Wednesday, April 11, 2012

i'll show you "sold out"...


as i walked into the hemlock tavern on friday night, three thoughts simultaneously cascaded through my head: 1) i gotta pee.  2) BEER ME!  3) wait…it sounds like Grayceon has already started…
given my unwavering confidence in the strength of my bladder and the fact that of the three bands one the bill (Grayceon, Thrones, and Helms Alee) Grayceon was the local band i was going in support of, i rushed past the bar, ignored the bathroom line, and headed to the back to get into the show.  not five steps later i noticed the dude outside of the little entrance to the backroom (the bowels of the bar where rock [and occasionally ping pong] is to be had) chatting casually with his buddies behind a hand written sign that read “SHOW SOLD OUT”…an unforgiving etching perpetrated by a black ball point pen.   undaunted, i proceeded onwards.  “sold out” is just a formality, yeah?  the bar ins’t going to deny somebody’s money…some folks are probably leaving after Grayceon anyways…it’s not really sold out...right?  with that attitude, i approached the doorman wallet in hand and asked if “this shit is really sold out”.  to my dismay, i was told it was indeed…wait, really?  fuck!!!  bit it's was friday!  there was sludgy doom on the opposite side of the wall and this dude couldn’t cut me a break…talk about the definition of brutal. 

as i stood there, (still slightly dumbfounded at the “sold out”-ness that had derailed my night) and contemplated whether urinating or ordering a shot of Jameson and chugging a beer would be my next step before heading home to the mission, a dude with chin length hair and a beard who watched my predicament unfold as he exited the hemlock’s room o’ rock ask me to hold on a second and leaned in to chat with the bespectacled doorman.   after a bit of inaudible conversation, hand wringing, repeated gesturing to a piece of paper in front of the doorman and hearing the word “guest list” thrown around a couple times, suddenly the doorman was inking his stamp and asking for my hand…fuck yes!  metal 4 me.  \m/

“that looked like a bummer man!” my benefactor said and introduced himself as Ben.  We shook and i asked him what band he was with, “Helms Alee” he replied…

…okay, backtrack.  going into this show, i really only knew Grayceon...featuring Max Doyle and Zack Farewell (also of Walken) on guitar and drums respectively, coupled with Jackie Perez-Gratz (also of Giant Squid) on cello and vocals, Grayceon is a band built of musical elements i was fond of before I had even seen a Grayceon show…since seeing them for the first time i’d say i’ve been going to their local shows pretty consistently for about three or so years.  anyways, half of the draw of going to see my favorite local folks tear it up at these awesome local venues is getting a chance to see the out of town folks that are on tour or the newer local projects that are just starting to play out.  i usually find myself staring at my bike at the end of the night…a little tipsy and wondering how i’m going to manage to ride home and not drop any of the records, cds, and/or tapes i just picked up.  so there i was, thursday night, setting the mental plan to head to the hemlock and see these bands Grayceon was bringing to town and, WHAT?!?!?  they’re seattle area bands!  my ol’ stomping grounds! 

as i started investigating the line up Helms Alee was particularly interesting  (…and now a tie in to that random hook this douchebag started with…)  if you google this band, you can find tour dates, random album reviews…but otherwise stuff is kinda sparing…one thing you can find (though it may take a bit of Wikipedia diggin’!) is that on guitar, Helms features Ben Verellen, bassist and vocalist of seattle post-hardcore outfit Harkonen…and also the dude who got me into the show friday night.  A guy who's albums i've bought and who i’d seen on stage a reasonable number of times through college, and i totally failed to make the connection…in my defense I had been pre-funking at home before i got there.
 
other than Harkonen and random work with Roy, Botch, and These Arms are Snakes, i knew Verellen had been doing some sound engineering, for small indie and bigger bands (well, Mastadon) alike, one of those bands being tacoma two woman powerhouse Lozen…who’s drummer was seated behind the set as Helms took the stage.  What proceeded was a sonic assault so obviously influenced by the Pacific Northwest.  take two parts oppressive grey clouds, one part moss, three parts the smell of crushed pine needles, and finally 5 parts rain, combine with tripped out mathy space rock, the best elements of mid-nineties hardcore, top it off with a heaping spoonful of doom, and that’s your recipe for Helms Alee.  live they provided a tidal wave of energy and shit kicking attitude.  heard about a Hels Alee show in yur town?  GO TO IT. brilliant, heavy stuff.  here’s to hoping we get to see ‘em again soon...or at least before some sort of apocalypse level event...  

 keep it gloomy y’all.