Logjam Presents is happy to welcome back Montana made folk band The Hasslers for a live performance at The Top Hat on Friday, April 6, 2018. The Hasslers will be joined by The Big Hornz, featuring members of Shakewell.
Since forming in 2012, The Hasslers have been called a lot of things. Genuine, hard-hitting MT folk-rock, erudite pool hall rock, folk-rockicana, and once even latin emo. What they really are is a bunch of kids from Montana with a knack for writing catchy tunes. The Hasslers are a 5-piece Folk-Rock/Americana band from Missoula, Montana, currently based out of Seattle, Washington. They have spent the past 2 years in Seattle, playing shows all around the PNW and beyond, including a recent main stage performance at Northwest Folklife Festival, a hometown opening gig for their hero, Robert Earl Keen, at Missoula’s historic Wilma Theatre, the inaugural Upstream Music Fest, and a slew of headlining shows at local venues, breweries, and local events, both big and small.
Frontman Matt Hassler grew up in Central Montana, specifically Lewistown, not to be confused with Lewiston, Idaho (a fact the band makes clear in their first single “Not in Idaho”). He began writing songs at 16, confronting themes involved with growing up in an agricultural community of the American Northwest. While attending University of Montana in Missoula, studying creative writing, Matt met with bassist and recording engineer Ben Haber and percussionist Joey Boyd, and The Hasslers were born. With the additions of guitarist Owen Thayer and keyboardist Steven Haber, the Hasslers began winning awards and attracting the attention of national touring acts right out of the gate, playing with groups like Blitzen Trapper, the Heartless Bastards, Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers, and earning a spot on the main stage of the Red Ants Pants festival in 2014, where they played alongside the likes of Merle Haggard, Jason Isbell, and Josh Ritter.
In 2015, the band moved to Seattle to dive into the big city music scene and create a touring hub, but by no means have they lost their roots. Whether you catch them main stage at a festival in the PNW or at a local MT watering whole, grab a cold one and listen close; these kids embody the kind of small town pride you can raise a glass to.