Today we’d like to introduce you to Taylor Cotton.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Heffner started as a songwriting project for myself and Reagan Byrd. We went to high school together in Kennesaw and linked back up in college at UGA, moved in together and quickly started writing songs. We worked in the same restaurant as Athens music scene ver Mckendrick Bearden, so we asked him to join on bass. Twins Lars and Will Hefner moved to Athens from Mississippi in 2018 and are a guitar player/drummer package deal so they rounded our the lineup and ended up being the namesake as well.
Athens, Ga’s Heffner works with a speed and urgency of a young band but with a sense of lyrical wisdom and musical breadth of a much more seasoned group. With all the forcefulness and immediacy of 21st-century power pop, classically aggressive post-punk, and even sections of ’70s glam, Heffner’s brand of pop is still expansive enough to include occasional sections of remarkably tender sentiments lain against thoughtfully pastoral backgrounds. Now barely three years old, five-piece Heffner doesn’t wear its influences on its sleeve but subsumes them into its DNA. Nothing about Heffner is obvious but, by the same turn, there’s a familiarity in the band’s work that speaks the common language of rock fans in this new, tumultuous age. Their debut self-titled record, released in Fall 2021, saw them through new opportunities with the likes of Futurebirds, Coin and Modern Skirts. Now on the cusp of releasing their sophomore album, Perfect Heaven, Heffner is primed to conquer bigger stages as Athens’ newest and most deserving sweethearts.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
We were picking up a ton of steam when the pandemic happened, booking lots of shows and spreading the Heffner gospel but it all came to a screeching halt in March 2020. It ended up being an okay thing for us as a band though, as it gave us the time to write and record our second record, ‘Perfect Heaven’ due in August 2022.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Heffner is a group of the closest friends you’ll find and that’s what we are most proud of. It’s what has led us to success in the studio and on stage. We all come from really unique musical backgrounds and I think you can hear that in the variety of songs we like to make.
So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
What matters most to us is freedom of expression. We love the idea that we can make anything we want, from punk rock to R&B and it will still inevitably sound like Heffner.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.linktree.com/heffnerband
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/unofficial_heffner_fans?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
- Youtube: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCnWBYpgbL3fKQ_R_jBAkd8g/about
Image Credits
First (Marquis) photo by Garrett Cardoso
Second and third (trash) photos by Stephen Payne
