Hayley Helmericks sings with her former band, Monofog. Reverb file photo by Doug Beam.
For the official release of their EP at the Hi-Dive on Friday, Denver band were joined by friends Cannon(s) and , both of whom were playing their very first live shows. The show was well on its way to selling out by the time it got started, a credit to the immense talent of all the bands on the bill.
Cannon(s) is a local four piece punk/metal band who shares the heavy assault of bassist Eric Fuller’s other band To Be Eaten. Their sound is a bit faster and more technical, though, with a-melodic shouting instead of deep growls.
Treeverb is the newest project from Denver’s space rock superstar Jeff Suthers of Moonspeed and the late Bright Channel. Itap a trio with Ryan Sniegowski (Moccasin/Nightingale, Moonspeed) on bass and Adam Shaffner (Tjutjuna, Moonspeed) on drums. Their set was heavy and slow, swirling with the same beautiful guitar tones and feelings of pleasant melancholy that Suthers’ projects all seem to share. Suthers’ trademark cosmic, declaratory lyrics were bathed in plenty of echo and set off by Shaffner’s tribal drumming. Treeverb produced just the kind of otherworldly experience I was hoping for.
Finally Snake Rattle Rattle Snake came on stage. They’ve been generating mass excitement around Denver since their beginning as a local supergroup. This sextet features Hayley Helmericks and Doug Spencer (from the late Monofog), Andrew Warner (Bad Luck City), James Yardley (Hawks of Paradise), Kit Peltzel (Mr. Pacman and Space Team Electra) and Hayley’s brother Will. Their brand of synth-driven post-punk is the heaviest, darkest dance music around Denver. The lashing rhythm is created by Warner and Peltzel’s team of drumming, Yardley’s thick basslines and Hayley’s tambourine pounding.
Perhaps the most notable piece of their sound comes from commanding front lady Hayley Helmericks and her seductive, booming voice. Every member holds their own though in creating the full sound that makes the band so satisfying to see live.
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Katherine Peterson is a Denver-based writer, former host of Radio 1190’s “Local Shakedown” and new contributor to Reverb.
