STILL BEATING: The Heart Pills and Meridene Reunite and Say Goodbye
2010s indie rockers plan formal farewell April 5
Give or take seven years ago, The Heart Pills – one of the last true originals in the Eau Claire indie rock scene of the early 2010s – called it quits. Unceremoniously at that. A quiet exit. One of those things where you play your last show, but you don’t necessarily know it’s your last show.
“We kinda faded away,” says Josh Ingersoll, the driving force behind the band and its main songwriter. “It felt unfinished, you know? It wasn’t a very satisfying end to things.”
For a good chunk of time, they crafted a singular catalog of country-punk story songs and whittled out their own weird little slice of Eau Claire music history. And now The Heart Pills – Ingersoll, Sarah Bodeau, Silas Thompson, and Matt Haapala – are coming back for one night only to close the book.
It’s Friday, April 5, at The Brickhouse. And it’s actually a double dose of nostalgic Eau Claire rock – a twin reunion for both The Heart Pills and indie greats Meridene, who haven’t performed since the closing of the House of Rock in 2017. As fate will have it, that’s two era-defining Eau Claire bands converging for a special one-off show with the Oshkosh band The Traveling Suitcase (who themselves have recently come back after a time away). “A final shebang,” Ingersoll called it.
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I have a $100 guitar, a $100 drum set, a free organ, $50 amps. And I’m gonna play this piece of garbage – literal garbage. Being too cool was at its peak when we were around. That’s what we were pushing against.
JOSH INGERSOLL
the heart pills
Right now for The Heart Pills, it’s the reunion before the reunion. Rehearsals for the show have been good, even as years go on and life spreads out as it does. Bodeau started a family, Thompson co-owns a winery in Minnesota, Haapala joined other bands (Pit Wagon and Janakey), while Ingersoll is likewise with Pit Wagon and the electro-punk duo Astronotever.
At their height – there were many heights – The Heart Pills were always misfits. Totally fearless. Playful, theatrical, crass, silly, dark, sad, fun as hell. Ingersoll used a filing cabinet filled with junk as a percussion instrument. They had a combo organ with rainbow lights and speakers set in a chunk of plywood to look like a face with little keyboard teeth. He played his guitar with a hacksaw. As a band, they were fully committed to being unapologetically different from the hairdos and cool guys in music those days.
“I have a $100 guitar, a $100 drum set, a free organ, $50 amps. And I’m gonna play this piece of garbage – literal garbage,” Ingersoll said. “Being too cool was at its peak when we were around. That’s what we were pushing against.”
Their songs are full of cowboys and drunks, unlikely heroes, tragic figures, aliens, and mermaids. Ingersoll wrote and recorded an entire 11-minute radio play as the second-to-last track on their second album. At shows, they’d dramatically recite cringe “Missed Connections” from Craigslist over a heavy bass riff. One time at a college gig in Stevens Point, Ingersoll unknowingly read a Missed Connection to a couple at the show that got together because of it.
They got to open for Bernie Sanders at Zorn Arena during his 2016 presidential run with about 12 hours' notice. PHOX was supposed to play that show in Stevens Point, but had to cancel at the last minute – so The Heart Pills got the spot (which makes the Missed Connection thing even crazier). Same thing happened with Halloween, Alaska a different time. “We used to joke we were the best backup band in Eau Claire,” Ingersoll said.
Tons of great memories, great shows, and great times. But unfinished business is unfinished business. And reconnecting, even if it’s fleeting, can be a powerful and special thing. A satisfying conclusion to a story without a real ending.
“It was lovely,” Ingersoll said. “You know the people who came really wanted to be there. It’s like an inside joke that everybody was a part of.”
Catch The Heart Pills, Meridene, and The Traveling Suitcase on April 5 at The Brickhouse (2233 Birch St., Eau Claire). Tickets are available at volumeonetickets.org.
