The Heavy Cause Sexing

The Heavy make filthy music. It's swampy, earthy funk layered in rusted drums that sound like they've come tumbling out of hell's disco. It's shameless, sweaty, horn-splattered soul music to dance, pump fists, lay back and perhaps even engage in some sweet, smelly lovemaking to.

"We get accused of a lot of people having sex to our music," admits guitarist and founding member Dan Taylor. "People say, 'We love to have sex to your album,' so we've led a lot of people into temptation.

"But we try to close the gate on temptation when we're out and about, keep the wolf from the door. When we're touring, it's work and it's essential we try and be as disciplined as possible. It's easy to fall into traps that might not be good for you or your work."

As loose as The Heavy's burning hot Great Vengeance And Furious Fire album sounds, the British troupe take their craft pretty seriously. Taylor met lead vocalist Kelvin Swaby 10 years ago, and they combined their love of raw blues, funk and rock into what would become The Heavy.

They've been touring since the record's U.K. release last year, playing smaller clubs, festivals and with MGMT on the Playboy party tour.

"The Playboy parties were just really surreal," Taylor says with a laugh. "But you imagine something to be one way, and inevitably it's not quite as good as you thought them to be.

"They're just these big corporate events, really, the Playboy thing. Some of them were really fun, but sometimes the crowds were difficult."

That said, Taylor believes The Heavy are coming to terms with being a hard-touring musical aphrodisiac.

"There are always hiccups, as I'm learning. We're just learning along the way, making mistakes, but it's the best fun you can possibly have that's legal — and that's bordering on that sometimes. You learn to live with the weird existence and you get comfortable in your bubble and you learn to adapt to your bubble."