By Lucas Schaff
Heart to Gold is a three piece punk band from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Consisting of members Grant Whiteoak (guitar and vocals), Blake Kuether (drums) and Sid Johnson (bass). Heart to Gold formed when Whiteoak and Johnson were hanging with some friends and getting high on mushrooms. According to Whiteoak, during the trip he turned to Johnson and said, “There are certain people that I feel like I need to have musical endeavors with in my life and you are one of them. Let’s start a f—— band.” The band recorded a few EP’s and demos released to Bandcamp throughout 2015 and 2016, and eventually released their debut LP, COMP in April of 2018.
COMP is a blistering 31 minute, 10 track punk affair that runs the gamut between stripped back punk rock bangers to whimsical emo balladry. Erik Paulson of Remo Drive fame is responsible for the mixing and mastering of the album, and COMP retains much of the raw, relatable energy from Remo Drive’s own debut, Greatest Hits. The colorful, irreverent album art transforms the bands members into dogs wearing Hawaiian shirts, sitting together on a couch.
The album begins with the short but sweet ”Tokyo”. Clocking in at only a minute and 38 seconds, Tokyo provides an ample sampling of the sonic palette found across the entirety of the album. Chunky guitar riffs and Whiteoak’s half screamed, half-sung vocals make this song easily get stuck in your head, a trend that follows for much of the remainder of the record. Standout songs include the more mellow “Smo’” which begins with only a jangly guitar line and Whiteoak’s vocals and ends in a glorious cacophony of guitars and emo yells, and “Tony Hawk’s Nephew”. The aptly named “Miss Me Entirely (Riff City)” is a mostly instrumental cut featuring lots of soloing with a few vocal interjections. The album ends with “Acne,” which begins with audio from the classic viral video, “I don’t care that you broke your elbow.” The song is a fitting send off to the album; it captures much of the angst found throughout the record, but still maintains the lighthearted and carefree tone of three friends just jammin’ out.
Overall, COMP doesn’t really have a lot to say. It’s an album that stands on its own, without any grand compositional pretense or strong concept, because it doesn’t need any. The only intention of COMP is to leave you with a few more songs stuck in your head, and it accomplishes that goal admirably.
The Minneapolis punk scene has already had a few breakout successes. It’s the birthplace of indie rock legends The Replacements and Hüsker Dü, and this generation is now looking to leave its mark on the world. Remo Drive released their major label debut Natural, Everyday Degradation to Epitaph Records in 2019, as well as some bands signing to indie labels, like Unturned signing to No Sleep Records. Heart to Gold will undoubtedly find their way into the mainstream given the performance they’ve shown already.
RIPE Magazine | Volume 1 