How did I go all of July without a post catching us up on St. Ignace deathcore band Heavy Lies The Crown? Given that they're returning to the local stage this month for the returning 2nd Street Music Festival, it's high time we check out what the guys have been up to since late May! When we last left off with H.L.T.C., they were hitting the road for another concert downstate, this time 5 hours away in Chesterfield Township (outside of Detroit) on May 30th, where they opened for Buffalo post-hardcore band The Bunny The Bear at The Diesel Concert Lounge. Drummer Blaze Beairl was unable to make the trip that weekend, so they did a bit of lineup juggling. Guitarist Kaycee Mason sat in behind the drumkit (he already drums for Alpena metal band Katharsys Theory anyway), and they called in Kaycee's old bandmate Paul Nolan to sit in on guitar "for the time being", including at a private birthday concert the following day.
In their first Facebook video upload of the summer, Heavy Lies The Crown posted a very high quality performance video from the Chesterfield Township show, and while it only runs for 40 seconds, I do sincerely hope that this filmer got more content! The video in question shows Heavy and Paul in action, and this was reportedly the first time that bassist Christian Cook deployed backing vocals on stage with them, catching frontman Brandon West slightly off guard (in a good way). Christian has a very capable death growl there, so I'd be game to hear him more vocally! You can see more from that night in this highlight video featuring brief clips of all bands on May 30th, but it's another one of those videos that dubs over all live audio with an H.L.T.C. original ("Friend" here). With how good this video quality is, I'd be showing it off on full songs, but what do I know. Check everything out above & below!
Much of June was spent with Heavy Lies The Crown entering a contest to try and get voted in as a performer at the Global Citizen Festival in New York next month, which would also net them a $50,000 prize and a feature in Rolling Stone magazine. The Global Citizen Festival isn't exactly a metal haven in any year, but H.L.T.C. made a solid run at it, going as far as the quarterfinals, so congratulations to them on getting as far as they did! In their next Facebook video from early July, Brandon was seen driving his vehicle while talking to the camera in more of an off the cuff manner (not even saying "Hey guys, Heavy here" at the start). The focus here was on his vocal styles in their songs and what he prefers to do re: harsh vocals and "scare screaming", noting that their song "Jell-O" and his vocals there will very much be what their next album will largely sound like. Fun little update clip, so give it a watch below!
Regarding their annual 2nd Street Music Festival in their hometown (one of the very few times that Heavy Lies The Crown ever play public concerts in the E.U.P.), Brandon confirmed on their Facebook page on June 2nd that the show has moved up a week from this Saturday to next Saturday (August 16th), while also moving it from its prior 2nd Street location to the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 5114 at 1110 North State Street, right along the shore of the Straits of Mackinac. Now simply called Brandon's Birthday Bash, the show will feature H.L.T.C. alongside two touring metal bands from Metro Detroit, namely metalcore quintet Nothing After This and alternative/nu-metal band Influence. as well as Hannahville "rez metal" band Ghidora, who made the trip east for the St. Ignace show last year. Ghidora are replacing Macomb Country metalcore quartet At Water, as per this video on July 25th.
Brandon only said that "things happen. Understandable" when citing the reason for At Water dropping out, but hopefully nothing too serious happened, as it'd be neat to see more Detroit-area bands play north of the Mackinac Bridge! Because H.L.T.C. have been fairly quiet this summer beyond teasers and hype (including a mention last month of more potential lineup changes), we are now caught up on their recent updates, but with the big St. Ignace show ahead next Saturday, there'll be more to discuss from their camp soon, so stay tuned for more from Heavy Lies The Crown this month, and for more news & notes this week! Thanks everyone!
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