Lazy Villains

Lazy Villains is a musical project that originated in 2022 when singer-songwriter Sam Milz and guitarist Sean Heffernan moved to Philadelphia from State College, Pennsylvania. After meeting at Penn State in 2017 with no one to play for, Heffernan and Milz started busking every weekend; setting up between the college bars at closing time and the local McDonald’s. The duo earned a regular gig at Zeno’s Pub with their first band the West Beaver Arts Collective before the COVID-19 pandemic saw them co-found Midstate Select with local singer-songwriter Anna Pearl Belinda. Their time with Belinda culminated in a full length album of original songs, titled On the Road to Lonesome, and an LP release show at the State Theatre that was covered by statecollege.com and Onward State in April 2022.
The reception of On the Road to Lonesome was such that Heffernan and Milz decided it was time to leave State College and see what Philadelphia might have to offer the newly dubbed Villains. On a tip from local musician Brendan Skwire, they gravitated to East Kensington, where they found a thriving artistic community as well as their third and fourth members. Drummer Jack Hopkins and bassist Mike Thatcher joined the Villains in 2023 and the group arranged a set of original songs for their live debut back at Zeno’s in November of that year.
Lazy Villains music is penned mainly by Milz and Heffernan– who initially connected over a shared obsession with the guitar dynamic on Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, the songwriting of Neil Young, and the freedom of musical expression in the blues. Since then, their appreciation for improvisation and authenticity has led them down a country music rabbit hole via the Grateful Dead. In addition to their rhythmic contributions to the Villains’ sound, Hopkins and Thatcher’s vocal harmonies bring a dimensional element to the music reminiscent of The Band and Buck Owens & the Buckaroos.
In the beginning of 2024 the Lazy Villains began work in earnest on Thrown, a full-length LP featuring seven original songs and two covers that is set to be released in September 2025.​
In addition to their work on their own original material, current projects with which the Lazy Villains are actively involved most notably include Midstate Select, with whom they released the full length album On the Road to Lonesome, and the Philly-based group Laura & the Storm.