Four seasoned musicians boasting extensive prior credits joined forces as the Empty Hearts to pursue uncomplicated, direct, and emotionally grounded rock & roll rooted in 1960s garage rock alongside British Invasion influences. They deliberately evoked the mid-1960s style that once filled transistor radios, proving on their 2014 self-titled debut that they could replicate that era’s approach while also crafting songs ideally matched to it.
Wally Palmar of the Romantics supplies lead vocals, rhythm guitar, and harmonica; Elliot Easton of the Cars handles lead guitar and vocals; Andy Babiuk of the Chesterfield Kings plays bass and sings; and Clem Burke of Blondie covers drums and vocals. Babiuk originated the project while furnishing historically accurate instruments for David Chase’s 1960s rock film Not Fade Away, an experience that rekindled the excitement and immediacy he recalled from playing music in his youth and prompted him to assemble a band capable of delivering comparable enjoyment and force. He first invited longtime friend Palmar, after which the pair recruited mutual acquaintances Burke, who had previously performed with Palmar in the Romantics, and Easton, who had contributed session work to Blondie. Steven Van Zandt, another friend of Babiuk’s, proposed the name the Empty Hearts, and the quartet promptly began writing original material.
The group assembled in March 2013 at Fab Gear, Babiuk’s Rochester, New York studio, where Ed Stasium produced and Ian McLagan, former keyboardist for the Faces, added piano and organ. In five days they completed a full album’s worth of tracks; after signing with 429 Records the release, titled simply The Empty Hearts, appeared in August 2014. The members’ packed individual schedules postponed further recordings, yet the band still delivered a 2016 holiday single, “It’s Christmastime” b/w “Joyful Noise,” as a seasonal offering to fans. Three years later another single, “Coat-Tailer” b/w “Run and Hide from You,” previewed the follow-up LP, The Second Album, which arrived in August 2020 on Steven Van Zandt’s garage-focused Wicked Cool label and included a guest appearance by Ringo Starr.
