“The Liverhearts are bad asses, plain and simple.” – Betty Humpter

“My favorite band and my favorite people.” – Nick Lachey

“If you can’t handle the heat, get out of the kitchen.” – Joe Franklin

“We are a family first and a band second.” – Jason Beebe, bassist for the Liverhearts

(Listen to “Ornament” from The Liverhearts LP of the same name by clicking the audio player below)

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Dry Ink: Where are you right now?

Matt Weaver: Heading to DC. Have the night off. We are going to hang with an old friend, relax and drink some beers.

DI: Then what?

MW: Playing Richmond tomorrow night, Winston-Salem the next. Then a show in Knoxville, Tenn., and then we head home.

DI: How has the tour been?

MW: Great, really great. We played the last two nights in New York City. The first night was at The Delancey. It was amazing. Atlanta was out representing. People I went to school with, people I played in other bands with and worked with were there. It was a good turn out and we sold some merch. The next night was at Don Pedro’s in Brooklyn. It was also great.

DI: Any good stories from the road?

MW: Well, we shared a house in Brooklyn with a cat with a tumor. It was pretty scary and was dying right in front of us. The guy left us there alone, so that was pretty creepy. Other than that, we’ve seen a lot of old friends and the shows have gone well. It’s been a good vibe.

DI: You guys are out supporting your new record. Who put it out?

MW: We put it out ourselves. We were talking to a couple of labels but things didn’t work out. We worked very hard on it and said let’s do it ourselves. If someone wants to help us out later that’s fine.

DI: And you will be having a record release show when you get back to Atlanta. When and where will that be?

MW: At The EARL in East Atlanta Saturday, April 19th. Our friends Rizzudo will be playing along with Lay Down Mains. It should be a great night.

DI: A few weeks back when we were hanging out you gave me a great quote regarding punk rock. Can you give it to me again?

MW: Well yes, I was quoting the great writer Elias Canetti. He was Bulgarian Jew. He said “the closest thing to democracy is joining a riot.” And I can of feel that way about punk rock. When I met our friend Marlow Sanchez at a Leatherface show for the first time, we were right next to each other and singing along to the music. We grabbed each other and locked arms and were jumping in the air. I had chills and I felt like I was joining a riot. It felt good.

DI: I like that a lot. Thank you much, good luck to you boys and safe travels for the rest of your tour.

MW: See you Saturday.