Hank Lemon is a contemporary folk-rock artist who’s group has bringing traditional-twang with an indie-rock swagger to the Seattle music scene 2022. Noted for their on-stage chemistry and swingdance-ready hooks, they left an impression at BAMF! (Bellingham Arts and Music Festival 2022) and Brodie Nation Music Fest (Carnation, WA 2023). Henry LaVallee (Naked Giants) fronts the group wielding an acoustic guitar and an energetic live show. His backing band, “The Last Shots” is made up of Gianni Aiello & Grant Mullen (also of Naked Giants) on lead guitar & bass, Mike Bayer (Richard Simeonoff, Low Hums) on drums, and you can always count on Hank’s own dad, “Day-One-Dave”, to be playing harp up front.
Their eponymous 15-track debut album was independently released in 2023 and received warmly at their release show at Ballard’s iconic folk bar, Conor Byrne. They are looking forward to releasing their follow-up EP this summer and continuing to play shows with friends old and new.
After establishing himself in such revered acts as VHS, Smoker Dad and The Rare Forms singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Chris Costalupes has distilled his storied musical visions into a solo endeavor.
Costalupes charts the rough waters of love, heartache, and darkness, speaking with a fluent grasp of the language of rock music. Glassy steel guitars bleed over country-inflected ballads that can emerge only from a place of pure feeling. His songs are born from experience, from regret, and from the unnamable passion that rare talents such as Costalupes embody and exude. The astute listener will pick up on this immediately, but his music has the power to move even the most jaded set of ears in the bar.
There are enough moments of gritty transcendence in his discography to situate Costalupes as the worthy heir to the effortless cool of J Mascis, or to the gothic-tinged death country balladeering of the late and unspeakably great Jeffrey Lee Pierce. At the heart of it all lies a deep truth: the best music can’t be explained. It can’t be deduced from some rote logical exercise, nor can it be collated from an algorithm. It has to be felt, and realized physically. That Costalupes is able to achieve this alchemy should be enough to give all of us rockers hope in an increasingly artificial world.
False Hemlock is an alt-folk band growing in Seattle, Washington, formed by friends K Van Petten, Natt Meek, and Connor Colbert. Their sound is rooted in three-part harmonies, layered strings, poetry, and the belief that music creates a magic balm that helps us balance the pleasures and pains of being human. Learn more at instagram.com/false_hemlock.
