Hey, Nothing At Varsity Theater 10/13
Athens emo-folk band Hey, Nothing brought their Hound tour to Minneapolis at Varsity Theater Tuesday night. Their sophomore album Hound, an album informed by grief, family, growing older and a period when Tyler Mabry and Harlow Phillips were asking difficult questions about whether the band could continue in a healthier way. Tyler and Harlow had existed as friends long before the creation of Hey, Nothing and with that, came the questions of co-dependency and their existence outside of each other. All of these conversations and themes combined into the album Hound which is raw and cathartic and everything you didn’t know you needed from a Hey, Nothing album.
Opening the night was Remo Drive’s Erik Paulson who delivered a lowkey, ambient, and personal performance. The crowd had also filled in considerably for the opener which is always cool to see. SUPPORT THE OPENERS! He was also brought back a song into Hey, Nothing’s set to bask in the glory of Erik’s hair and his Rick Stewart shirt.
Hey, Nothing is a band I’ve been fortunate enough to see a handful of times and every time they make me laugh but also make me feel like I’m going to start crying and never stop. Their lyrics bounce between the fun folk sounds that makes you want to twirl and the heart wrenching lyrics that make you feel like you want to call your mom. While I’ve seen them a couple times as openers and at festival lineups, I haven’t been to a standalone Hey, Nothing show and I was once again nothing but impressed. Through the launch of their tour, they’ve managed multiple shows in different states, band illness, and the loss of their drummer who sustained an injury and returned home instead of finishing the tour. Prior to the Minneapolis show, there was some shifting around band members to compensate for the departure of their drummer, but they were determined to put on a kick ass tour and they did just that. From my vantage point I noticed a few attendees with ode’s to Hey, Nothing music aside from a tour tee - two individuals in the front wear matching t-shirts and bear ears as an ode to “Black Bear” which appears on the Hound album, and two ghosts to represent the cover art from their 2022 single “i haunt ur dreams”. Truly a night for the sad 2014 tumblr kids.
