“Citizens” album earns praise as band heads back to studio
to work on its next batch of unique socially-conscious pop songs.
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The Wheel
Workers (L-R): Craig Wilkins, Steven Higginbotham, Allison Wilkins McPhail,
Jason Williams, Tyson Sheth. Photo Credit: Patrick Bertolino.
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The Wheel Workers – In The Press
“Painfully catchy.” – MAGNET
“Houston’s brightest hope. Damn. Seriously righteous.”
– BLURT
“Sincerely progressive and catchy as hell.” – Space City Rock
“Sociopolitical consciousness with a memorable hook.”
– The Big Takeover
“New Wave synth stylings meet sharp lyrics.” – PopMatters
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PLAY, POST
& SHARE
“A song
about plain old heartbreak but also the heartbreak of having your house broken
into.” – Texas
Monthly on “Burglar”.
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The Wheel
Workers – Live
07/18 Bryan, TX @ Revolution Café
07/25 Houston, TX @ Rudyard’s
08/07 San Antonio, TX @ Josabi’s
08/14 Beaumont, TX @ Texas Rose Saloon
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Houston-based sociopolitical pop act, The Wheel Workers follows up its 2014
nomination as “Best Pop Act” at the Houston
Press Music Awards with a total of eight nominations
in 2015 including “Best Local Recording” for its current album CITIZENS,
as well as “Best Live Act.” Bandleader Steven
Higginbotham has also been nominated as “Local Musician of The Year” and “Best
Songwriter,” an especially noteworthy accomplishment for a pop band.
“I love artists who’ve had something substantial to
say beyond the standard lyrical fare in pop songs,” Higginbotham says. The Houston Chronicle called The Wheel Workers’ previous release “one
of the best albums made in Houston last year,” and now CITIZENS is earning
similar praise, this time on a national level.
When Higginbotham
talks about substance in pop songs, he’s talking about the pairing of
sociopolitical consciousness with a memorable hook. After all, there’s a reason
that listeners are still moved by the catchiest folk and punk protest songs of Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, and The Clash.
This approach to music-making by The
Wheel Workers is the reason why the Houston
Chronicle went on in that same piece to call the album a “thoughtful
recording that offers new rewards during repeated playings.”
On CITIZENS, the band’s way of doing
things has become masterful, as the album’s latest single “Burglar” proves. Higginbotham
started writing the song the day after (guess what?) his home was burglarized.
“The singing style is reflective of my angry and
vulnerable state at the time,” he recalls. Higginbotham
didn’t finish the tune off until some time later when a failed relationship
left him feeling that same way again. “So the song is ultimately about the
break-up and looking back at what was lost,” he concludes. The music video for “Burglar” was recently premiered
by Texas Monthly which noted the
clip’s “Wes Anderson-inspired
aesthetic.”
“The original idea for the song was written a day
after my house was burglarized, thus the title,” Higginbotham explains. “Fortunately,
they didn’t go upstairs, so my recording gear was intact! I had been drinking, and my singing style on
the song is reflective of my weird, drunken, semi-angry and vulnerable state at
the time.”
With all that’s going on for The Wheel Workers and CITIZENS, the band is already
looking towards the future, having already tracked basics for its next
full-length.
“While the vinyl press cools off from printing album
number three, we’re already in the studio working on number four,” says band
member and producer, Dan Workman. “We’re
all pretty amazed with the number of great songs and sounds we are collecting.
I think that we’re hitting our stride!”
Higginbotham and the band’s Craig
Wilkins (a fellow Houston Press
Music Awards nominee as “Best Keyboards”) note that the next record will be
of a more collaborative nature.
“On the last two albums I wrote most of the songs,”
explains Higginbotham. “A lot of the
next album is drawn from blank-page jam sessions held in the studio. I think
the material is our best yet.”
Wilkins confesses to being “really excited and nervous about
this next one. It will be our first truly collaborative process, and other
local musician friends are helping out as well. We keep buying more
synthesizers.”
Along with Higginbotham,
Wilkins and Workman, The Wheel Workers
is comprised of Allison Wilkins McPhail,
and Tyson Sheth. CITIZENS by The Wheel Workers is out now.
The Houston Press Music Awards
are scheduled to
be handed out on August 20th.
Members of The
Wheel Workers are available for interviews. Contact Josh
Bloom at Fanatic for
more information.
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The Wheel Workers
CITIZENS
(S/R – Out Now)
Track Listing:
03. Whole Other World
04. Smokescreen
05. Wage Slaves
06. Run Away
07. Dream
08. Citizen Incorporated
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The Wheel Workers Links
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Contact Josh Bloom at Fanatic Promotion
