Kerosene Heights Find Hope in the Wreckage for New Album

Kerosene Heights Find Hope in the Wreckage with ‘Blame It On The Weather’

For Asheville’s Kerosene Heights, the new album, Blame It On The Weather, out August 15th on Side One Dummy Records. The Sophomore album is more than a vinyl of songs—it’s a document of survival. Born from a period of intense transition and set against the backdrop of a literal storm, the band’s second full-length captures the chaotic, messy, and ultimately hopeful nature of rebuilding when everything has been washed away.

The album’s central theme was violently thrust upon the band by Hurricane Helene, which tore through their home state of North Carolina in September of 2024, leaving a historic trail of devastation. The event, which became the deadliest and costliest natural disaster in the state’s modern history, became an unavoidable metaphor for the Asheville emo/punk outfit.

“It was a theme that came up on its own,” explains vocalist and guitarist Chance Smith. “There’s a lot of things based on transition and change, as well as talk about the weather specifically. That’s been an omnipresent thing in our lives with the hurricane, and it felt like it fit the mood and the throughline of the record.”

That sense of transition was already in the air for the band. Following their 2023 debut, Southeast Of Somewhere, came last year’s pivotal four-track EP, Leaving. The release not only closed one chapter but also introduced the propulsive drumming of new member Benji Bennis, solidifying a lineup with Smith, guitarist Justin Franklin, and bassist Elle Thompson.

“Leaving felt like the beginning of the era that we’re in right now as a band,” says Smith, “and this feels like the record we’ve all been wanting to put out since the band got started.”

To capture their refined and newly energized chemistry, the band traveled to Queens, NY, to record with producer Billy Mannino (Oso Oso, Prince Daddy & The Hyena, Macseal). The result is a sound that is both precise and explosive, a controlled chaos that mirrors the album’s lyrical themes. The free-flowing collaboration is evident from the hopelessly romantic pain of opener “Sunsetting” to the boisterous, renewed hope of the closing title track.

“This has been a more kind of collaborative project,” adds Franklin, “and it’s been great seeing what each person is able to bring to the table.”

The album thrives in the space between emotional extremes, what the band calls a “ragged euphoria.” It’s a sound that will resonate with fans of the raw, twinkling energy of the 5th wave emo revival, finding comfort in despair and catharsis in the wreckage. It is, at its core, a profoundly human record.

“I think what Chance does really well,” says bassist Elle Thompson, “is write songs in the same way that humanity is writing songs—the highs and lows of relationships, losing people, the way things change.”

Despite the darkness that inspired it, Blame It On The Weather is ultimately an album about resilience. It acknowledges the pain of being thrown to the floor but finds its purpose in picking you back up.

“We like to say that our band is about how love wins,” Smith concludes. “Ultimately, I always want a positive throughline on our records—the sense that things can get better—because they do tend to do that. And I hope people feel comforted and not alone in their bad feelings when they listen to this.”

Hear the latest from Kerosene Heights new album ‘Blame It On The Weather’ and their new single ‘New Tattoo‘ on Racketeer Radio KFQX.