The Heavenly States

The California outfit known as The Heavenly States fuses pop, indie rock, and agit-prop folk rock into an invigorating mix that has positioned them among the standout new West Coast bands of the millennium. Ted Nesseth, who handles guitar, vocals, and songwriting duties, established the group after dissolving his prior punk-oriented project Fluke Starbucker. Nesseth, a self-taught player who wields a left-handed guitar originally designed for right-handers and turned over, gathered the initial members—including drummer Jeremy Gagon and Genevieve Gagon handling keyboards along with violin—while Fluke Starbucker wound down, releasing the earliest Heavenly States material under that previous moniker via the 2002 EP Elephants from Ants. Their proper introduction came with a spot on a restricted 2003 EP shared alongside Coldplay and the Postal Service, paving the way for a self-titled full-length later that year. Bassist Masanori Mark Christianson joined in 2004, leading to the King Epiphany EP before year's end. Now a quartet, they launched an extensive touring regimen encompassing not only the United States, Canada, and Europe but also Australia, while pioneering visits to Egypt and Libya that introduced Western rock sounds to those North African countries for the first time. Black Comet emerged as their sophomore album in 2005, with plans set for a third record in February 2007.