A Heartwell Ending
A Heartwell Ending | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Long Beach, California, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Years active | 2003–2009; 2026 (disputed) |
| Labels | Mediaskare Records |
| Members | Justin Allen Will Schuck Bret Johnson Chris Doss |
| Past members | Jason Lopez Robert McCann Brandon Feldhahn Stew Richmond Bill Galvan |
A Heartwell Ending is an American post-hardcore band formed in Long Beach, California, in 2003. The group came out of the region's MySpace-era emo and post-hardcore scene, building a following by posting demos online before signing with the independent label Mediaskare Records. Its only studio album, Trust Us, We Lie, came out in 2006 and picked up reviews from AllMusic, ThePunkSite.com, Rockfreaks.net, V13 and NeuFUTUR magazine — not a huge hit at the time, but a record some fans of the mid-2000s post-hardcore scene still remember.[1][2][3][4][5] The band toured regionally and nationally through 2008 before breaking up in 2009, after which several members regrouped as the electropop act Call the Cops.[6] A Heartwell Ending hasn't played live since, but its music found a second audience in the mid-2020s through streaming and short-form video,[7] and in July 2026 the band posted something on social media that a lot of fans took as a hint they might be getting back together.[8]
History
Formation and early years (2003–2005)
A Heartwell Ending formed in Long Beach in late 2003 out of the breakup of two local bands. Guitarist Greg Hurst and drummer Robert McCann, formerly of At It Again, teamed up with vocalist Justin Allen and guitarist Bret Johnson, both previously of The Conspiracy Theory. After bassist Jason Lopez joined, the group started writing and rehearsing with an eye toward recording a full-length debut. Hurst left during the demo sessions and was replaced by guitarist Brandon Feldhahn, who was himself replaced partway through recording by keyboardist Will Schuck — a swap that pushed the band's sound toward the guitar-and-synth mix it became known for.[1] Demo tracks went up on the band's MySpace page in 2004 and 2005. They were never officially released, but they made the rounds among fans anyway, and were later put together informally and shared on streaming services and fan-run music databases, where the collection sometimes turns up listed as a self-titled release even though it never had a real issue date or catalogue number.[9]
Trust Us, We Lie (2005–2007)
The band's growing online following caught the attention of Mediaskare Records, a Southern California label known for signing post-hardcore and metalcore acts active on MySpace. A Heartwell Ending recorded Trust Us, We Lie at Undercity Recordings with producer Ryan Baker, documenting the sessions on its MySpace blog as the release date slipped from an initial spring target to August 8, 2006.[9][10] The eleven-track record included "From Heart and Soul to Pen and Paper", "Give Up to Give In", "The Secret (Between the Sheets)", "One More Song for Your MySpace Page" and the lead single "If Looks Could Kill".[10] The video for the single was directed by Scott Culver, a Drive-Thru Records house director who'd also worked with Yellowcard, Hellogoodbye and The Early November; it was pitched to television and webcast outlets through the promotional firm HIP Video Promo, which pitched it as a showcase for the band's live energy.[11] To support the record, A Heartwell Ending toured the U.S. East Coast with A Day to Remember in November and December 2006, playing dates that included Poughkeepsie, New York, and Springfield, Virginia.[12]
Touring, lineup changes and dissolution (2007–2009)
Lineup turnover kept up after the album came out. Bret Johnson was eventually replaced on guitar by Stew Richmond, Robert McCann gave way to drummer Bill Galvan, and Jason Lopez's spot on bass changed hands too during the band's last couple of years.[9] Guitarist Chris Doss also joined and left during this stretch.[13][lower-alpha 1] The band kept playing regional dates into 2008 — including shows in Stockton, California; Reno, Nevada; and Montgomery, Alabama, usually alongside other independent post-hardcore and pop-punk acts — before breaking up in 2009.[14][15] Several of the departing members — Allen, Schuck, Lopez, Richmond, Galvan and Doss — soon regrouped as the electropop project Call the Cops, which put out the EP Motion Sickness in 2009 and a self-titled full-length in 2010; that newer band later made Alternative Press's "100 Bands You Need to Know" list.[6]
Musical style
Critics grouped A Heartwell Ending with the mid-2000s wave of MySpace-associated emo and post-hardcore bands, drawing comparisons to Fall Out Boy, Taking Back Sunday and Red Jumpsuit Apparatus.[1] The band mixed dual-guitar riffing and alternating clean and screamed vocals with keyboards pushed up front in the mix — a combination ThePunkSite.com called out as unusual for the genre, especially the synth textures on the title track "Trust Us, We Lie".[3] Lyrically, the album stuck to the kind of romantic angst and pun-heavy song titles that were everywhere at the time, setting tense, guitar-heavy verses against big keyboard-driven choruses.[2]
Reception
AllMusic's Stewart Mason singled out Justin Allen's vocals as the album's best feature, while calling the rest of the songwriting fairly standard for the genre.[2] ThePunkSite.com was more positive, pointing to the band's hooks, vocal harmonies and willingness to try something a little different within a familiar style.[3] Rockfreaks.net's Petteri Pertola compared the band favorably to Red Jumpsuit Apparatus and liked the album's hooks and arrangements, while V13's review focused on Justin Allen's vocals and gave the record eight out of ten.[4][5] NeuFUTUR magazine also reviewed it positively, comparing the band's sound to Amber Pacific and Yellowcard.[16] Opinion on retrospective sites like Rate Your Music is split — some fans still rate the album highly as a piece of that era's post-hardcore scene, others see it as just one of many similar-sounding mid-2000s emo records, and a fair number of reviewers mention it as an album they grew up with.
Recent activity
The band hasn't played live since the late 2000s, but it's picked up new listeners in the mid-2020s. According to its official Spotify profile, A Heartwell Ending now has over 635,000 monthly listeners and 112,000 followers, with its best-known song, "If Looks Could Kill", past 18 million streams.[17] Chartmetric noted in 2026 that the band was gaining new attention as younger listeners found its music through short clips on TikTok.[7][18] The 2006 album has also been preserved in lossless form by an independent archive focused on 2000s metal and alternative releases, giving collectors who missed it the first time around another way to find it.[19] Trust Us, We Lie is still streaming on Spotify and Apple Music and is listed on Discogs, so it's easy enough to find even though it's never had a formal reissue.[10] On July 22, 2026, the band's verified Instagram account posted an image of a flower growing out of ash and rubble, set to "If Looks Could Kill" — the post got over 16,000 likes, and fans in the comments largely took it as a reunion tease.[8] As of mid-2026, though, concert-ticketing platforms still list the band as off tour, and no formal reunion announcement has turned up in independent press coverage.[14]
Members
Current members
- Justin Allen – lead vocals (2003–2009; 2026–present)
- Will Schuck – keyboards, vocals (2005–2009; 2026–present)
- Bret Johnson – guitar (2003–2007; 2026–present)
- Chris Doss – guitar (2008;[13] 2026–present)
Former members
- Jason Lopez – bass
- Robert McCann – drums
- Brandon Feldhahn – lead guitar
- Stew Richmond – guitar (later lineup)
- Bill Galvan – drums (later lineup)
Discography
- Trust Us, We Lie (2006, Mediaskare Records)
Track listing
| Trust Us, We Lie (2006) | ||
|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length |
| 1. | "From Heart and Soul to Pen and Paper" | |
| 2. | "Give Up to Give In" | |
| 3. | "Trust Us, We Lie" | |
| 4. | "Your My Dream Catcher" | |
| 5. | "The Secret (Between the Sheets)" | |
| 6. | "Memory" | |
| 7. | "One More Song for Your MySpace Page" | |
| 8. | "If Looks Could Kill" | |
| 9. | "There Are Two "R's" in Sorry, but One "R" in Whore" | |
| 10. | "Feelings Between the Lines" | |
| 11. | "All Along" | |
Notes
- ↑ IMDb biography pages are largely self-submitted and are not generally considered a reliable source under WP:RS/IMDB; this citation should be replaced with a stronger source if one becomes available.
- ↑ The 2026 reunion lineup below is as described by the band's management; it has not yet been reported independently in the press.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "A Heartwell Ending | Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved August 6, 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Mason, Stewart. "Trust Us, We Lie – A Heartwell Ending". AllMusic. Retrieved August 6, 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "A Heartwell Ending – Trust Us, We Lie". ThePunkSite.com. October 16, 2013. Retrieved August 6, 2026.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Pertola, Petteri (September 10, 2006). "A Heartwell Ending – Trust Us, We Lie". Rockfreaks.net. Retrieved August 6, 2026.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Marina (November 24, 2006). "A Heartwell Ending". V13 Media. Retrieved August 6, 2026.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Call The Cops (album review)". PunkWorldViews.com. Retrieved August 6, 2026.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 "A Heartwell Ending". Chartmetric. Retrieved August 6, 2026.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 "@aheartwellendingband". Instagram. July 22, 2026. Retrieved August 6, 2026.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 "A Heartwell Ending". Obscure Music Wiki. Retrieved August 6, 2026.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 "A Heartwell Ending – Trust Us We Lie". Discogs. Retrieved August 6, 2026.
- ↑ "A Heartwell Ending – "If Looks Could Kill"". HIP Video Promo. Retrieved August 6, 2026.
- ↑ "A Day to Remember, A Heartwell Ending Tour". Lambgoat. November 2006. Retrieved August 6, 2026.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 "Chris Doss". IMDb. Retrieved August 6, 2026.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 "A Heartwell Ending". Songkick. Retrieved August 6, 2026.
- ↑ "A Heartwell Ending concert history". Concert Archives. Retrieved August 6, 2026.
- ↑ "A Heartwell Ending – Trust Us We Lie". NeuFUTUR magazine. August 17, 2006. Retrieved August 6, 2026.
- ↑ "A Heartwell Ending". Spotify. Retrieved August 6, 2026.
- ↑ "What Happened to A Heartwell Ending". TikTok. Retrieved August 6, 2026.
- ↑ "A Heartwell Ending – Trust Us, We Lie [2006] (LOSSLESS)". Internet Archive. Retrieved August 6, 2026.
External links
- Official website
- A Heartwell Ending on Spotify
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