H Is for Hellgate

Originally, H was for Henkensiefken - Jamie Henkensiefken (aka Jamie Hellgate), formerly of Missoula, Montana. Renaming her solo project after a canyon on the eastern edge of the Missoula Valley, Jamie embarked on a three month basement recording odyssey in 2006. Six weeks into the process, she decided to start pulling together the necessary musicians to help her bring her new songs to the stage.

Two years later, with their eponymous debut behind them, Jamie, Marie Calderon, David Thomas and Ben Baier indelibly impressed H Is for Hellgate’s name into the neural networks of those inspired by the band’s mix of inspirations (The Dismemberment Plan, Sleater-Kinney, The Mars Volta) and styles (“Turbulent 90’s post-rock…with a somber Pacific Northwest vibe” [The Stranger]).

In December 2008 after a six-month hiatus, Jamie and Ben restructured the band into a power-trio, welcomed in new drummer Jon Jacobson, and released their sophomore album, Come For the Peaks, Stay For the Valleys on Jamie’s imprint, Scissor City Sound. The album was largely a product of year of tragedy for Jamie – the loss of her father during a tour in 2007, the soon-after end of a relationship, and the untimely death the of album’s engineer, Mark Mercer IV.

H Is for Hellgate’s dedication to perseverance is translated into their live set – Jamie Hellgate has been called an, “electrifying guitarist whose determined voice is dauntless among the maelstrom of meaty riffs she is prone to disperse” (Seattle P.I.), a “dynamo of a performer” (Seattle Weekly), but H Is for Hellgate’s performance is a product of three people putting themselves up to the challenge of making audiences simultaneously think, rock out, and shout out a, “Hooray!”

Notable shows:

Live on 107.7 The End, Noise For the Needy, Rock Lottery 3 & 4 at Neumo's, Live on KEXP Audioasis, Fremont Fair Mainstage, Georgetown Music Fest, Seattle True Independent Film Festival, KPSU Portland Pop Tomorrow Showcase, Seattle Pride, Oly Roller Girls Benefit, Girls Rock Camp 50 Shows in 50 States

Venues (Seattle):
Crocodile Cafe, Vera Project, Chop Suey, Comet Tavern, Holy Mountain, King Cobra, Sunset Tavern, High Dive, Bad Juju Lounge, Mars Bar, Skylark Cafe, S.S. Marie Antoinette, Rendezvous, Wildrose, Jules Mae's Saloon, Easy Street, Funhouse, Kaz-ba

Venues (Portland):
Someday Lounge, Towne Lounge, ACME, Music Millennium, Tonic Lounge, Ash Street Saloon, Yamhill Brewerey, Brainstains

Other Cities Played:
Bellingham, Olympia, Anacortes, Port Townsend, Missoula,Bozeman, Spokane, Eugene, Eureka, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Tuscon, Phoenix, Albuqurque, Reno, Las Vegas, Las Cruces, San Antonio, Austin.

Jamie Henkensiefken has played shows with:
Firey Furnaces, The Long Winters, The Forecast, The Used, Les Savy Fav, Erase Errata, The Butchies, Bitch and Animal, Tracy + the Plastics, The Gossip, New End Original, The Divorce, Jen Wood, Scream Club.

H Is for Hellgate has played shows with:
Portugal, The Man, Ghost (Japan), Kelley Stoltz, Vetiver, Earlimart, Tiny Vipers, Idiot Pilot, Voyager One

Radio:
- KEXP Seattle
- KNDD Seattle
- KBGA Missoula
- Rainydawg.org
- ChurchOfGirl.com

PRESS FOR Come For the Peaks, Stay For the Valleys

The Stranger - 3/2008
"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"

Eugene Weekly - 2/2009
"Henkensiefken and her bandmates don’t just make music that requires that you pay attention; they make music that’s worth paying attention to."

Seattle Magazine - 2/2009
"If you believe variety is the spice of life, the cure for gray, blah February may be Come For the Peaks, Stay For the Valleys, the second album from the wildly diverse indie rock band H is for Hellgate. Released in December (on local Scissor City Sound), the album showcases the band’s—and in particular, lead singer Jamie Henkensiefken’s—ability to move seamlessly between punk rants (think Sleater-Kinney), alt-folk ballads (à la Laura Veirs) and the tricky time signatures of prog rock (like The Dismemberment Plan). The surprising mix will keep your ears on their toes."

MSN Consumer Guide - 2/2009
" Come for the Peaks, Stay for the Valleys" (Scissor City Sound)
Woman tells her bitter truths, which her guitar elaborates, or is it challenges? ("Pretty, Pretty Princess," "Blood").

Venus Zine - 12/2008
"With endless shifts in time signatures and layers of intricate guitar filtered heavily by pedals against an onslaught of driven bass and drums, H Is for Hellgate is definitely first and foremost a proggy band. But there are also slower, folkier moments, tinges of grunge, and homages to riot-grrrl sounds."

The Stranger - 12/2008
“Hellgate's pounding drumming and wiry guitar work nod to turbulent '90s post-rock, but some songs ("Blood," for instance) come with a somber Pacific Northwest vibe. "Copernicus and Me" is dark and drilling; "Dusk at Devil's Tower" is one part Jawbox, one part Bikini Kill. I came for the dogs, but stayed for the music. MEGAN SELING”

KEXP / Three Imaginary Girls - 12/2008
"It is a personal but still excellent and rocking record. Everything that the first album did right: well-written songs with unexpected time shifts and driving guitar parts, the second album does better. Lead Hellgate Jamie Henkensiefken has grown incredibly as a songwriter between records. Another point for H is for Hellgate: they wrote a love letter song to Tina Fey before the rest of America caught on."

Seattle Weekly - 12/2008
“Come For the Peaks, Stay For the Valleys is hardly as cute and innocuous as the two spaniels on the cover might suggest. No, this is an album that consists of as much major riffage as quiet moments…”

Seattle P.I. - 12/2008
“Certainly the heart and engine of this edgy indie-rock outfit is the electrifying guitarist and singer-songwriter Jamie Henkensiefken, whose determined voice is dauntless among the maelstrom of meaty riffs she is prone to disperse. The band leaves ample room for those magnetic melodies but never forgets the golden rule: to rock the H-E-double hockey sticks out of their audiences (when not humoring us with love songs like "Tina Fey").”

The Stranger Line-Out - 11/2008
“…some have called their music tricky. Tricky as in quirky, maybe. Sincere as in full rock action, definitely.”

Missoula Independent - 5/2008
"As far as thoughtfully powerful rock goes, this group excels. At one moment quiet and understated, H Is for Hellgate explodes into crunchignly guitar-heavy mayhem the next."

PRESS FOR H Is for Hellgate

Rumblefish.com - 5/2008
"Naming her musical outfit after a canyon in Missoula, Montana, Jamie Henkensiefken’s H is For Hellgate creates stripped down, straight up, progressive indie rock with an earnest minimalism that takes listeners back to those important moments in life (breaking up, making up, letting go)."

NadaMucho.com - 1/2008
"H Is For Hellgate churn out tricky indie-prog constructions onstage with little apparent effort. The boys in the group mug and pose endearingly, while the two young women sternly apply themselves to the serious task of rocking the hell out. They were my favorite local discovery of 2007, and I try not to miss any of their Seattle shows."

Seattle Post-Intelligencer - 6/2007
"A fascinating blend of folk, pop, indie rock, progressive rock and classical, with a hefty dose of riot grrrl energy."

Out There Monthly - 3/2007
"And when she nearly whispers, 'I can't tell you anything you haven't already heard from Ben Gibbard,' you're mostly inclined to believe the opposite."

Disheveled Mag - 2/2007
"The Seattle Quartet’s new album on Stereotype records is a compelling work. Jamie Henkensiefken wrote and engineered a CD that runs through many genres. The music is as much progressive, as it is indie-rock. It has danceable hooks and progressive breaks. The music is tight, the songwriting is excellent."