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The Heyday a must-listen

Andrew Klatzke, Senior Staff Writer

In early 2009 I had the pleasure of reviewing the self-titled debut album by a band named The Heyday. One of the few releases I've ever lauded over, I gave the Heyday a whopping 4.5 out of 5 stars for the publication I worked for at the time.

After that review, The Heyday kind of disappeared from me … until now. Nearly two years after hearing of them, The Heyday has cropped back up onto my radar by visiting our little haven, Oxford. To say that Oxford isn't graced with too many musical acts would be an understatement; our visitors from major labels or even large independents are few and far between so, in theory, we need to latch onto every artist we get so that they keep coming. I, fortunately, had the pleasure of communicating with the band prior to their trip up here.

Like me, I'm sure most of you aren't aware they're even coming to Oxford if you've heard of them in the first place. Let's chalk that one up to the fact that the myriad of events on this campus every day can occlude some of them. Regardless, if you hadn't heard, you have now – and for that reason you have no excuse not to march up to Stadium Bar and Grille on March 4 to hear them, Cavashawn and State & Madison so they can charm your girlfriends from the stage.
When Randy Ramirez (guitarist/singer) answered my question about why Oxford was one of their stops, he replied that they're on the "Rad Bromance tour" but that he doesn't exactly know why it's called that. He also said, "we've played in Oxford once before, about a year or so ago for some sort of film/music festival."

I wasn't here last year, so you probably shouldn't ask me, but it sounds like they may be more renowned throughout our campus than I'd imagined.

For those of us that have heard the original album – don't fret, there's more on the way! The band is gearing up to release an EP entitled "Along for the Ride." Ramirez explained it further: "Basically, ‘Along for the Ride' is a way to include fans on the entire writing/recording process and simultaneously raise the money it will take to record. By donating, fans gain access to a network of exclusive videos, photos, and sneak peeks of new material. They'll also receive a package of the new EP, vinyl pressings, posters, t shirts etc. depending on their contribution."
As any curious person would, I also asked Ramirez how the new album would sound and how they felt about their previous self-titled album after all of this time; Ramirez replied "We are really proud of the record we've made, but we also acknowledge we were pretty young and naive when we wrote it. So I do feel that stylistically we've evolved a little bit, but not so much that the new release will sound like a different band."

For fans of the old album, this should be great news, and for those that have yet to catch their show or heard the band, it means you're going to be promised some swooning pop-rock that will certainly catch your attention.

Of course, they're going to have an even rowdier crowd here on March 4, and we all know why: Green Beer Day. This won't be a problem; in fact, I asked what their favorite thing about college shows were and Ramirez replied "Young people are usually the ones who aren't afraid to really get into the music and have some fun, so playing for the college crowd is always great… To us a show is just as much about the crowd as it us about the band, a celebration of that relationship I guess. We feed off of the crowd's energy just as much as they feed off of ours, so in that sense every show is unique." In addition, since they're all roughly the same age as us, 21-23, you can be sure that they're expecting the same thing you're going to deliver. When writing about college, Ramirez said, "I think we've all enjoyed getting to know all the different types of people you can meet in the college setting."

Knowing what I do about the campus, I'm sure that Ramirez and Co. will feel right at home with the diverse group of people that Miami presents.

Hopefully you'll heed my word and attend The Heyday's concert at Stadium on March 4 so they can join Miami's crowds in one of our campus' student traditions. If you choose not to, I'll just assume you've passed out in a gutter somewhere and we'll call for help.