Best of What's Next 2009: The Henry Clay People [Musicians]

Photo by Marcela Cussolin

Hometown: Glendale, Calif.
Album: For Cheap or For Free
Band Members: Mike Hopkins (drums), Jonathan Price (vocals, bass), Andy Siara (vocals, guitar), Joey Siara (vocals, guitar)
For Fans of: Mott the Hoople, T. Rex, Built to Spill

Brothers Joey and Andy Siara swear their band has “no affiliation with Henry Clay,” nor does it support “the obsolete platforms of the Whig Party.” But their carpe-diem lyrics and jangly, sunshine-drenched lysergic roots rock are still loads of throwback fun—glam minus the makeup, plus a dash of laidback, down-home charm. If David Bowie had grown up in Southern California, he might’ve sounded like this.

What’s Next? “It should be a smelly van ride for most of the fall,” Joey Siara says. After a string of European dates supporting the band’s sophomore album, For Cheap or For Free, and performances at artist-breaking festivals Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits, The Henry Clay People will stay on the road into November. After that, they’ll begin working on a new record. The guys also plan to finally quit their day jobs, Siara reports: “We can’t keep stringing along our already forgiving employers."

Listen to The Henry Clay Peoples' "Something In The Water" on the PasteStation.

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