reminded me of my favorite Talk Talk albums, dreamy with a hint of foreboding.  They had wordless melodies, and their harmonies were gorgeous.  But while their songs were captivating, they lacked bass, and without its counterpart, the drums seemed noticeably unmoored from the rest of the band.

I saw my opening...

Sometime in the middle of 2012, I asked if I could play bass for them, and thankfully they let me, thus beginning my Tuesday ritual of weekly practices at the Panther Den.  By then, we had eight members, including me, and when we all sang, the sound was incredible!

We recorded the aforementioned ep's (Part 1 includes a book we hand-made) and occasionally played shows until this year, when we decided that this iteration of Panther Heart had run its course...

The good news is, I'm told there will be more music coming from a different version of Panther Heart...   

In the meantime, here's our website.  There are a few nice photos of our rather elaborate shows (including this line-up's farewell performance, January 31) and hopefully, very soon, you'll be able listen to (or purchase) our two e.p.'s directly from the site... 

 Enjoy!