It’s not often a person finds a bandmate, brother-in-law and friend on Craig’s List, much less someone who is willing to cover the tab for Chinese takeout. But for The Heavenly States’ Ted Nesseth (guitar, vocals) and Jeremy Gagon (drums), that fateful posting was the beginning of an adventure that would take them from playing basement shows in their home town of Oakland, CA, to the British Consulate’s basement in Libya and beyond.

Ted’s Oakland apartment had become a halfway house for fellow Minnesota refugees, but the nest was empty and he was looking for a roommate on Craig’s List. When Jeremy showed up to see the place, Ted and a friend had ordered Chinese food for delivery that they couldn’t pay for, so Jeremy picked up the tab. The rest was history.

It was not the likeliest of pairings, as Ted and Jeremy came from completely different worlds. Ted plays his guitar upside down and backwards because he taught himself to play on his right-handed friends’ guitars. Music was an anchor for Ted, who had been drifting and living by his wits and huge personality on the edge of the law and sobriety. Though he didn’t know much about Jeremy when he moved in, Ted was inspired by Jeremy’s drive and musicianship. Jeremy is a multi-instrumentalist who grew up in an offbeat, highly edited version of the "military family" in Virginia and Georgia with his sister and bandmate, Genevieve Gagon.

After a renaming and some line-up changes, The Heavenly States’ core formula was finally solidified, with Genevieve sharing lyrical duties with Ted and lending her violin and keyboard skills to the cause. Ted asked Gen to join the band when she had a broken leg. A month into the relationship, they wrote three solid songs together and the music kept coming. Three months in, Ted was cleaned up and the band felt they had a future.

Web site:  http://theheavenlystates.com
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/heavenlystates