Heavy Burden

Band: Heavy Burden

Members: Michael Jonsin, rhythm guitar and vocals; Scott Busler, drums and vocals; Paul Hansen, bass; Bill Hunt, lead guitar and vocals

Who we talked to: Busler

Where did the name come from? We kind of just sat around the kitchen table. At the time, we didn't even have a bass player. It was me and the singer and lead guitar player . . . and our rhythm guitar player. We all came up with three or four ideas and wrote them down on paper and (used) a process of elimination. We wanted to have something so that people knew we were a hard rock band.

How did you get together? Me and (Jonsin), the rhythm guitar player, have been playing together for about a year and a half. (Hunt's) been with us since January. We just found (Hansen) at the end of April. So that's about seven or eight months that we've been together.

Where do you like to play? We really like The Glad Crab mainly because it's kind of a loyalty thing. That was our first gig in August. We like the Tourist Inn a lot, as well and Zingers. (Those are) probably the three that we really want to keep in York. We don't want to be over-exposed in one town. We're trying to be more like a regional band.

Describe your sound. The singer and I are pretty much (into) the '70s and '80s. Everything from Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin to AC/DC to Kiss. (Hunt) is more from the '80s. He comes from a lot of the hair bands: Motley Crue, Twisted Sister, Poison and that kind of stuff. We also mix in Nickelback, Godsmack and some of the current stuff. We do a version of "Greased Lightning" . . . from the movie "Grease." It sounds more like Metallica doing it.

Do you guys do any originals? We're writing originals, and we plan on . . . adding originals to our set probably within the next couple of months. (We plan to be) recording something probably by next spring. We're always going to do almost all covers to get the crowd dancing. I feel like if (we) do at least four or five good cover songs . . . that makes people check out the originals a lot more.

What are your thoughts on the York scene? I think it all depends. Most of the people that enjoy our shows are more like in their 30s. I think the younger kids are more into the originals. It depends on the club . . . and it depends on the band. At first, until we get a big name for ourselves, we'll do a lot of covers. We do mini-tributes to legendary bands. We really try to sell the show. We want to be different than everybody else.

What can the audience expect to see at your shows? When you come to see our show, even at the smallest places we play, . . . you're going to think its back in the '80s. We bring the fogger and the strobe (lights). For some of the small clubs around here, I don't see anybody else putting time into the show like that. The show is very important to us. I think that comes back from our influences from our '70s and '80s, when the bands were bigger than life.

- ERIN McCRACKEN, FLIPSIDE STAFF