- Local
- Community
- Journalism
Support the independent voice of Dallas and help keep the future of Dallas Observer free.
So a couple weeks ago we promised a Covering Tracks exclusive from a member of Deep Ellum royalty. Delivering on that promise is Casey Hess, who was an integral part of the '90s Dallas music scene with Doosu and went on to melt faces with Toadies offshoot Burden Brothers.
Hess is currently working on a solo record that promises to be decidedly less riff-heavy than his previous work and current band Descender. As he's been culling material for the project, a cover has been popping up in his live sets that Hess agreed to record for us.
"The Last Beat of My Heart" was the final single from Siouxsie and the Banshees' 1988 album Peepshow, a mournful ballad featuring Siouxsie Sioux's understated vocals, swelling strings and a lone accordion. Hess' version, self-recorded with mixing from David Castell, is nicely updated with churning guitars, subtle harmonies and a sneaky low end.
Really quite gorgeous. It might seem an unlikely cover, but as Hess explains, "I used to listen to Siouxsie and the Banshees when I was in middle school, messing with the guitar, reading Dragonlance novels and drawing pictures of naked women." Sounds like a perfect childhood.
Check out Hess doing his solo thing this Thursday at The Free Man. The show starts at 10 p.m. and there's no cover.
Keep the Dallas Observer Free... Since we started the Dallas Observer, it has been defined as the free, independent voice of Dallas, and we would like to keep it that way. Offering our readers free access to incisive coverage of local news, food and culture. Producing stories on everything from political scandals to the hottest new bands, with gutsy reporting, stylish writing, and staffers who've won everything from the Society of Professional Journalists' Sigma Delta Chi feature-writing award to the Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism. But with local journalism's existence under siege and advertising revenue setbacks having a larger impact, it is important now more than ever for us to rally support behind funding our local journalism. You can help by participating in our "I Support" membership program, allowing us to keep covering Dallas with no paywalls.