Heavy Glow Hauling Co.

It’s been over a year since Heavy Glow has played a local show. But it’s not because the psychedelic/metal trio doesn’t like to play.

“We did five tours last year,” says singer/guitarist Jared Mullins. Their next local show at the Soda Bar kicks off a tour celebrating the release of their second full-length album, Pearls and Swine and Everything Fine.

Most bands rely on selling merch to make ends meet on the road. Heavy Glow has found another way. They call it hauling.

“Some bands sell drugs or whatever to make ends meet. We’re not into that. We’ve found people who want to get something hauled from point A to point B and fold that into the money we get from that tour. We’ve hauled everything from a Porsche, somebody’s apartment [contents], tractors, lawnmowers. It ensures if we go to a place and play and nobody shows up, we won’t be in a hole financially. This way it’s sure the tour pays for itself and then some.”

Although they’ve been compared with Queens of the Stone Age and Soundgarden, Mullins says he most deeply respects the metal trio the Melvins.

“Those guys are all in their 40s and 50s. You don’t hear them on the radio, but they’ve influenced everybody. They release records the way they want to. If they have an idea, they aren’t afraid to record it.”

Pearls and Swine was coproduced by Michael Patterson (Trent Reznor, Beck, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club) and Nic Jodoin (BRMC, the Morlocks, Nightmare Air). “We recorded it at Studio 9 in Hollywood the same time BRMC was recording their album. We had to tiptoe around their gear.”

Together for six years, Heavy Glow is basically Mullins and his bassist Joe Brooks. “We go out on tour with different drummers. We’ll probably bring in a full-time drummer in the next couple of months.”

Heavy Glow appears June 4 at the Soda Bar.