Blue Skies for Black Hearts is a Portland, Oregon band that originated as a solo project for native musician/producer/engineer Pat Kearns. Upon the release of This Black Heart is Gonna Break in 2002, Kearns assembled a band to promote the record. While looking for musicians, he responded to a classified ad posted by Lewis looking for a guitarist for his band, The Very Foundation. Kearns turned the tables and talked Lewis into joining his project and the two began a decade-plus-long collaboration that continues to this day. The band's current lineup consists of Kearns (guitar, lead vocals), Lewis (lead guitar, vocals), Jason Russell (drums), Grant Law (bass, vocals) and Mark Breitenbach (keyboards, vocals). After the release of Love is Not Enough (2006), the performing lineup stabilized with regular US touring. This lineup, with Kelly Simmons on bass and Paul Noel on drums, recorded Serenades and Hand Grenades (2008) and Embracing the Modern Age (2011). The band is set to release their melody-driven, harmony-laden, self-titled sixth studio LP in spring 2014, with Law and Russell forming a new rhythm section as well as the full time addition of Breitenbach on keys. Blue Skies' evolution from a one-man studio project with guest musicians into a steadily recording and touring five-piece has led to the band opening for Fitz and the Tantrums, Frightened Rabbit, Rogue Wave, Of Montreal, Clairy Browne and the Bangin' Rackettes, Quasi, and the Minus 5. Over the band's history, they have torn through Austin for SxSW in 2008 and 2010, have been featured on Daytrotter and NPR, and have had their music on The Today Show, the web's longest running sitcom Something To Be Desired, and HBO's East Bound and Down. Kearns' songwriting and background as a producer and engineer (most notably on The Exploding Hearts much lauded debut LP Guitar Romantic) has earned the band consistent praise from critics. Seattle Weekly stated that the band "is known for its quality song writing." The band's sound incorporates power pop, mod, and 1960's soul and do wop influences into a style that has been described as "John Lennon and Brian Wilson as one artist," by the Norfolk Daily News. Journalists have cited the influences of such acts as Buddy Holly, early Beatles work, the Kinks and Hollies. West Coast Performer stated, "the band seems to be seeking that often elusive moment when a song changes their perspective, scratches that deep down itch, and becomes an instant classic." Caroline Evans of NPR said, "Kearns makes no attempt to hide his love of classic music, winking playfully to anyone familiar with the history of rock music of the last forty years." Kearns cites his heavy debts to the work of Badfinger, Big Star, Teenage Fanclub, Wilco and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Kearns decided to self -title the band's sixth LP because, "it's the best sound and best songs of anything we have done to date. This new lineup achieved the sound I aimed for when I started this thing thirteen years ago."