My American Heart: Dirty Boys Get Clean
Tuesday January 03, 2006 @ 06:00 PM
By: ChartAttack.com Staff


With four North American tours (including the wildly successful Taste Of Chaos and Warped traveling festivals) under their studded belts, one would expect the boys of San Diego's My American Heart to act older than their years. Since the oldest member of the five-piece isn't even of legal drinking age, it's hard to take them seriously Ñ until you've heard their debut album, The Meaning In Makeup.

In a scene oversaturated by 30-somethings clinging to their youth in an attempt to relate to their sullen teen fan base, My American Heart are a breath of fresh air. They're the same age as the kids listening, which endears them to their peers and makes their cathartic lyrics more believable. As opposed to whining about how much life sucks, MAH are trying to spread the good word.

"What The Meaning In Makeup is about is how society is heavily based on looks," says guitarist Jesse Barrera. "We're all about real people, and it represents everything we feel about being real and true, you know?

"Not lying, not putting makeup on just to impress people. Be yourself, be true, be honest."

It's that motto that's garnered the group an ever-growing list of famous friends, including Thursday singer Geoff Rickley, who liked their material so much that he offered to collaborate on "Takeover." Rickley recorded the track in a New Jersey studio with MAH vocalist Larry Soliman and producer Sal Villanueva (who also produced the Thursday albums Full Collapse and War All The Time).

"We are so stoked on it," Barrera gushes. "He's such an awesome guy.

"Like, he's so down-to-earth. He's so not rock star. That's what's awesome about the guys in Thursday. You can go up and talk to them and not be scared. They're such cool guys. We're still amazed."

It's easy to be a little star-struck while touring with some of the biggest names in hardcore music, but My American Heart are all too aware of what it's like to be on the other side of the stage barricades. "We're always friendly to all the fans, you know, not rock star towards anyone," emphasizes Barrera.

"We have a really good relationship with the fans. It's very important when you're in a band to be good to your fans. There are so many people who think, 'I'm in a band. I rock. I can be a jerk and not talk to my fans.'

"Especially on Warped Tour. There are too many bands who stay in their buses the whole time. We were out all day, every day, with signs, working the lines, trying to get our name out there and being nice to everyone. That's the kind of guys we are, you know? Our moms raised us well. We're good boys."

The band members have been playing together for years under one name or another. Originally called No Way Out, the group (consisting of Barrera, Soliman, guitarist Jeremy Mendez, bassist Dustin Hook and drummer Steve Oira) started out by covering songs by Rufio and Thrice. "We were a pop-punk band," Barrera confesses.

"We hadn't really discovered our sound. It took us a while. We had to experiment. You know, try different things. We had our pop stage, then we had our little hardcore stage. Then we decided we needed to find a real sound that we'd stick to. On The Meaning In Makeup, we used the sound that we think suits us best."

Amid all their hard work, My American Heart still have a playful side. One of the tracks on The Meaning In Makeup is called "How Dirty Boys Get Clean." "The song is about a break-up," Barrera explains, "but we didn't know what to call it.

"It's on the Axe commercial. It's an Axe quote. We were all, 'Hey, let's throw that in somewhere to be awesome.'"

ÑAllegra Shepherd