St. Paul hip-hop heavies Heiruspecs end their hiatus

Band set to jam once again with new album

Comments (0) By Andrea Swensson Wednesday, Dec 3 2008

...continued from page 4

"I think part of what's kept us together for so long has been changing the pace fairly often," Felix says. "There have been times when we were very part-time, and there have been times when we've been full blitz, on tour, always together."

"We're all in a place right now where we know what we want, as a band, both with the music and just with our personal lives," says Peterson.

Nick Vlcek

Heiruspecs: drummer Peter Leggett, MC Muad'dib, MC Felix, guitarist Josh Peterson, bassist Sean McPherson, keyboard player deVon Gray

Enrico Fuente, top; courtesy of Heiruspecs, bottom

The current lineup of Heiruspecs performing this year (top) and back in 2002 (bottom)

More About

"They've done this business so realistically," observes Freeberg, their Central High School teacher. "And they've done it so well. They've done it in a way where they've not only been able to support themselves and do what they want to do, but they've stayed sane."

"If any young musicians are looking to last in the music industry, they need only to look to them to see what it takes to weather those storms and stick around," says Devaney. "And it does take going through a few disasters, and being on the verge of breaking up and alienating friends, and then taking a step back and taking a break, and relearning how to be a band."

"I've seen the ups and downs and the moments where they were asking themselves if they could keep going," says Steve McPherson. "But instead of ever really answering that question, they've just kept going, and that's huge. They're now sustainable. In terms of how often they play and how much they record and the music they're making, Heiruspecs could keep going like this for, well, forever."

HEIRUSPECS will play a CD-release show with Mayda, Big Quarters, and DJ Anton on SATURDAY, DECEMBER 13, at FIRST AVENUE; 612.332.1775