Hillbilly Herald Twists and Turns Traditional Rock and Roll into Their Own Brand of Awesome

[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]W[/dropcap]hen none other than legendary Guns N Roses lead guitarist Slash suggests that you start a band, you’d be wise to head those words and go start a band.  Such is the origin story of heavy-duty LA rockers, Hillbilly Herald, who, since 2008, have been preaching their gospel of genuine, American rock and roll to their ever-growing legion of fans.  With a sound rooted in the rowdier end of the classic rock spectrum, Hillbilly Herald has spent the last several years playing prolifically around Southern California, touring nationally with Slash and Steel Panther, and releasing a self-titled LP, and an EP entitled, Sundays Best.  Through it all, the band has maintained a strong commitment to authenticity, both in their songwriting as well as individuals. CULTURE was able to catch up with Hillbilly Herald’s lead vocalist Jimmy Herald and bassist Adam Wolf to hear all about their new EP, plans for 2015 and of course, feelings about medical marijuana.

Well, it’s the beginning of a new year, can you tell me a bit about what Hillbilly Herald has in the works for 2015?

Jimmy Herald:  We’ve got a new EP and a tour coming. It’s gonna be called Hustler.

Can you tell us a bit about it?

Herald: It’s really rockin’, but it’s a little bit different from what we’ve done in the past.

Adam Wolf:  Yeah, it shows a lot of growth from what we’ve done in the past.  We’ve been recording for almost the last six months, and we’ve been being really picky.  We recorded an entire seven song EP, listened to it, decided that it didn’t really represent us, and put it on the shelf.  Now we’re in the process of reworking a lot of shit so that it represents us better.  You know what I’m saying?

Are you reworking the same songs or are you completely rewriting everything?

Herald: Some of them.  I started writing about a year and a half ago with Peter Simon, and then once we decided not to go with the original EP, I continued the writing process.  From that, more and more stuff started to come along that was better than everything from before.  So it’s getting better!

Did you go into all of this writing and recording with any particular goals for yourselves and the band?

Herald: Yeah!  We definitely wanted to stretch, we wanted to grow, and so we got some help writing songs and got some outside influences on this record.

You all have done a fair amount of touring and seen a lot of the youth culture nationally, how do you all feel about the growing legalization efforts in the country?

Herald: Oh we’re absolutely for it!  I mean, it’s a great thing!

Wolf: Just look at Colorado, I’m sure everyone brings up that example, but the revenue from all of the new taxes is really helping out the state economy.

Herald: Everybody seems a lot more chilled out there too!  What would be nice is if they’d just go ahead and legalize it everywhere so that when you go on tour, you don’t have to worry about getting popped for it various states. I mean, we’re all adults.  If you can drink a beer, why can’t you smoke a joint?  I don’t get it.

Beyond the EP and tour, does Hillbilly Herald have any other ambitions for 2015?

Herald: Yeah!  I want to put this EP out, tour, come back, continue to write, get a really good producer, and put out the record that we deserve to put out.  I think everybody in this band has put in a lot work and we deserve that shot.  We’re an out of pocket band, everything that you see comes out of our pockets.  There’s no label behind us, there’s nobody on our Twitter accounts growing fake Twitter followers, it’s all us and there’s nothing fake about us. We’re the real deal.  So for us, we’re just going to continue being the real deal, keep putting out, let our fan base grow, and continue to learn and tour.

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