Purple Hearse

Purple Hearse is a loud-ass, improvisational, middle-aged bass/drums rock duo from Minnesota with zero commercial viability. Jackpot! Drummer Ian Prince is from Minneapolis, and he's played in Soul Asylum and Cloud Cult and in Porcupine (with Greg Norton from Husker Du). He's been on bills with MC50, the Flaming Lips, and probably also Justin Bieber, among many others. Other projects of his include Birdhands (with Allen Epley from Shiner), Story of the Sea, and Houston. Bassist Tony Bennett had a good run about 20 years ago in his band The Dames, who opened shows for nobodies like Queens of the Stone Age, Melvins, and Mastodon, but he's mostly just a guy who is waiting for the icy hand of death to seize him, these days. He's also played in the band Cars & Trucks and released a bunch of solo material. Ian and Tony have never written a song for Purple Hearse, nor have they even once gotten together to practice. They met in, like, 1998, when their bands were a part of a "Best New Bands" deal at the 7th St. Entry. They've been pals ever since, and Ian even played in The Dames for a bit. Years went by, and they realized it was dumb that they never did anything else together, so, in 2015, they formed Purple Hearse, a band named after an actual purple hearse that is often spotted driving around Duluth in the summertime. They picked that name after Googling it and seeing that no one was currently using it. Of course, since then, two or three other Purple Hearses have popped up, and it's a bunch of bullshit, but Ian and Tony can't be arsed to give a toss, as the British always say. The duo's self-titled debut album was recorded and mixed by the talented Jake Larson (Retribution Gospel Choir, Mike Noga, something for fricking actual Broadway he's working on right now) and carved from about three or four hours of jams. Zero preparation went into the music, and the fact that it's as rad as it is should give you an indication of just how much these dudes rule the school. Ian's one of the best drummers in Minnesota history, and he can whip up crushing beats at the drop of a hat. Tony's usually a guitar player, but he just plugs a $100 bass into his guitar amp and distorts the piss out of it and comes up with gnarly riffs on the spot. Look, these guys just make it up as they go, and they still slay most other rock bands. That's it. Two guys in a room, cooking hard off the dome. If you can't take the Hearse, get off the road.