Hot Ticket: Heartless Bastards at Woodward Theater, June 25 & 26

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Heartless Bastards

Photograph courtesy Big Hassle

The Heartless Bastards’ fifth full-length album, Restless Ones, deftly blends frontwoman Erika Wennerstrom’s soulful, full-throated vocals with the band’s versatile, blues-powered garage rock and a few new textural twists—like the shimmering electronic undercurrent on the lead track “Gates of Dawn.” Wennerstrom, who formed Heartless Bastards in Cincinnati a dozen years ago before relocating to Austin, Texas, has polished her reputation as a diminutive woman with a big voice and evolving songwriting skills. “I’m the least experienced musician in the band, so it’s taken me a while to learn how to communicate my ideas to them,” she says. That education will be on display when the group comes back home to celebrate its new release (out June 16) with a pair of shows at Woodward Theater on June 25 and 26. “I spent the first 30 years of my life in Ohio, so I’m inspired by the things I grew up with and nostalgic for the music I listened to,” says Wennerstrom, who credits regional bands such as the Afghan Whigs and Guided by Voices among her influences. “No matter where I am, Ohio will always be my home.”

June 25 & 26, 9 p.m., Woodward Theater, 1404 Main St., Over-the-Rhine,, (513) 345-7981, woodwardtheater.com

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