Urban Heat

Urban Heat are a 3-piece American post-punk band from Austin, TX. The band formed in 2019 when multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Jonathan Horstmann enlisted Kevin Naquin and Paxel Foley to form a live show based on his analog sound design. The result fuses dark 80’s stylings with modern flourishes, with Horstmann’s throaty baritone delivering musings on existence and romanticism against an unrelenting industrial gothic pulse. Their live show is undeniably energetic and engaging, earning them slots at Austin’s Levitation and Seattle’s Freakout Fest in 2021. They released 6 singles between 2019 and 2022 and while the pandemic saw their SXSW 2020 performance canceled, they returned in 2022 as official artists.

2022 brought exponential growth to the band. Their single “Have You Ever” had a viral moment on TikTok and was viewed over a million times. Atomic Music Group took Urban Heat on for North American booking and in the fall they completed a national headlining tour. They were selected as Sonic Guild grant recipients and were featured as KUTX 98.9’s Artist of the Month for July. The band played the Austin City Limits festival in October and in Jan 2023 was nominated for Band of the Year and Song of the Year in the Austin Music Awards. In March 2023 Urban Heat joined Vision Video as direct support for a 3-week tour that took them to the East Coast and Canada. In May 2023 Urban Heat will be playing Cruel World Fest in Pasadena California, joining a lineup that includes Siouxsie, Iggy Pop, Gary Numan, and other genre icons.

“A lightning rod of dark electro/proto-punk/new wave/synth wave/part goth/part industrial sound that is all the things but… simultaneously transcending them into something fresher.” – Laurie Gallardo, KUTX 98.9