NYC's Heavy Halo hits Valley Bar on Thursday

If you’ve ever wondered what it looks like in the inbox of a music writer’s email, it’s a scary place. PR people are rad, for the most part, in the musical world I inhabit, but I get a ton of stuff sent to me, and over half of it is regarding bands I have never heard of. Because of this, I end up taking a lot of chances when a name catches my eye or a snippet from the message content piques my interest.

About a month ago, I got something from a PR person whose taste I respect and decided to give a band completely unknown to me a shot. Music fans know the feeling of curious trepidation that coincides with pressing play on something new. Will it be great? Maybe just okay?

Or will it suck?

New York City’s Heavy Halo definitely don’t suck and are coming through Phoenix on Thursday, April 16. The band is playing the Valley Bar with Light Asylum, Die Sexual, and Devora at 7 p.m. While the two-piece noise/goth/industrial/new wave band is opening this show (so get there early), it’s probably the last time they are in the first slot for a show like this.

When I pushed play on Heavy Halo’s latest record, 2025’s Damaged Dream, I was more than pleasantly surprised. It’s dark and heavy with some good hooks and songwriting chops. Singer/guitarist McKeever can really sing, too, so it’s easy to enjoy what he and his bandmate, who goes by gosteffects (who handles the bulk of the synths, drum programming, etc), are cranking out from the NYC apartment they share when not out on the road.

For an old dude like myself, I hear influences like Nine Inch Nails, Depeche Mode, and New Order in Heavy Halo, and those are all bands I like, so it’s nice to know some younger dudes are carrying on the lofty tradition of such important predecessors.

After talking with McKeever before the band did a soundcheck in Portland, Oregon recently while opening for My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult (who they are supporting on a lengthy jaunt at the moment with Phoenix being a rare off night for that lineup), I was equally impressed with how down to earth the musician seems to be and the sense of humor he has about being compared to scene legends.

“I read some article that we sounded like Depeche Mode but just with the gain turned up,” says McKeever with a notable hint of enjoyment in his voice, but he went on to say:

“There’s no sound that’s really off-limits for us... It’s just like kind of united by the emotion and the songwriting more than like, ‘Oh, we have to be this particular genre.’”

Damaged Dream has a little something for those who like a harder, crustier edge to their industrial/goth/synth mix, but also, as mentioned, has the hooks and melody that only come from songwriters with a great sensibility for their craft.

McKeever studied jazz guitar and classical voice while attending Columbia University in New York City, as well as English Literature and Composition, so the guy knows his way around a song. He and Gosteffects clicked after meeting through the music scene, and while they are open to other collaborators, it couldn’t be just anyone who comes up after a gig and says, ‘Hey, I could be your (drummer, bassist, backup singer…fill in the blank…

“We’re kind of like brothers, you know, we live together, we’re like best friends... we don’t want just like a hired gun kind of deal, so you know it’s just, it’s tricky, you know, you sort of gotta find the right person,” says McKeever.

The band is currently also working on a new record, which will be the third record in a trilogy that started with 2022’s Crushed/Destroyed.

“I sort of view it as a trilogy... kind of like Dante’s, the first one’s sort of hell, second one’s purgatory, and the third one’s not really paradise, but I think it has more moments of like hope contrasted with despair,” says McKeever.

The band is excited to meet people on their stop in Phoenix, so make a point of hitting the show, saying hello, and getting a chance to say, “Hey, I saw those guys at the Valley Bar in ‘26” to impress your friends one day soon.

Hunt ‘em down on the ‘Gram or Spotify.