Photography by Leo Soyfer
Words by Haley Collins
This band from Kansas City takes a page from the rich history of indie rock from 80s synth to 2000s modern indie. If you don’t already know them, it’s time you get familiar with Hembree.
Sporting all black in a Japanese baseball jersey and beanie, lead-man Isaac Flynn captivated on the HI-FI stage with a playful performance alongside bandmates Garrett Childers (bass, vocals), Eric Davis (keys, synth), and brothers Alex (guitar) and Austin Ward (drums). The band has garnered some attention in recent years, most notably recognized as one of NPR’s Spotlight Arists and Rolling Stone’s “Best Band We Saw at SXSW.” Their 2018 hit “Holy Water” was featured in a Super Bowl LII Apple ad. Their songs “Culture” and “Continents” were featured in the soundtracks of Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why and Outer Banks, respectively. For fans of Joywave, Portugal. The Man, and The Decemberists, Hembree is an easy sell for your next indie rock playlist.
For the fourth show of their “It’s a Dream!” tour, the show opened with sparkling Naptown local artist Addie Kosten, who boasted passionate vocals and grunge influence. This was followed by an engaging, while brief, performance from Little Hurt fronted by Colin Dieden of the Mowglis. Backstage, Flynn and Childers expressed their excitement for the tour and for reconnecting with the family that is the live music scene after isolation during the pandemic.
The band kicked off their Thursday evening show with “Reach Out,” a grooving electronic tune that is instantly recognizable with Davis’s samples on the synth. Flynn, Childers, and Alex Ward began in chorus with a smooth falsetto. Heads bobbed and Hembree had captured the crowd.
The whole band has such a relaxed and warm presence about them; backstage, Childers shared their humble desire to be “approachable.” Both the audience and the band’s love for the music was present, making the concert feel like a gathering of good friends.
Alex Ward made a few jokes about their hometown, Fort Scott, Kansas, and shared the fun fact that they supplied some of the brick for the “Brickyard” of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. I was curious if this was true and according to a local news report in February, this checks out. The Wards joined the band in 2018 and really round out the band’s sound. For the title track, Flynn changed instruments to play a fabulous mini electric guitar; the effect of the pedal filter echoed through the venue to create an ethereal dream-like effect. The bright and full acoustics of the venue really shone through. Alex Ward and Childers played the same power baseline at the chorus that you could feel in your bones.
The new album was born of pandemic production. Now living in LA, Flynn collaborated the way many musicians continued the creative process in isolation by sharing recording files and constructing a full arrangement from different parts of the country. This led to an album that experimented with influences of Talking Heads, Vampire Weekend and Nine Inch Nails throughout. The band performed a faster, fuller version of, “Girlfriend Is Better” by Talking Heads; the musical break turned into a full-out jam with a jazzy solo from Davis on the keys. The percussion in the Hembree version is much more sophisticated; Austin Ward is an absolute force to be reckoned with on the drums. His talent was a big feature point for their performance of “Operators,” which features a memorable sax-synth riff and Flynn echoing the question, “What do they want and who are they trying to please?”
One of their slower tunes, “Can’t Run Forever” was the first song they wrote together as a band. The song carries smooth and swelling melodies and a steady beat until it kicks up with Ward’s scaling riff to Flynn’s bridge, “Are we folding or are we just resorting to what we know is better?” Flynn’s songwriting did not begin until into his twenties and is something he’s taken great care in practicing and refining. Flynn expressed that the band has gotten “incredibly tight musically” since 2018. “We’ve also really figured out who we are as a band. I think we’ve fully committed to just doing what we do, and not chasing trends or trying to change our sound based on what’s happening in the current music world.”
The encore song was undoubtedly a crowd favorite–Childers took to the mic for a lively rendition of “You Get What You Give” by New Radicals. The crowd jumped around and sang along and, as always when you hear this song, everyone did their best to keep up with Childers for the bridge, and successfully joining in at, “we’ll kick your asses!”
I hope it’s not too long before we see Hembree in Indianapolis again. I talked to Flynn after the show, “We had such a great time in Indy and love playing there. We felt like people were really digging the new songs from our new record. Since we made this album without playing any of it live, it has been really cool to see the songs resonating with people at shows.” He expressed the band’s appreciation for a rain-or-shine audience, “When we played WonderRoad last June, there was almost a tornado, and then it was freezing out[side] this round. Next time we get back to Indy, we’re gonna get a perfect Midwest summer night. I can feel it.”
A playlist of the full setlist from Dec. 1 is linked here.
