Three Imaginary Girls - H is for Hellgate

H is for Hellgate calling it quits, final show July 23

imaginary dana — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 05:41:14 +0000

{photo by Jenny Jimenez}

Forget press releases, music blogs, phone calls from my Mom: I find out most everything in life these days by Facebook status updates. Couples get engaged (or break-up), pals travel to exciting places, former high school classmates make more babies, and bands play rock shows... and call it quits. Guess which event this blog post is about...?

Sadly, I just received a Facebook invite of the band break-up variety: Seattle band H is for Hellgate just posted an event to their final show, and we're all invited. From the short-but-sweet invite:

"Jon is moving overseas, so Ben and I are putting down H Is for Hellgate. Please come and celebrate our final performance with us."

Sad, sad news. But should be a great show. It's at the Comet on Thursday, July 23, with support from Bone Cave Ballet, To the Waves, and Oregon Donor. Be there, and bring your hanky -- and some earplugs.

TIG's Inauguration Celebration Countdown. 1 day: H is for Hellgate

ChrisB — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 16:50:35 +0000

H is for Hellgate plays TIG's Inauguration Celebration with Friday Mile, Benjamin Bear and Ed Wang on Tuesday, January 20. $7, 21+, doors at 8pm.

Best of 2008: Top Northwest Releases of 2008 TIG Editorial Picks

three imaginary girls — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 20:10:11 +0000

TIG staffers are a lot like you -- coming up with our list of faves for the year is a fun and gripping process. After comparing/contrasting/debating our individual favorites, we figured the sum of our imaginary parts would make for an interesting list.

While ChrisB and Keenan, among other things, brought in the power-pop elements, Chris Estey stood by the smartie subtle elements of this year's Northwest offerings. Imaginary liz, as usual, loved the lo-fi and indie-pop songs, while imaginary dana spent much of the year obessed with Throw the the Statue and of course, the Fleet Foxes. And nearly all of us agreed that the Saturday Knights album was a force to be reckoned with. Here's our our staff votes tallied up...

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}

Peruse some of individual staffer favs:

Amelia Gydé
ChrisB
Chris Estey
Erik Gonzalez
keenan dowers
Kyle Johnson {his photos} {other's photos}
imaginary dana
imaginary liz
Shrie

skwinner.jpg

Where are you going to be Inauguration Day?

ChrisB — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 21:45:15 +0000

Please join us on Inauguration Night - after you've watch the swearing-in of President Obama and Vice President Biden and Rick Warren's invocation - at Chop Suey for some kick ass rock and roll with some of my absolutely favorite Northwest rock bands.

H is for Hellgate announce tour, great promo photos

imaginary dana — Sat, 03 May 2008 00:15:40 +0000

Seattle indie/prog rock band H is for Hellgate not only have an exciting NW tour coming up Memorial Day weekend, but they've also taken some damn fine promo photos, courtesy of the lovely and talented Jenny Jimenez.

Fests are upon us: Part 1: Georgetown Music Festival

imaginary dana — Wed, 02 May 2007 18:40:06 +0000

While Bumbershoot and the Capitol Hill Block Party have grown to astronomical (read as: huge touring bands) proportions, The Georgetown Music Festival is keeping it local as can be, with a preliminary lineup of loads of Seattle- (and a few Portland) based bands prepared to rock South Seattle this June 2-3.

H is for Hellgate

ChrisB — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 04:38:51 +0000

5.6

http://www.stereotyperecords.com/artists/hellaudio.html

HellgateCoverSmall.jpg

Although I pretty much agree with the line (which I think came from Elvis Costello) that an artist has twenty years to make his first record and six months to make his second, I generally don't enjoy reviewing debut albums. Unless you’re Liz Phair or the Clash, chances are it’s not going to be your best work. People evolve as musicians as they play longer and bands are able to fully flesh out how they want to sound. Having said that, I’m pleased that I enjoyed H is for Hellgate self-titled debut release, a young pop/rock band from Seattle with tons of potential.

The band is basically Jamie Henkensiefken’s, as she has sole songwriting and engineering credits. She’s obviously a very talented musician (she also played all of the instruments when she recorded the H is for Hellgate demo last year shortly after moving to Seattle). At work here, H is for Hellgate almost appears to be two separate bands. The first is a rock band that uses lots of different timing changes and is driven by guitars, primarily. This band reminds me of Silversun Pickups or Metric. The second H is for Hellgate is a vocal-based pop band in the vein of Death Cab for Cutie. Or, I guess since this is a female-fronted band, I mean Rilo Kiley.

It goes without saying that I prefer the former.

The first song, "Belt of Lights" is my favorite. It shows off the range of the band with lots of great guitar work and tempo changes on top of Henkensiefken’s nice harmonies. "This Is How We Take it Offline" is another similar song that also works very well. Henkensiefken speaks the vocals through much of the song over light instrumentation and heavy drum track (a la Nada Surf’s first single "Popular").

“I can’t tell you anything you haven’t already heard from Ben Gibbard by now” she begins the track "The Next 50 Winters," arguably the best of the softer songs on this album. It begins (and ends) with a soundtrack of heavy rain, but that gives way to an acoustic guitar and harmonies, and of course, let's Henkensiefken's wry wit come through lyrically. Incidently, you can hear this track on the TIG on KEXP podcast from February of this year.

Overall, while the record is far from flawless, it's a welcome, quirky addition to the Northwest oeuvre of indie-rock. H is for Hellgate is in the throes of a big-time US tour, ending on April 28th in Spokane, WA. See if they're coming to a town near you.

At work here, H is for Hellgate almost appears to be two separate bands.

TIG on KEXP Podcast February 2007

three imaginary girls — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 18:00:00 +0000

Podcast of our Feburary 10, 2007 appearance on KEXP's Audioasis with DJ Shannon. Listen to our favorite local picks of the moment, including tracks from the Shaky Hands, H is for Hellgate, the Femurs, Brent Amaker, Dolour, Friday Mile, the Golden Year, M. Bison, Optimus Rhyme, & The Quiet Ones.

47:38 minutes (8 MB)