Snake Rattle Rattle Snake

Denver's Snake Rattle Rattle Snake create music steeped in the darkness, perpetually dodging the sunny sheen of pop tendencies in favor of the shadows. Singer Hayley Helmericks, guitarist Doug Spencer, guitarist/keyboardist Wilson Helmericks, bassist James Yardley and drummer Andrew Warner walk suredly down that partly cloudy street and the result is the band's first full length album Sineater. The record, the first release by Denver start-up label The Greater Than Collective, is a black tapestry of pulsing, macabre rock n' roll that feels as if it is being slowly slashed apart by bright head-nodding hooks---deconstructing the sinister underbelly only to sew it back together. At its opening, guitars weave together playfully on "Hastily" and as the song progresses an ominous mood is brought on and carried through to such key tracks as "NOPD" and "Break the Same" with the help of growling bass and pounding drums. Helmericks' skilled vocals are the powerful constant, providing a seamlessness as the album moves from the dance-floor-jungle "Kafka and the Milk" to the cooing, frightening calm of "Warning". Sineater was written, recorded and produced by Snake Rattle Rattle Snake themselves and its release is an important benchmark for a band that has already received several accolades. 303 Magazine and The Denver Post both named them "Band of the Year" in 2010 and weekly Westword dubbed them "Best Indie Rock" band in 2011. In addition to recording a Daytrotter Session, playing the historic Red Rocks Amphitheater and headlining many local venues, Snake Rattle Rattle Snake has shared the stage with notable national acts as The Dead Weather, Devotchka, Pink Mountaintops, Wovenhand and The Fresh and Onlys.