Los Angeles
True Rock-and-Roll Heartbreakers

“We’ve spent the last couple of years just getting ready for these moments,” The Shelters’ Josh Jove says while on the way to a show in Minneapolis. Jove, along with the rest of the Los Angeles-based quartet, are not-so-quietly making their rock-and-roll declaration with their self-titled debut record for Warner Bros., co-produced by Tom Petty. “We appreciate the hell out of him,” Jove says. Chase Simpson agrees, adding that there are “too many” Petty stories to possibly single one out. Jove does recall the time The Heartbreakers frontman wore a Shelters shirt onstage during a show at the Troubadour in Los Angeles. “He’s a great mentor for us,” Jove adds. (Members of The Shelters also popped up on Petty’s 2014 release, Hypnotic Eye.) Fitting snugly under Petty’s wing, the outfit—which also includes Sebastian Harris and Jacob Pillot—nods to classic rock’s hallmarks of soaring guitars, breezy harmonies and a loose, authentic garage-rock swagger. In addition to their own sold-out headlining shows, The Shelters have already nabbed opening slots for fellow rock torchbearers like Gary Clark Jr. and The Struts, and they will also spend a chunk of the year on the road supporting labelmates The Wild Feathers and Petty’s other outfit, Mudcrutch—as well as barnstorming the festival circuit. Simpson and his bandmates aren’t intimidated by the marquee venues they are quickly learning to play and admits, “It’s really fun playing for a really big room and then, all of a sudden, the next night you’re in a dingy, dive, grunge bar. You just turn up your amps a little more.”