Over the past 25 years, Heiruspecs have become established statesmen within the Twin Cities music scene. Aside from on-point musicianship — from vocalists Felix and Muad'dib, guitarist Josh Peterson, keyboardist DeVon Gray, bassist Sean “Twinkie Jiggles” McPherson, and drummer Peter Leggett — it’s storytelling that sets them apart. 

A great example of the group’s approachable wordplay is “Meters” a standout track from their third album, Small Steps. The song follows a day in the life of a cab driver weaving in and out of traffic while picking up fares. At the apex of the story, a fellow driver isn’t able to “control his machine.” A more-recent example comes at the halfway point of Heiruspecs’ most recent album, Pretty Random, But What Happened to the Heiruspecs. As Peterson’s guitar provides a descending melody on “Bills,” Felix weaves captivating lines about economic challenges met with technological ones — such as a bill-pay mobile app that you have to pay for. He’s conversational, yet entertaining, as the track’s dark comedy unfolds.

“I feel like we continue to get a little more serious, which is our age showing, perhaps,” Felix muses. “Muad'dib and I have both matured as far as not just being rappers doing rapper stuff. As much as he talks inwardly in his rhymes a lot of times, it's my job to be the voice that's talking outwardly. The other thing is more personal stories have crept in, which gives a little more of an individual touch.”

Even with its moments that echo their past work, Pretty Random reflects what’s happening now for the group. The well-oiled band took time between releases — the 20/20 mixtape dropped at the end of 2017 — so there were plenty of lived experiences to draw from for this new material.

The project’s first single, “Four Werewolves, Forever Ago,” emerged in September of 2022. It was one of the first musical ideas brought in by Felix, as he started to work on more dance-oriented music under a different alias. It marks the first time for a full-length Heiruspecs album that a beat came from someone outside of the group’s musician core.

“I enjoy that on this record, we all came up with musical ideas,” Felix notes. “It's more of a hive mind on this record, which feels really good. On earlier albums, the musical influences came primarily from Sean, but not exclusively from Sean.”

“Starting with ‘Night Falls,’ Josh has become a really important writer in Heiruspecs and a really important introducer of beats,” McPherson adds. “Josh creates a world in his music that he brings to the group, like ‘Here's this magical playground I've created, what will you find within it?’ DeVon (dVRG) is like ‘I will find what you did not expect at all, but it's in there,’ and sometimes I might create more like a highway where I’ll say ‘We got to go here, this is where we go.’ If one of the band members is occupying the legato, smooth, beautiful space, someone will do something angular.”

The Pretty Random artwork, created by Christina Vang, is an immediate attention grabber. “We were trying to find a way to communicate a little bit of the universe building that a record can be, and [Vang] had really exciting color palettes and had done work on some really good pieces,” McPherson says. “When you open up this album, it’s a space. You're sort of welcomed into a universe, and you also welcome that universe into yours. There's that sort of interplay, and I saw that energy.”

If the artwork may seem like quite the noodle scratcher, the title came about just as randomly. “There’s a gentleman named Jemale, and he had put up a status on Facebook asking ‘Pretty random, but what happened to the Heiruspecs?’” McPherson recalls. “Immediately, somebody tagged Peter in it and he was like, ‘This is hilarious!’ That day, I said, ‘This is the name of our next record.’ We weren't in the process of making a record, but in a sarcastic sense, it answers to the fact that really only good things have happened to the Heiruspecs.”

The group has ceased touring nationally since their self-titled album in 2008, and have since switched to raising philanthropic funds with each local performance since then. “We all came up through [St. Paul] Central, and through community music education,” DeVon remembers. “So it's just ingrained in you that it takes a village, you don't get anywhere on your own.”

“Sean and I were in this recording class with Red Freeberg at Central High School, and we watched him hustle to get computers, so that we could learn to use Pro Tools,” Felix recalls. “Watching him hustle, and get us involved in the hustle to raise funds for these computers, it was informative, and told us on the back end like ‘Yeah, this is a program that's not being funded the way that we probably could fund, to assist the next Heiruspecs in coming out.’”

“It became this thing that filled a hole in our purpose after we stopped touring, and we said ‘This is the way for us to continue our legacy,’” McPherson muses. “Although we are philanthropic, we generate some income from events like the Holiday Classic, and send it to St. Paul Central Foundation, in addition to doing the Heiruspecs scholarship. Occasionally, we do public facing events for that, but in the years we don't, we contribute via our meager income from streaming and performances.”

There will be a little bit of a change-up in format when Heiruspecs headline the stage for the Summer Classic at Keg & Case on August 19. It serves as a warm-weather binary to Heiruspecs’ annual Holiday Classic performance series.  “This might be the first classic styled event we’ve done that draws on a little bit of nostalgia,” says McPherson. “The barbecue, the car show, and the performances all carry nostalgia. While we're going to play our new stuff in addition to some of our old staples, I’m interested in what Maria Isa and Unknown Prophets are doing in 2023, in a way that I think is a different mission than the Holiday Classic.”

“It was really important for us to make it free,” McPherson adds. “There's something cool about a free show. I want to walk in, and I want the neighbor to walk in, and I want the reluctant person three doors down to walk in, and I want the person who's in Duluth to say ‘You know, we could go, we don't even have to pay for tickets, we got to just get down there.’”

Regardless of the time between albums and gigs, Heiruspecs continue to find the magic in taking their time. “We've slowed our pace to something that works, so that people can pursue the other things they need to in life,” McPherson says. “We've stayed relevant artistically, stayed friendly individually, and stayed pertinent to our fan base. It's actually fine for somebody to think we're off the radar, because the radar we're on is working pretty good.”

The Heiruspecs Summer Classic. With Heiruspecs, Maria Isa, and Unknown Prophets; plus guest DJs, a car show, and barbeque by Mateo Mackabee of Krewe Restaurant. Gates at 4 p.m., music at 5 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 19, at Keg & Case Market, St. Paul. All ages, admission is free. Info