Plain Old Henry are really making a name for themselves in the Midwest. A five piece rock band, with rocking tunes and energetic performances, Plain Old Henry have begun creating quite the buzz. Their debut EP titled Plain Old EP came out last year, and if you haven’t heard good strong rock and roll in a while, you are definitely in for a treat. Their sound alone put them on our radar and today they are ROCKREVOLT’s INDIE BAND OF THE WEEK!
Both talented and gracious, the band took a moment out of their busy schedule to give us an interview…
Plain Old Henry—that name is quite a contradiction for you guys. There isn’t any band member named Henry and there is nothing “plain” about you guys. Certainly none of you are old, so, I’m curious: how did Plain Old Henry come about for the name for your band? How long have you all been together?
Well, we were trying really hard to come up with a great band name, but everything sounded really cheesy and over-the-top. So Glenn (guitarist, but not in the band at the time) suggested “Why not Plain Old Henry?”, literally the most bland and ordinary description of somebody you could give. It started off as temp name and a bit of a joke, but eventually it kind of stuck because, well, who could forget a name like that?
The current lineup has been together for about a year and a half, with Tommy (our drummer) being the newest member.
Your debut EP titled Plain Old EP released on October 12, 2013. What an impressive anthology of music! Since it was an EP, the amount of songs are limited. I am eager to know if are there any plans for an upcoming full length CD in the near future?
Yes! We are currently in the studio working on a number of new songs, and we can’t wait to get them out. It hasn’t been decided whether it will be a full-length album or another EP, but we DO know that it will have more than four songs on it.
Just to highlight a couple of songs from your EP: “Punk 69” is really good. It is filled with driving guitar riffs and pounding drums that provide electrifying high energy. “The Flood” is also very good. This song has expressive vocals that mentally can drift one away. It’s so very easy for one to become captivated by your music. Is there a songwriting team within your group?
The writing is very much a group effort. Someone will bring the skeleton of a song to the group and we all build off of that. After the basic rhythms, chord structures, and melodies are decided Anthony (Our singer) will take it home and write lyrics to it based on the mood of the song or a concept that the original songwriter came up with. Finally we fill in any textures, solos (usually from Justin on guitar), and harmonies that we want and practice and fine-tune it until we feel we’ve got something solid.
Watch Plain Old Henry’s “Punk 69”
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Plain Old Henry‘s songs and performances are nothing less than exhilarating. What musical influences have made an impact on you and the band?
First off, thank you very much for all the compliments! We’re all into different styles of music, so everyone brings different influences to the band, which range from classic rock bands like Van Halen, Motley Crue, and Led Zeppelin to newer bands like Cage The Elephant, Alter Bridge, and Bobaflex. We like to think this adds a lot of diversity to the band and keeps things interesting.
Have any life experiences shaped your music?
Oh, there’s no doubt about it. Most of our songs come directly from the life experiences of the band members or our close friends, sometimes even down to each line of lyric. Besides the concept type songs which are based on interesting stories or exaggerated emotions and fantasies, odds are what you’re listening to someone has experienced it, and if not, it sure felt like it at the time.
Recently there was an incredible Battle for Rock on the Range and the competition was tough. I heard that Plain Old Henry had done extremely well. Please elaborate on this for me.
We competed against a lot of really great bands – some of whom are very good friends of ours which made it that much better. We had the most votes on our night of the competition, but one of the bands on the first night really ran away with it. It was an amazing experience and we look forward to competing again next year!
I read recently that Plain Old Henry is opening up for the metal band Bobaflex in Columbus, Ohio on August 22, 2014. How can people get tickets for this show? Are you opening up for them at other venues as well?
Yes, we are extremely excited about this show! The guys in Bobaflex are great friends of ours, and have been an enormous influence on us. It’s going to be an honor to share the stage with them!
Tickets are available at Ticketmaster locations, or from us directly on Facebook and Twitter (If you buy them from us, or the other opening acts, you can avoid the fees that come with buying from Ticketmaster).
There are no more dates planned with them at this time, but we would LOVE to do more shows with them in the future!
Thanks so very much for taking the time out of your schedule for this interview. We really appreciate it.
Thank you very much for your time and consideration, and your kind words. It’s truly been a pleasure.
Connect With Plain Old Henry
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by Britt Summerlin, RockRevolt Magazine Journalist
*photo by John Payne of Payne Productions
