The band, from Water Valley, Mississippi consists of brothers Dean and Max Hartleroad who started out playing in a band called The Motions before starting Hartle Road.
“I feel like me and Max are a lot more honest with each other than most people,” said lead singer and guitarist Dean Hartleroad. “We fight a lot because we’re brothers, but we always know what each other is going for when we’re making music.”
The band plays an experimental brand of psychedelic rock. With influences from Phil Spectre to The Beach Boys, Hartle Road strives to keep a good balance between experimentalism and accessibility. Another influence for the band is Southern culture. Dean Hartleroad said while the band is proud of its Southern roots and it tries to stay away from becoming alt-country.
“You can obviously tell we are Southern from the way we sound, but I don’t think we’re Southern in the same way that Lynyrd Skynyrd is Southern,” Dean Hartleroad said.
Songwriting takes on a different process for each of the two Hartleroad brothers. Dean Hartleroad said when it comes to songwriting, he thinks of music first and words second.
“I’m into symbolism,” he said. “I might have my own idea of what a song is about, but i don’t take ownership of it. I like to let other people interpret it.”
On the other hand, Dean’s brother Max is more direct when he writes. Dean said Max can write something and finish it without obsessing over the song.
Dean Hartleroad said the band’s best shows are full of hills and valleys that make the show both crazy and mellow at the same time. For Max Hartleroad, shows are a high-energy affair.
“People who come to our show can expect full on space-rock,” he said.
The band has new music on the horizon, but has no plans for release yet. The brothers said the band’s new music is more minimalist than the past two EPs.
Hartle Road plays at 10:30 p.m. Saturday at The Green Bar.
