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Indie psych-rockers The Wheel Workers are doing something truly trippy for album eight, One More Thing To Say. The Houston and Austin-based collective is finally releasing its sophomore album 20 years after it broke up while making it. Rediscovered and partially re-recorded by the group’s primary creative director, Steven Higginbotham, the album is a crucial missing piece in the beloved band’s artistic continuum. The single “Spreading the Fire” will precede the album. 

The Wheel Workers have remained active after its 2006 breakup, continuing to release records with an inspired and fluid membership. Yet the album One More Thing To Say always felt like the “one that got away.” The 16-song album documents the halcyon days when the original quintet were twenty-somethings living together, working crummy jobs, and jamming all of the time. That said, One More Thing To Say isn’t just old stock polished for public display. The record’s pointed commentary on corrupt political leaders (then Bush and Iraq War) feels just as vital today. And the two decades of additional recording experience Higginbotham has brought to producing One More Thing To Say make it a strong, standalone album eight statement. As Higginbotham says, “I felt like I was finally a good enough recording engineer and producer to finish these songs at the level they deserve; it's me in my forties producing the best music of my twenties.”

“These songs always lingered in my mind, and I felt there was a gap of material important and pivotal in all of our lives,” says Higginbotham, the collective’s musical director, producer, singer, lyricist, multi-instrumentalist, and current primary songwriter. “When I went back to the songs, I realized the magic was still there and they still resonated with me.”

The Wheel Workers are less of a band and more of a collective. For over two decades, the group has been a sturdy fixture on the Texas music scene. The original lineup congealed in Austin in 2000/2001 around Higginbotham; songwriter, guitarist, and backing vocalist Chris Maness; songwriter, drummer and percussionist Nathan Maness; songwriter and bassist Giuseppe Ponti; and guitarist and songwriter Chad Fontenot. That lineup dissolved in 2005, but the group reconvened in Houston in 2009 with new Workers. From then on, Higginbotham has emerged as the band’s leader and chief songwriter. 

To date, the group has released 7 albums and a live EP. The Wheel Workers have amassed eight nominations for Houston Press Music Awards, track spotlights on The Onion’s “A.V. Club,” and the collective has played Austin’s iconic freeform radio show Eklektikos on KUT. The Wheel Workers’ previous album, 2022’s Harbor, spent more than three weeks on the NACC Top 200 college radio charts, rising to number five on the “SubModern Chart.” The group has toured nationally; played festivals such as Milwaukee’s Summerfest and Houston’s Free Press Summerfest, alongside the Flaming Lips and Phantogram; and opened for Trail of Dead, Best Coast, Elf Power, and Thao and the Get Down Stay Down.

The resurrection of One More Thing To Say can be traced back to pandemic self-reflection. During this time, Higginbotham began thinking more intentionally about the material, and he started to reconnect with old bandmates. “We had some long phone calls,” Higginbotham says. “There was a little bit of strain between some of us, but we smoothed it out.” 

Higginbotham had always been the group’s archivist, and had demo recordings of many of the songs. He augmented these basic original performances with new tracks from drummer Nathan Maness and bassist Giuseppe Ponti, recorded at much higher quality. At times, Higginbotham redid his lead vocals, and at other times he just added backing vocals, harmonizing with his twenty-something self. Recent Workers also contributed, including Dan Workman (ZZ Top, Lyle Lovett, Destiny’s Child) and Craig Wilkins on synthesizers, and Erin Rodgers and Alli Villines adding harmonies. 

Higginbotham recorded and produced One More Thing To Say with recording engineerJosh Applebee at Wire Road Studios in Houston, and at his home studio, The Attic. Grammy-winning mix engineer Steve Christensen (Khruangbin, Steve Earle) mixed the album. The online streaming versions of One More Thing To Say extend well beyond its 16-song core, with the band opening the vault on nearly 40 total tracks — including demos, beloved B-sides that rank among the members’ personal favorites, and sprawling live improvisation jams from the recording sessions. Captured during a period when the original lineup lived together and played music nearly every night, the archival recordings document the raw experimentation, near-telepathic chemistry, and creative intensity that defined The Wheel Workers’ formative years.

On One More Thing To Say, The Wheel Workers’ strain of psychedelia owes more to the grungy 1990s than the paisley 1960s. Its sprawling arrangements are often built on hypnotic basslines layered with chiming, analogdelay-treated guitars punctuated by crashes of ringing powerchords, dreamy vocals, and ethereal synths. This arty-but-aggressive sensibility recalls Jane’s Addiction, Sonic Youth, Fugazi, and the Pixies. 

The single “Spreading The Fire” is one of the only songs that Higginbotham had to write full lyrics for 20 years later. Story goes that while sifting through old file folders and CD back ups, Higginbotham came across an intriguing instrumental demo emblematic of the band’s aesthetic at this time. There were no vocals, just a title: "Spreading The Fire.” Immediately inspired, Higginbotham got to work writing lyrics.“This song probably epitomizes the journey of the band from its earliest days to the present more than any other,” Higginbotham says. 

Built around a bassline that is both rubbery and melodic, it features intense, raw vocals and a cathartic chorus with a mountainous grunge riff. This was Higginbotham’s chance to look back on the group’s legacy, and his lyrics are full of nostalgia for the past and a fiery optimism for the future of The Wheel Workers. He sings: The work of spreading the fire continues/tending the flames of the pyre from our youth/Nights and days/We had no greater devotions in the way/I can go/One day I might not come back/You never know.

To learn more about The Wheel Workers, please see here. Follow The Wheel Workers on Spotify, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Bandcamp and YouTube.

PRESS QUOTES:

“An excellent new album... Melodies that get deep into the folds of your brain.”

— Houston Chronicle

“Soaring guitar solos and dramatic choruses.”

— Glide Magazine

“Reminiscent of Devo, Pixies, Dead Kennedys and The Clash. There’s no denying the eclecticism and idiosyncrasies.”

— KUTX, Austin

“Sincerely progressive and catchy as hell.”

— Space City Rock

“Sociopolitical consciousness with a memorable hook.”

— The Big Takeover

“A true masterpiece.”

— Free Press Houston

“New Wave synth stylings meet sharp lyrics.”

— PopMatters

“The new split single from Houston-based band The Wheel Workers may be a pair of songs aimed straight at Donald Trump and the 2016 election, but musically and lyrically, it extends far beyond the political heat of the moment.”

— The A.V. Club

“The vocals are totally out-of-this-world good. This is one of those cases where the band is doing everything right.”

— Babysue

“Painfully catchy.”

— MAGNET

“Houston’s brightest hope. Damn. Seriously righteous.”

— BLURT

ASSETS:

The Wheel Workers (L-R): Steven Higginbotham, Giuseppe Ponti, Nathan Maness, Craig Wilkins

Photo Credit: Chad Fontenot. Click for hi-res.