With New Music Finally on the Horizon, the Black Heart Procession Returns to the Road

To hear Black Heart Procession singer-guitarist Pall Jenkins tell it, the San Diego indie act started almost by accident in the late ’90s as he and multi-instrumentalist Tobias Nathaniel began to write songs together while in the band Three Mile Pilot.

“Toby [Nathaniel] came into Three Mile Pilot when we were doing [the 1997 album] Another Desert, Another Sea,” says Jenkins via phone from San Diego. Black Heart Procession performs on Tuesday, Feb. 17, at the Beachland Ballroom. “We were roommates, and we started writing some other songs that felt different. [Bassist] Zach [Smith] from Three Mile Pilot is very heavy with his sound. What we were doing felt different. We didn’t want there to be any rules. Before we knew it, we had we had ten songs. I said, ‘Let’s go record them.’ We never intended to be a full-on band.”

They recorded them at Bear Creek Studios in Seattle and released the album, dubbed 1, via Cargo, the same San Diego label that had signed a little-known punk band called Blink (the group would subsequently change its name to Blink-182).

After that first release, a collection of dark and moody tunes that have a Nick Cave-like vibe, Touch & Go, a more prominent indie label, came along.

“Touch & Go wanted to do the second and third albums,” says Jenkins. “We were getting good responses and enjoying that time. Toby and I grew closer. Our writing process was very mutual. We give each other the space to get our ideas across.”

Jenkins even got the opportunity to collaborate with one of his musical heroes, singer-guitarist J. Mascis of Dinosaur Jr.

“Dinosaur Jr. moved me from that first record they put out,” says Jenkins. “They influenced me heavily. Early Dinosaur was heavy nerd music. It was super cool. [Mascis] was singing in this whiny weird voice with guitars that are through the roof. It was amazing. We got to play with them a long time ago, and I went to several of their shows. We were in Rome playing a show, and J. Mascis was at our show because he had a day off. We got to know each other and became friends. He’s a really sweet guy. When he started working on solo albums, he asked if I would participate. I think I’m on three of the solo records he’s done. I’m sprinkled in there. Mission complete. That’s pretty awesome. It’s amazing and humbling.”

Black Heart Procession released new music and toured at a steady clip until things hit a snag in 2013 when Jenkins lost hearing in his right ear. He closed his studio and moved to Portland, OR, where he worked in a wood mill.

“I was still playing music but not recording other bands like I was,” he says when asked about the time period. “I was just navigating my new reality of not having hearing. In addition, Toby moved to Serbia and got married. Doing stuff became difficult. For those first six albums, we were really going after it. That can be daunting at times. Long story short, life happened.”

Once Jenkins learned to cope with his hearing loss, the band became active again and starting playing live. Last year, Solid Brass, a label run by former Touch & Go exec Justin Sinkovich, released the out-of-print 2003 album Hearts and Tanks. Next month, Solid Brass will also put out a remastered version of 1.

“We reissued 1 once before, but I never felt like the mastering job worked out very well,” says Jenkins. “Some of the pressings had issues. We tried to keep the new version very close to the original but heighten some things. Honestly, it’s hard for me to tell the difference because it’s on vinyl, but the test pressings sounded very much like the first pressing. We did the artwork similar. We made a few changes to it, but it’s primarily the same.”

For the upcoming tour that brings the band to the Beachland, Nathaniel and Jenkins have recruited a few of their musical friends to back them.

“We’ve always had different band members,” says Jenkins, who adds that he and Nathaniel have written 28 songs for a new album they hope to issue through Solid Brass. “The lineup has always changed. The core members are me and Toby. We have long-staying members back in like Scott Mercado on bass. He’s toured with us off and on for years. We have Matt Resevich, who has done violin and keyboard synths. He’s the secret weapon and is a multi-instrumentalist, like Scott. It’s really nice to have those types of people playing with us.”

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