Hembree

Originating in America’s heartland, Hembree crafts an edgy yet catchy strain of atmospheric indie dance-rock. The group’s 2019 full-length debut, House on Fire, arrived after their track “Holy Water” was placed in a 2018 Super Bowl commercial.

Now headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, the project revolves around Lawrence, Kansas transplant and primary songwriter Isaac Flynn on vocals and guitar. Flynn, previously active in Quiet Corral, Brothers in Moab, and Middle Twin, assembled Hembree alongside fellow ex-Quiet Corral members Eric Davis on keyboards and synths, Garrett Childers on guitar and vocals, Matt Green on bass, and Jim Barnes on drums. Their first recordings appeared via the self-released EP New Oasis in early 2015; that same year the song “Can’t Run Forever” surfaced on streaming platforms and quickly amassed tens of thousands of plays. Following a short hiatus spent refining both their material and stage presentation, the band resurfaced in mid-2017 on Ribbon Music with the EP Had It All. Throughout those twelve months they supported Elvis Costello, Phoenix, Cold War Kids, and JR JR on the road. During the same period Green and Barnes departed, Childers switched to bass, and brothers Alex on guitar and Austin Ward on drums completed the current roster.

January 2018 brought a spotlight from NPR’s emerging-artist series Slingshot, and the following month “Holy Water” aired in a smart-speaker advertisement during the Super Bowl as well as on programs such as Monday Night Football. By year’s end Hembree had completed a first European tour and inked a deal with Thirty Tigers. Their debut album, House on Fire, produced by Eric Hillman of Foreign Fields and Matthew and the Atlas, appeared in April 2019.