NYLON - January 2008 - (Page 124) LOVE PLUS ONE Heartsrevolution left Los Angeles for just a few months over the summer and what happened? “It was like the dark side moved in,” says Lo, the female half of the band and the founder of the Heartschallenger ice-cream truck fleet. It turns out that their pad, a pink-neon lit, mirror and Lucitefilled tree house in Silver Lake that’s complete with hummingbird drawer pulls and a rock cave with mushroom stools, fell to the forces of rats, spiders, and other creepy-crawlies as soon as the duo hit the road, bound for New York City. Chalk it up to typical empty-house-itis, but catch even a smidgen of Lo and Ben’s positively infectious high energy sound, and the idea that they might both exude and attract magical super powers doesn’t seem far-fetched in the slightest. “We never had a plan to be a boy/girl band,” Lo says. The couple (who won’t divulge their last names) met while they were working at The Standard hotel in West Hollywood. Lo was also running her ice-cream truck business on the side and needed tunes to pump through the sound system. Ben had come from Michigan to try his hand at being in a rock band, and offered to whip up some modern jingles. Not long after that, her riot grrl scene past and his natural drive and inclination for making music started to fuse, and their electro-dance-house-punk freestyle sound began to take shape. “It’s not so much a music style,” Ben says. “It’s more of an energy.” In the amount of time it takes most bands to agree on a name, Heartsrevolution (the moniker was inspired by original boy/girl revolutionaries Huggy Bear) have already self-released a handful of The Heartsrevolution has begun. By Crystal Meers. Photographed by Jack Siegel limited-edition records, with more on the way. Their first single “Choose Your Own Adventure (C.Y.O.A.),” an industrial disco banger with a “No more war” hook, debuted on white heart-shaped 10-inch vinyl, along with “Domino Effect,” and “Prism Effect,” the latter of which has their pal Cory Kennedy on vocals. This limited-edition release was quickly followed by another: a glow-in-the-dark six-inch split with Crystal Castles featuring “C.Y.O.A” and an Acid Girls remix of “Prism Effect.” Aside from constant ingredients such as guitar, keyboard, and drum machines, the variable punk DIY-ness resonating through everything they do keeps their music everchanging and interesting. “The most boring thing ever,” says Lo, “would be to hold onto a sound and never do anything different.” As with their recordings, Heartsrevolution’s live show is all about having a good time. “We’re not into speaker worship,” Lo says. “We want it to be like a rad interactive experience for us and the audience.” A large element of this is the hip-hop-dance-circle they hope to get going at every opportunity. Songs like the intergalactic techno tune “Switchblade,” available for download from their MySpace page, are sure to help their cause. And thanks to their more-the-merrier take on everything, when their name is on the bill, expect to see loads of unannounced guest stars, like Kid Akira or Lauren Flax, joining them onstage. Now that they’ve ditched the tree house part-time in favor of a NYC address, Lo says there’s just one key component left: “We’re just waiting for Pharell to sign us. It makes perfect sense.”
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