If you’ve heard the name Theo Katzman recently, you probably know him as the singing drummer and guitarist in the funk band Vulfpeck. But with his upcoming 2017 release, Heartbreak Hits, now officially set to release on January 6, Katzman will return to his roots as a rock and roll inspired singer/songwriter with a ten-track collection of musings on loss and letdown.
“Heartbreak Hits is basically a concept album about heartbreak,” Theo told us in an interview last month. “It was my first time really feeling that in my life, and it was these multiple things. There was the heartbreak of the relationship, but there was also losing my dad, and my dreams of being this particular success of a writer-producer guy, and all these circumstances, so I really feel like I got somewhere with the record. I don’t want that to sound like a sob story, but who knows? Maybe it will, but the point is, I did have a bunch of personal struggle that went into these songs. I also kind of found a way to make them fun. I can’t totally explain it. There’s some stuff on it that is the deepest I’ve ever gotten towards expressing some of my dark feelings, and then there’s also some stuff where I’m just straight up laughing at some of my dark feelings, and there’s some stuff where I’m being really sarcastic about them. There’s some stuff where I’m totally serious and sincere, and I just feel really loving about it. It’s pretty manic in a great way, I think, and it’s all rock & roll to me.”
Today, he releases the album’s second official studio recording called “My Heart Is Dead,” following last month’s “Hard Work.” Listen to the new track below:
“I’m excited for people to hear it,” Theo explains. “It’s a combination of real life meets songwriting, which is to say it’s not like it’s an auto-biographical record. It’s more like my experience channeled into song craft, where I thought… “What could that be? It’s a murder mystery. Oh! There we go!” Then I wrote that. That’s one of the songs on the record, “My Heart is Dead.” I think it’s rad, it’s rock, it’s just like, “ahhhhhh!!”, in a cool way. But it’s also fun and creative!” Read the full interview here.
In the words of producer Tyler Duncan, “it’s somehow a living dichotomy of tragic/comedic, serious/satirical, over-the-top/subtle, healing/hurting, and I love it.” Heartbreak Hits is currently available for pre-order on Theo Katzman’s Kickstarter. The album includes fellow Vulfpeck members Joe Dart and Woody Goss, among other incredible musicians. From what we’ve heard so far, this is a side of Theo that we look forward to learning more about.