The Savage Hearts was formed in 2022 by Evan Walsh, former member of Irish rock ’n’roll band The Strypes, who toured the world both as a support act for Arctic Monkeys, Liam Gallagher & Blur and headlining shows to their own extensive global fanbase. They released 3 Top 10 albums and appeared on TV shows such as David Letterman and Jools Holland as well as legendary festivals such as Glastonbury and South X Southwest before disbanding in 2018.
Now swapping his drums for bass guitar and vocals duties Evan has teamed up with friends and collaborators Darragh Muldoon (lead guitar/lead vocals) Eugenio Collinassi (tenor saxophone) Luke Cassidy (drums) and occasional collaborators Becky Walsh (vocals) and Terry Brady (harmonica/keyboards) to launch The Savage Hearts on an unsuspecting world.
Worshipping at the alter of the mysterious and uncelebrated Cavan alpha rock ’n’ roll legend Eddie Cruizer the band released its debut single, the thuggish bruiser-boogie “Gang War” in February 2024, followed up by mile-a-minute deathtrap “Speeding Bullets” landing in July. Both tracks shot to No. 1 on the Irish Downloads chart and sold out their vinyl runs on Galway-based indie label Blowtorch Records. The band have also spent the last 18 months making a strong dent in the UK & Irish gigging scene with high profile support slots including shows with The Boomtown Rats and The Undertones, slots at festivals such as Electric Picnic and Sea Sessions as well a celebrated London debut at Gaz’s Rockin’ Blues Club Soho and the Dublin Castle Camden.
Now armed with their third single – the tough-guy-with-a-heart-of-gold lovesick layabout’s lament “Silver Locket” – and a busy line-up of gigs stretching into 2025, The Savage Hearts are making their mark with a brand of garage/psych/rock ’n’ roll music that is sure to thrill and leave a thousand questions on even more lips about these elusive meant and the legend of Eddie Cruizer – who is he? Where does he go? Why does he bother?
Speaking about the track Evan says;
“It’s definitely my favourite track of ours that we’ve released as a single so far – we’ve tried to have a bit of an upward trajectory with everything the band puts out that things get slightly more intricate musically and hopefully show a bit of development in influences and ideas even from single to single.
Influences wise the track came about from listening to a lot of 60s psych, proto-punk and garage rock stuff, bands like The Move, The Sonics and The Deviants as well as loads of current acts like King Gizzard, The Lemon Twigs, Ty Segall and Thee Oh Sees which have all been a massive influence in how the sound of things has come together. I was sitting up late at night messing about on the guitar and the kinda psych/punk vibe was rolling around in my head so the lyrics pretty much flowed in the one session which is a rarity haha!
It’s hard to remember exactly how these thoughts form but I really loved the idea of quite a fragile-sounding phrase like “silver locket” standing in sharp contrast over a really chunky, fuzzy and aggressive riff. Message wise I think it’s good to invite people to get from music what they make of it and keep the personal meaning a bit more cryptic- aside from that thought the main purpose of playing and performing music for us is to bring enjoyment, excitement, entertainment and seconds of pleasure to the listening audience!”