Orchestrated by Alfred Howard, members of Podunk Nowhere and the Heavy Guilt merged in early 2011, to form the gritty Americana band Black Sands. The group includes Howard along with Heather Marie Janiga and Johnny Janiga (Podunk Nowhere), Jenny Merullo (the Heavy Guilt, French Kiss Koma), Tim Felten (the Fire Eaters, Stevie and the Hi-Stax, Genius of Soul), David Lowie (Mudgrass), Josh Rice (the Heavy Guilt), and Jon Bleyer.

Heather Marie Janiga describes them as “a band which embodies the brooding poetry of love and its opposite, and a soundscape that takes ambient new roads through Americana.” In August 2012, the band won Best Rock Album at the San Diego Music Awards.