Sunday, July 12, 2009
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
The end of the June Tour of Seattle Festivals
I'll leave you with a couple more pictures from last weekend:
Monday, June 15, 2009
And for the longest day of 2009...
Please come down, donate non-perishable items at the Comcast booth and be sure to leave a donation for Solid Ground in the orange boxes!
Seattle P.I. wrote about our demo club
Thursday, May 14, 2009
And now, a personal story about me and the Moog guitar
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Hello, Future. (Or, free Hellgate mp3s each month!)
Or, are you moderately entertained by fresh take on music?
Or, are you indifferent to the power of the H, but you consider yourself a music collector?
Or, do you not really care for us, but you want to prove your indie cred to your friends because genetics is against you and you just can't grow that ironic mustache?
If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, we have the solution for you! Introducing the HELLGATE CLUB FOR MUSICALLY ADVANCED LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!
The HELLGATE CLUB FOR MUSICALLY ADVANCED LADIES AND GENTLEMEN is the band's exclusive posse, if you will. By joining our mailing list (via our website or myspace) you'll be privilege to:
- free, unreleased fresh-n-hot out the kitchen new demo mp3s every month
- invitations to exclusive Hellgate events (music video shoot, anyone?)
- CD listening parties- other awesomeness
Also, we will be giving away FOR FREE at all of our shows the seasonal demo songs on CD with sweet handmade artwork by local artists. They'll be limited to 100 hand-numbered copies, so get one while they're still around.
This weekend we'll be rolling out Volume 1, Issue 1 in Spokane (4/30), Bozeman (5/1), and Missoula (5/2) (yes, because maybe I like Montana better than Seattle...). If you can see us at a show, you get free new music. If you can't sign up for our mailing list and you'll get free new music.
That, my friends, is what we call a win-win. Because no matter how you feel about us, we love you for listening to our music.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
***Crocodile show this week*** Just added!
Flowers are blooming.
People are being nice again.
You are leaving the house more often.
Did you know Thursday was the new Friday before Tuesday was the new Friday?
Blood
White Knife
Thunderbolt
If Someone Nails You To a Cross...
New York Times
The Sum
Sighs In Overdrive
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Hellgate live show on Hollow Earth Radio
Not much to report other than that. We're working feverishly on crafting the newest and freshest new songs for you. We'll see you in May.
Friday, March 20, 2009
What happens in Vegas gets put on YouTube
- The Hoover Dam!
- The Las Vegas Strip!
- Jon's tender moment with prostitution propaganda!
- The Boot, our newest band member!
- The guy from Reno buying us a bottle of whiskey in the middle of our set!
Friday, March 13, 2009
You know what Friday the 13th means for Hellgate?
In the spirit of being a band, we're working hard and fast at cranking out new jams for the people, and get this - we've got not one, but TWO NEW SONGS to play for you at the Blue Moon tomorrow night (Saturday, 3/14). THAT'S NOT ALL! We're also busting out an oldie. "Belt of Lights," anyone?
HOLY SHIT!!
Let's take a roll call of the new songs:
1. White Knife
2. If Somebody Nails You to a Cross (You Don't Have Much Choice)
3. New York Times
4. Sighs In Overdrive *NEW*
5. The Sum *NEW*
The show tomorrow will be a fun one, no doubt about that. I always feel like I'm back in Missoula at Jay's Upstairs when we play the Blue Moon with all of the venue's "history" and "smell" and "characters." Just like home! Nonetheless, the show is also a birthday party for JJ, emperor of the Blue Moon and 30 Rock quoting extraordinaire. Anyone who can recite more of Tina Fey's lines than I can has to do nothing more to earn my respect.
Finally, Jon is becoming quite the video post-productionist. Check out the wizardry he performed with the second installment of our tour footage:
Friday, February 27, 2009
Are you there, Seattle? It's us, H Is for Hellgate.
- be prepared to cop a squat anywhere at any time
- when an audience member offers to buy the band drinks, insist that the drinks be delivered via a bottle purchased from the bar and passed around for the remainder of the night
- assume everyone in Reno is an undercover cop and act accordingly
(Comet, 5 pm) H Is for Hellgate—the Seattle poppy-post-punk outfit powered by singer-songwriter- guitarist Jamie Henkensiefken—are gaining national attention for their new record, Come for the Peaks, Stay for the Valleys. But the track that most caught my attention is "Tina Fey," an as-yet-unreleased track I found on the band's MySpace page. Over a sprightlier-than-normal pop-punk riff (one of the band's key traits is their way with slower, heavier tempos), Henkensiefken lays out her deep personal love for the woman who's become America's Sweetheart. "Why did you marry some guy from the SNL band? I think we could have worked it out. If you wanna hook up with a real musician who won't knock you up..." The cute is kept in check by the creepy—the song ends with our frantic-with-desire frontwoman cozying up to her amazingly lifelike Tina Fey Real Doll. DAVID SCHMADER
And now, our featured performance.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Last Day of Tour
We had Monday off and had decided to try and see the Grand Canyon which is more-or-less between Albuquerque and Phoenix, our next stop. We made it to Flagstaff at around dusk, so we parked it there at the Super 8 and found us some RAD karaoke at an establishment called Museum Club. I'm pretty sure Museum Club was airlifted out of Livingston, MT, so at least I felt right at home. There were many dead animals on the wall, and not in that ironic King's Hardware kind of way. The karaoke being performed was predominately country, so I warmed up the crowd to us city slickers with some Judds and Barbra Mandrell before we said farewell with an all-Hellgate performance of System Of A Down's "Chop Suey." Then, we walked outside to two inches of snow.
The next day we attempted to go to the Grand Canyon but the road was closed because of snow, so we sat on our asses in Phoenix, enjoyed some fare from Hooters then went to a movie. The club was definitely not in a good part of town, a point which was proven by the mugging that happened outside the club during our set. We played with a really sweet band called Tugboat who kindly put us up for the night.
We had a scheduled day off before our Las Vegas show, so we booked a couple of nights at the Imperial Palace for some R&R. The first night, Samantha and I took some time away from the boys to go on a date. The boys entertained themselves by leaving us the pictured gift on our bed. The next day we found out our Las Vegas gig was bumped for a magic show (thanks, Las Vegas, you cheap slut), so we did what any responsible band would do - we filled up my 32 ounce boot from Coyote Ugly (that had previously been filled with daiquiri) with Jack and Coke and hit the strip to take some new band promo shots with Jon. Then we parked ourselves at the Bellagio slots, got a few free whiskey and Cokes, refilled the boot and resumed our mission.
Last night we played in Reno which was all-around bizarre. The club was a 24-hour sports bar that usually hosted metal bands, but the patrons all looked like they were more interested in hip-hop. We followed a local band which, between breaks of asking the ladies in the crowd to show their tits, played some sort of pop punk/metal. By the time we took the stage, I didn't think we were going to win any audience members over. The awkwardness of the night was multiplied by me breaking a string during the first song and Ben tripping on my mic cable and knocking over my mic stand and drinks. But the people who stuck around seemed to love us. One guy threw a twenty dollar bill on stage during our third song. I thought was going to ask us to play some Journey or equally bad cover songs, but as it turned out he really like our Rush-esque timing changes. Then he offered to buy us drinks and asked what we liked. I said whiskey. He returned to the stage a few minutes later with 2/3 of a bottle of Jack Daniels for the band to share on stage. The rest of the set, while not technically our best, was full of enthusiasm and vigor.
Today we've been hanging around Sacramento waiting to play our last gig. The van got an oil change and we're going to pull an all-nighter in order to get back to our own beds ASAP.
I'll be posting some more videos and photos as we all exchange our goods. I'm sure everyone is dying to see Ben sing "Band On the Run" or Jon's tour montage.
Hooray, Tour! Extra special thanks to Carly at Starbird for hooking our shit UP!
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Day 11 of Tour "You know I'm sick when I don't even want to use the internet" (working title)
Oakland - we had a couple of days off between our Eureka and our San Francisco show, so we spent a night at the LoBot warehouse in Oakland. The warehouse is home to about 15 people, all artists and/or musicians, I believe. We were treated to a performance by John who does a Fleetwood Mac cover thing. Here's John singing my request of "The Chain:"
San Francisco - the next day we picked up a couple of Jon's friends from the airport who were awesome enough to come down from Seattle for a short vacation and to see the show. Then we checked into the Phoenix Hotel which is known for being a "rockstar hotel." This is when Jon and I started getting sick. This is also when we had neighbors who thought that, because they were staying in a "rockstar hotel" that they should stay up all night partying. Awesome. Our show at the Hemlock was good, but blurry in my memory which was probably corroded with DayQuil.
Los Angeles - We actually had a good LA show. I know. That never happens. Everyone hates playing in LA. We did well. We had friends there thanks to my g/f, as well as a handful of other friends. We had a long post-show drive to Yorba Linda to our hosts' house who medicated and fed us very well. Thanks, Jessica and Steven!
San Diego - One of the things I was most excited about for tour was going to a warm-ish portion of the beach, so on the way to San Diego we stopped at Laguna Beach. Unfortunately, it was the height of me wanting to die from my cold, so Ben, Jon and Sam saw the ocean and I slept in the van. Booooo. Well, not totally booo. It gave me the energy to play reasonably well at Bar Pink that night. Bar Pink actually had a built-in crowd which seemed totally bizarre for an urban music venue. People listened. People danced. The sound was good. Hoorays all around.
Tucson - Our original show was cancelled because it was double-booked, so the HangArt space was kind enough to put on the show. The HangArt is an art space in a mini-hangar. It was also kind of outdoors. We learned that the desert is not warm in the winter. Lisa Mae, friend of our occasional biggest friend, Matt Brown, was our hostess for the evening. She said we couldn't have bacon unless we played "Tina Fey." We played "Tina Fey" very, very poorly. After the show we hung out at our hostess's house for a while, listening to music, enjoying some PBR, and allowing Lisa Mae to entertain us with crazy stories. Ben sent a text to his wife that said, "Matt Brown's friend is crazy!" and the reply he got was, "Remember, you're married."
Santa Fe - The all-ages place where we played, Warehouse 21, was really rad. The people were all super nice, but the turn-out was not great. We found out after the show that two of the high schools had Valentines Day dances that sucked away the draw. I asked what there was to do in Santa Fe since we only have an hour drive to Albuquerque today and was told, "Party." "Hike." "Hike and party!"
We're doing neither. I almost assaulted a Starbucks barista over the mis-advertised "Two hours of Wi-Fi on us!" This town seems to hide it's coffee shops and I needed coffee and internet ASAP.
We're on the homestretch of tour with only five shows left. So far it has gone really, really well and people seem to like us, but it has also been weird not being well enough to do any of the fun tour things like drive hundreds of miles hungover or get video footage of Ben eating meat.
Sunday, February 08, 2009
Day 4 of Tour "I'm going to throw this Chinese food on your face" (working title)
Saturday, February 07, 2009
Day 3 of Tour "Talk About It" (working title)
Labels: tour
Friday, February 06, 2009
Day 1 of Tour "F Everyone But Us" (working title)
This is Jon's first tour experience. He really wants to get a deck of cards to pass the time during tour. I wonder if he'll buy a deck today. I wonder what kind of games we'll play. I wonder if we'll train for our two day mini-vacation in Las Vegas. I wonder if I'll be the only one who will gamble. Good thing I'm in charge of the band bank account!
Anyway, the two bands that were actually a part of the bill, AristeiA and A Cautionary Tale, were a good fit with us and very nice and did not play for too long. They were also kind enough to donate their portion of the door money to us for the road. Thank you!
Thank you also to Sara for putting us up last night. After a good night's sleep we headed to the Rumblefish office were I, without even having coffee yet, summoned my best radio voice to co-host a podcast with Zach, a music chooser guy.
Alright, time to go find Ben in the astrology section so we can both figure out the meaning of life or something.
Thursday, February 05, 2009
TOUR! NOW!
Not only are we pumped to take our new three-piece act on the road and play songs from the new album, we have a few NEW new songs to throw at the west and southwest. That's how fresh we keep it here at H Is for Hellgate, people.
And, as if the modern spiritual quest that is the indie band tour wasn't enough for us, we're also going to attempt to complete the RPM Challenge - writing and recording an album in the month of February in the van. How sick is that? (I think I'm using the term "sick" correctly here yes, kids?)
Ben will also be filming our hilarious adventures with a neat little video recording device he got for Christmas. We'll post 'em here on the blog, but head over to our YouTube (youtube.com/hisforhellgate) site if you need to waste some time at work and get caught up on Hellgate adventures of the past.
We will see you soon, following cities:
Thursday, February 5th, East End, Portland,OR with AristeiA, A Cautionary Tale
Friday, February 6th at Luckey's, Eugene, OR with The Dead Americans and The Ovulators
Saturday, February 7th at Lil Red Lion, Eureka, CA
Tuesday, February 10th at The Hemlock, San Franscico, CA with Guitar Vs Gravity and Echodrone
Wednesday, February 11th at The Redwood Bar, Los Angeles, CA with Magnuson
Thurdsay, February 12th at Bar Pink, San Diego, CAFriday,
February 13th at the The HangART (all ages), Tucson, AZ with Beloved Binge
Saturday, February 14th at Warehouse 21 (all ages), Santa Fe, NM
Sunday, February15th, Atomic Cantina, Albuquerque, NM
Tuesday, February17th, Ruby Room, Phoenix, AZ
Thursday, February 19th at Beauty Bar, Las Vegas, NV
Friday, February 20th, Knucklehead's, Reno, NV
Saturday, February 21st, Kennel Club, Sacramento, CA with Starring Morgan Freeman
Friday, January 30, 2009
For those who care about the Super Bowl as much as we do
Friday, February 6th at Luckey's, Eugene, OR
Saturday, February 7th at Lil Red Lion, Eureka, CA
Tuesday, February 10th at The Hemlock, San Franscico, CA
Wednesday, February 11th at The Redwood Bar, Los Angeles, CA
Thurdsay, February 12th at Bar Pink, San Diego, CA
Friday, February 13th at the Dry River Collective (all ages), Tuscon, AZ
Saturday, February 14th at Warehouse 21 (all ages), Santa Fe, NM
Sunday, February15th, Atomic Cantina, Albuquerque, NM
Tuesday, February17th, Ruby Room, Phoenix, AZ
Thursday, February 19th at Beauty Bar, Las Vegas, NV
Friday, February 20th, Knucklehead's, Reno, NV
Saturday, February 21st, Kennel Club, Sacramento, CA
Monday, January 19, 2009
A week of celebrating great men
If you were at last year's Ben Baier Appreciation Night, you may remember the "Hooray" Shirts, the giant "Hooray" lighted sign, or the non-stop yelling of the word "Hooray" by everyone in the building.
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
February Tour + RPM Challenge = Insanity
Basically, musicians are given the "challenge" to write and record a full album - 10 songs or 35 minutes worth of music - in the 28 days that is February. It's voluntary and it's just for fun. I entered last year and got eight minutes of a mini-suite finished before being consumed by other things. Thus, I failed. When I received the email this year from the RPM folks reminding me to sign up again, I thought, "Well crap. Hellgate will be on tour during February. Wait....."
And then I emailed Ben my crazy idea. And Ben said, "I'm totally down." And Jon doesn't have a choice. Sorry Jon. We're going to write and record an album IN THE VAN while we are on tour in February.
Now, if you know anything about how music is made (it's not delivered by magical unicorn storks, BTW) you know that playing music and recording in a moving vehicle might be difficult. This is true. But, we believe it will add to the creativity and fun.
So, keep your eyes peeled on our blog during February as well be posting song samples and video of our album making process. If it's any good, we'll put it up on iTunes. If it sucks, you'll have to get us drunk and we'll burn you a CD-R.
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
We’re among the "Best Of..." (in some minds)
The votes are in. The people have spoken. The critics and journalists have written. 2008 has been wrapped up and, in the end, some folks ended up liking us. We generally don't aim to please, but we're sure happy when we do!
Three Imaginary Girls - Best of 2008: Top Northwest Releases of 2008 TIG Editorial Picks
25. The Nextdoor Neighbors - Magic Vs The Machine {live show review}
24. The Dead Science - Villanaire {album review}
23. H is for Hellgate - Come for the peaks stay for the valleys {info}
22. Kay Kay and His Weathered Underdround - Kay Kay and His Weathered Underdround {live show review}
21. BOAT - Topps EP {live show review}
20. LoveLand - The Beautiful Truth {info}
19. Damien Jurado - Caught In The Trees {album review}
18. Common Market - Black Patch War {album review}
17. Chris Walla - Field Manual {album review}
16. Hey Marseilles - To Travels and Trunks {live show review}
15. Jared Mees and the Grown Children - Caffeine, Alchohol, Sunshine, Money {album review}
14. Grand Archives - Grand Archives {album review}
13. Man Plus - Hungarian Suicide Songbook {album review}
12. Wallpaper - On The Chewing Gum Ground
11. (TIE) Young Sportsmen - If You Want It {album review}
11. (TIE) Doll Test - Mosque Alarm Clock
10. The Pica Beats - Beating Back the Claws of the Cold {info}
9. Team Gina - Products of the 80s {album review}
8. The Kindness Kind - The Kindness Kind {info}
7. The Pharmacy - Choose Ur Own Adventure {info}
6. Throw Me The Statue - Moonbeams {album review}
5. Dutchess and the Duke - She's the Dutchess, He's the Duke {live show review}
4. The Old Haunts - Poisonous Times {live show review}
3. All Girl Summer Fun Band - Looking Into It {live show review}
2. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes {album review}
1. The Saturday Knights - Mingle {album review}
NadaMucho.com - 2008 Year in Review: Klepac on the Best Seattle Albums of 2008
16. Helms Alee - Night Terror (Hydra Head)
15. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes (Sub Pop)
14. The Pica Beats – Beating Back the Claws of the Cold (Hardly Art)
13. The Apple War – Alarm Bell City
12. At The Spine – Vida
11. Death Cab For Cutie - Narrow Stairs (Atlantic / Barsuk)
10. The Hands – The Hands
9. Common Market – Tobacco Road (Massline Media)
8. The Riffbrokers – Weight of Line and Intersection (Unsmashable)
7. The Moondoggies – Don't Be A Stranger (Hardly Art)
6. H is for Hellgate - Come For the Peaks, Stay For the Valleys (Scissor City)
5. These Arms Are Snakes – Tail Swallower and Dove (Suicide Squeeze)
4. Half Light - Sleep More, Take More Drugs, Do Whatever We Want
3. Jake One - White Van Music (Rhymesayers)
2. The Whore Moans – Hello From the Radio Wasteland! (Mt. Fuji)
1. Head Like a Kite – There Is Loud Laughter Everywhere (Mush)
Seattle P.I. Ear Candy Blog - 10 favorite songs by Seattle artists in 2008:
Three Imaginary Girls - Estey's "most played on the iPod 2008" list
John Spalding's LoveLand, "Give Me Grace"
John Spalding's LoveLand, "Father"
Parenthetical Girls, "Young Eucharists"
Parenthetical Girls, "Song For Elle Greenwich"
H Is For Hellgate, "Blood"
H Is For Hellgate, "Pretty, Pretty Princess"
The Saturday Knights, "Dog Park"
The Saturday Knights, "Mutt"
The Saturday Knights, "Count It Off"
Damien Jurado, "Coats of Ice"
Damien Jurado, "Sheets"
Conrad Ford, "Vampires"
Conrad Ford, "Sinner Street"
Cancer Rising, "Let's Start Some Shit"
Cancer Rising, "Perseverance"
See Me River, "Wake Up Are You Wasted"
See Me River, "Don't Pray For Blood"
Saeta, "When Will You Find Love"
Saeta, "Promise Me Still"
Vic Chesnutt & Elf Power, "Little Fucker"
Vic Chesnutt & Elf Power, "The Mad Passion of the Stoic"
Transmissionary Six, "I Want To Deprogram You"
Transmissionary Six, "Edison Stare"
The Dead Science, "Make Mine Marvel!"
Baskervilles, "A Little More Time"
Palodine, "Woman Of Cain"
Bearsuit, "Foxy Boxer"
Amadan, "Anchor Tattoo"
Run On Sentence, "The Afterlife, Pt. 1"
Blitzen Trapper, "God & Suicide"
Mono in VCF, "Escape City Scrapers"
Viarosa, "The Old Walls"
Gary Murray, "She's Electric"
Everett True & The Young Liberals, "We Invented 'The Street'"
Mt. Eerie, "Voice In Headphones"
XX Teens, "Round"
We're honored to be among so many other great but watch the hell out - we have some serious shit brewing for 2009, people.