The Lonely H

Indie pop/rock prodigies from the Pacific Northwest who appear to have been ingesting everything from Queen and 10cc to Weezer and the Strokes since they were old enough to take solid food, the Lonely H (not to be confused with Chicago's two-man grunge juggernaut Local H) consist of five young men born in the late '80s in the Olympic Peninsula community of Port Angeles, WA. Boasting songwriting smarts and instrumental skill far beyond their tender years, Mark Fredson (vocals and keyboards), Colin Field (guitar), Eric Whitman (guitar), Johnny Whitman (bass), and Ben Eyestone (drums) were still in high school when they started writing songs and playing out, and in 2004 they came in second place in a competition for young bands at Seattle's Experience Music Project, winning the group some gear and studio time. Word of the Lonely H's energetic live shows and sharp songwriting caught the attention of the Seattle-based independent label the Control Group, and in 2006 they released the band's debut album, Kick Upstairs. The album won rave reviews from the local and national music press, and by the end of the year the group was already hard at work on its second LP. While the novelty of the Lonely H's youth certainly had a lot to do with their buzz among fans, it's also not without its drawbacks; when the Seattle-based magazine The Stranger asked Johnny Whitman what he'd like for Christmas 2005, he replied, "Fake IDs for the whole band so we can hang in the club and not have to wait outside and freeze our asses off before we play 21+ places." By 2009's Concrete Class, the band had taken a decidedly more country rock direction, although the garage elements still remained high in the equation. ~ Mark Deming & Steve Leggett, Rovi