Aaron Utterback, the band’s bassist and lyricist, thought he had arrived seven years prior. His Charleston-based band, Human Resources, was attracting crowds in New York City with the release of its third album, Champagne. Nissan used one of its tracks in a car commercial, and clothing company Hollister included it on playlists. After observing another increase in their streaming stats, band members realized that a fabric store was playing their music nationally. “We purchased a van and hired a booking agent,” Utterback recalls.
Human Resources toured for a year, recorded the majority of a new album, and planned a release show for its debut single on March 19, 2020—COVID, Day One. The show was cancelled. The band wrote new songs, polished the record, and planned another gig. That date coincided with the second wave of the virus and was once again canceled. “We just got dive-bombed by COVID,” says Utterback.
Human Resources’ four members had performed together since high school in Charlotte, North Carolina, and later at Appalachian State until moving to Charleston in 2014. They went all in, ditching their jam band roots in favor of bleached blonde hair, Canadian tuxedos, and a Daft Punk-inspired sound devoid of noodling guitar solos. “We said, ‘We’re going to party harder than everybody, no holds barred, and be impossible to ignore,'” Utterback recalls of the band’s early days as a fixture in Charleston’s independent scene.
When gigs dried up in 2020, everyone needed money. Utterback increased his digital design work, guitarist Dries Vandenberg pursued a videography profession, and keyboardist Paul Chelmis expanded his photography and cinematography business. The band’s secret weapon has always been drummer Matt Zutell and his recording studio, Coast Records. “We never had a formal hiatus, but we weren’t young enough to wait it out,” Utterback tells me. “When you enter COVID at 29 and leave at 32, that’s a significant difference. You can’t just get back in the van and let it ride without worrying about the rest of your life.”
Over the last few months, the band has come together in the studio to continue work on its lost record. The resulting album, Human Resources 2019-2025, tracks the group’s evolution through songs such as “cameron ave,” penned from Utterback’s downtown porch in 2020 as he witnessed a building project take away a field of flowers across the street. “They killed all the roses on Cameron Avenue,” he laments. “Four rows of brick houses laid out between me and you.”
During COVID, Coast Records relocated to Reynolds Avenue, while Utterback relocated to North Charleston’s Waylyn neighborhood. “Liminal Space” discusses this life transition by citing Exchange Factor and the H&L Asian Market on Rivers Avenue.
The single “Girlfriend’s House,” which was scheduled to be released in March 2020, appears on the album, but that girlfriend married Utterback in August. “Power Stone” chronicles the band’s transformation from “our partying phase to a little healthier and more spiritual.” Utterback describes the album as having a through line. “It basically tells the tale of our life from then to now. It catches us up, cleans the slate, and allows us to restart the machine.”
