The Heavy Heavy, Lou Hazel

With the arrival of their debut EP Life and Life Only, The Heavy Heavy immediately filled a longtime void in the musical landscape, delivering a soulful breed of rock & roll untouched by modern artifice. As audiences across the globe grew enchanted with their era-bending sound, the UK-based band began selling out headline shows in major cities like New York and Chicago, opening for the likes of Black Pumas and Band of Horses, and earning critical comparisons to Jefferson Airplane, The Band, The Mamas & The Papas, and more—all with only a handful of songs to their name, including the AAA radio top five singles “Miles and Miles” and “Go Down River.” After spending the past two years on the road and in the studio, The Heavy Heavy now draw listeners even deeper into their dreamworld with their long-awaited debut album One Of A Kind.

Lou Hazel grew up along the Allegheny River, where New York meets Pennsylvania and Northern Appalachia slips into quiet obscurity. In a landscape of cold towns, blue-collar fatigue, and early brushes with hardship, music wasn’t inherited. It was uncovered. There were no venues, no mentors, no real sense of a scene... just whatever you could scrape together with curiosity and a cassette deck.

That absence of direction, guidance, and art shaped Lou’s songs as much as any influence. His music echoes the loneliness of those forgotten towns and the strange resilience it takes to create something where nothing was planted. Blending folk, indie, and an eye for the overlooked, Lou writes like someone who’s learned to pay attention. His songs are spare, vivid, and weathered with warmth.

After years of solo touring and home recording, Lou found grounding in Durham, North Carolina, where a vibrant music scene and chosen community have helped shape his recent work. His latest record, Riot of the Red, captures the urge to get away from it all—the noise, the headlines, the weight of a world gone sideways—and find stillness in the simplest things: a long drive, a bare sky, a familiar chord. Lou Hazel makes music for those who had to teach themselves how to listen.