Hellgate <> Satan

Currently listening to: the fizz of my ginger brew
Currently reading: the Amy Poehler interview in Bust

I thought I'd give a little history on the olde band name, H is for Hellgate. You see, I moved to Seattle from Missoula, MT. Missoula is located in a valley that was carved out by the melting of the great glacial lake Missoula back in the day before rock bands were around. There are a bunch of valleys that lead into the Missoula valley (separated by beautiful mountains, of course). One of these valleys is call the Hellgate Canyon.

Hellgate canyon is majestic and dramatic, so much so that one of the three public high schools in Missoula is named Hellgate High. How bad ass would that be to go to Hellgate High? I'll never know; I went to High School in Helena, MT.

Anyway, I had always heard that the Hellgate was named such because of the fierce, cold winds that it bitch-slaps Missoula proper with over the winter. During my six years in Missoula, I had always thought the Hellgate was simultaneously tough and mystical. So, when thinking about renaming the band from my family name, Henkensiefken, to something dumbed-down, I wanted to 1) keep the band's nick name "the H," 2) give a shout out to Missoula.

Thanks to Wikipedia, I learned a little more H is for History about the Hellgate. Here's the what what:

There were no permanent white settlements in the Missoula Valley, however, until 1860 when C. P. Higgins and Francis Worden opened a trading post on the Blackfoot River near Hellgate Canyon, on the eastern edge of the valley, called the Hellgate Village. The name "hellgate" came from French trappers, who found the carnage from warfare between the Blackfeet and Flathead tribes, including bones and bodies, in the close confines of the canyon on the east edge of town. The canyon is still called Hellgate today, but only winter winds are a threat now.

We at H is for Hellgate do not support the leaving of Native American carnage anywhere. It's just not cool, people.