100 Bands in 100 Days Presented by Verity Credit Union — Day 71: Halcion Halo
Music fans of the Pacific Northwest, hello and welcome back to our third annual year-end daily countdown, 100 Bands in 100 Days, where every day until December 31st, we’re showcasing a new band or artist you have to know about, presented by Verity Credit Union. Follow the #100Bands100Days hashtag on Twitter to stay on top of all the bands featured and make sure to follow Verity on Twitter as well. Some days the featured act could be an established and locally-adored northwest-based musician that perhaps you haven’t been turned onto yet, and other times they could be a band with a small following that just hasn’t had their deserved time in the sun yet. Either way, we’re fairly confident you can come away from this daily segment with plenty of new favorites. Today’s musical offering is a band called Halcion Halo that hails from Tacoma.
The northwest has seen an influx of fantastic singer/songwriters and indie bands in the last few years and we certainly cover them around here but not to be forgotten is the current crop of badass rock bands that are melting faces all around the Puget Sound and beyond. Today’s featured band Halcion Halo has been at this for a while now and certainly have earned their place along side of northwest heavies like Klover Jane, Windowpane, Ten Miles Wide, Mom’s Rocket and Big Wheel Stunt Show. That’s a partial list of course but you get the idea of their talent if they are mentioned in the same breath as those bands.
On their latest release Joke Parade, this power trio makes it clear they are not fucking around and trying to get cute. The music is deep, dark and haunting with drummer Ira Garrett furiously but meticulously driving the beat although never over doing it, instead allowing plenty of room for Jenson Charnell’s powerful vocals. “Weighted Cards” from Joke Parade starts out with a dreamy vibe that leads the way to a haunting, textured background before bringing the tempo up and displaying that this band has a synergy that only comes from serious time in the practice pad. You won’t really find anything like this song on the radio, sadly, because it’s a great tune. Probably the only thing that it compares to it(at least around here) are some of the songs by another local band Ten Miles Wide(ex-The Mothership).
Halcion Halo is most definitely hard rock at its core but they also borrow from grunge, industrial, metal and psychedelic blues. They are a groove heavy band with a sound all their own, especially on songs like “The Tracks” where if you listen closely and you’ve heard of another Tacoma musician named Jefferson Angell, you might get a little bit of that vibe and trust me, there’s not a damn thing wrong with that.
If you like rock music that is unapologetic and in your face(and who doesn’t?), we’d highly recommend checking out Halcion Halo.
(You can check out Halcion Halo on Facebook and you can listen to them at Bandcamp and/or stream “Joke Parade” below. You can purchase it HERE as well. )
Submissions for 100 Bands in 100 Days 2016 is now closed. If you’d like to see the whole list of bands we’ve featured, click HERE.
