Saturday, February 29, 7 p.m.
The Rust Belt, 533 12th Avenue, East Moline IL
On February 29, audiences at the Rust Belt will see just what transpires when a Superstar meets up with A Giant Dog, as the East Moline venue delivers a night of doo-wop, electro dance, alternative pop, and more with the singular talents of Heart Bones – a unique collaboration between Sean Tillmann of Har Mar Superstar fame and Sabrina Ellis of the punk outfit A Giant Dog.
Widely admired as a singer/songwriter for independent projects including Calvin Krime and Sean Na Na, Tillman is best known by his alter ego: pop and contemporary-R&B performer Har Mar Superstar. In addition to his own headlining tours, Har Mar has opened for Ben Lee, Incubus, Tenacious D, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and has written songs for artists including The Cheetah Girls, Kelly Osbourne, and Jennifer Lopez. With his Har Mar Superstar discography ranging from 2000's eponymous album to 2016's Best Summer Ever, Tillman has also been a critics' favorite, with the River Cities Reader's Max Allison recently writing, “Though elements of the project push it closer to some kind of tongue-in-cheek parody, including the fact that he has often performed shirtless over the years and presents himself with a kind of hapless, goofy sense of cool, Tillmann has the vocal range to make comparisons to legends (James) Brown and (Otis) Redding seem only appropriate. He can ably fly through octaves as he belts out huge wailing melodies, and he knows how to push his voice to the edge where that vocal cord sizzle takes hold for some extra oomph.”
Ellis, meanwhile, founded A Giant Dog in Austin, Texas, in 2008 alongside Andrew Cashen and Orville Neeley, and was described by Bandcamp Daily as “one of Austin's most thrillingly irreverent bands.” After the release of the group's 2012 album debut Fight, A Giant Dog continued their adventurous punk stylings in 2013's Bone, 2016's Pile, 2017's Toy, and last year's Neon Bible, a full-album cover of Arcade Fire's 2007 release. While Ellis continues to perform with A Giant Dog (and, with Cashen, in the rock band Sweet Spirit), her current Heart Bones collaboration with Tillmann began in 2016 after the two became friends while touring together. Recognizing a kindred quality of over-the-top showmanship, the duo alternated visits to each other's home towns of Minneapolis (for Tillmann) and Austin (for Ellis) throughout 2018, working on original material inspired by some of their favorite classic duos: Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazelwood; Sam & Dave; Sonny & Cher. Their current national tour celebrates the February 21 release of Heart Bones' album debut Hot Dish, an 11-track recording that inspired musician/author Tim Kinsella to rave, “Beginning to end, the arrangements of Hot Dish reinforce [a] blending of shaded and contradictory moods by balancing different eras of pop music with intentionality and attention to detail that makes it all feel historically inevitable: something truly New, achieved by the skillful means of combining Familiar elements we all already love.”
Heart Bones plays its East Moline engagament on February 29, admission to the 7 p.m. concert is $12, and more information and tickets are available by visiting TheRustBeltQC.com.
