Meet Bill Jenkins, Troy Ten Eyck, Lehi and Erik Petersen of Hellgrammites

Today we’d like to introduce you to Bill Jenkins, Troy Ten Eyck, Lehi and Erik Petersen.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the band, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Hellgrammites consist of Erik Petersen (Lead Vocals), Lehi Petersen (Guitar, Vocals), Troy Ten Eyck (Bass, Backing Vocals), and Bill Jenkins (Drums, Backing Vocals).

The members take on a stage presence that is entertaining, provocative, fun, and uncomfortable all at the same time. The band likes to play music that invokes emotions not normally meant to be felt by an audience.

Lehi Petersen (guitar, vocals, keyboards) states: “Music traditionally addresses a limited range of emotions; happy, sad, angry, etc. We want to address feelings, emotions, and issues that people don’t feel comfortable talking about. That’s why we call ourselves discomfort punk. There are so many other things in the world besides love and heartbreak that everyone chooses to ignore on a daily basis. We want to bring those things out through our music.”

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Hellgrammites have been a band for five years but we have recently begun to develop our aesthetic. Forming a new rock group always has its unique sets of obstacles and challenges. We have been experimenting with a lot of different styles of music, but we feel like we have settled into our own within the last year. The Denver Music Scene has seen a lot of changes in the last five years. Keep in mind, we’ve been playing in the Denver scene for 15 years in other bands and projects. We’ve seen the community grow and just like with everything, change is challenging. Trying to finding our audience while staying relevant in a forever changing environment has been the biggest struggle.

We’d love to hear more about your band.
Hellgrammites is a punk-metal music group. We focus on high energy live performances, integrating other genres into punk/hardcore, and thought-provoking lyrics that invoke a wide range of emotions for the listener to experience. We feel that we stand out from other bands in the area because of our writing approach to the genre. Our music isn’t just about heavy riffs and moshing. While that is the most important part (jk), we spend a lot of time analyzing different theories of music and creating new grooves with time signatures and tempos. That is what creates a Hellgrammites song.

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Hellgrammites have been searching for it’s identified for the last five years. I am the most proud of the record we are currently producing and recording. We are all very happy with the content and intentions of this upcoming release, and we feel like it has a message worth sharing.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.mychoirisonfire.com
• Email: hellgrammitesmusic@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hellgrammitesmusic/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hellgrammitesmusic/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/Hellgramms/

Image Credit:
@joncombs; @thinc.inc; photo-a-gogo

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