Have you noticed, Tacoma? We’re smack dab in the midst of a musical highpoint. As many times as I’ve sat in my office and worked up columns about the closing of another Tacoma music venue, periods like this bring a smile of relief to my face.



The list of music venues in Tacoma has suddenly gotten lengthy — and seems to be growing. While staples such as Hell’s Kitchen, Club Impact and Jazzbones continue to do good business, venues such as the Viaduct, Sanford and Son, Juno, the Helm Gallery, the Mandolin Café, Bob’s Java Jive and more have made diversity the spice of musical life here in the City of Destiny.

Gawd bless the development.



There was a time, not long ago, when the choices were few and far between.

This Friday, April 18 at the Viaduct (located at 5412 South Tacoma Way) a show that puts Tacoma’s musical resurgence on full display for anyone paying attention is scheduled to go down — for kids and grownups alike. Tacoma’s Lozen will play with Helms Alee, Bloodhag, British Columbia’s Mendozza, Funerot and Contaminator. Heads are sure to bang, and fun will be had by all.

While Helms Alee calls Seattle home, Tacoma is no stranger to the band. In fact, those looking for a T-town connection from the genre-defying rockers need search no further than the drum stool, where Hozoji Matheson-Margullis holds down the beat for Helms Alee. Matheson-Margullis also plays guitar in Tacoma’s Lozen, and calls Tacoma home. In my book this makes Helms Alee a Tacoma band by connection — one fans of heavy and thick rock should take the time to familiarize themselves with.



Seeing as Helms Alee is a relatively new band, there’s a chance some in the South Sound aren’t familiar with them yet. If that’s the case, a brief history lesson may prove helpful.



When Tacoma post-hardcore poster boys Harkonen called it quits in 2005, Ben Verellen, who played bass and sang in Harkonen (and also plays with Roy), needed a new gig. He enlisted Dana James, who’d moved to Seattle from California and had (conveniently for Helms Alle) just quit the band Your Enemies Friends. The two started “loosely” writing music shortly thereafter and eventually enlisted Matheson-Margullis. The pounding threesome of Helms Alee was born, and what’s followed has been an assault on eardrums and preconceptions alike. This band, mashing vocal harmonies with amped-up noise rock sweetened with just the right touch of melodic sensibility, defies classifications and bludgeons fans with a HUGE rock that makes you beg for more.



“Right away, at the first practice, something clicked. Here we are now,” says James.



“I’m totally sure the three of us would kick it anyway if we weren’t in Helms Alee. We are all really close and spend a very nice chunk of our practice time just shooting the shit and having fun. I think the chemistry lies in the fact that we’re all pretty laid back and kind of silly. Most of the time I leave practice with my sides aching from laughing so much. We each mutually respect one another as people and musicians.”



Aside from gearing up for Saturday’s show at the Viaduct, Helms Alee recently finished recording a full-length album for Hydra Head Records. The CD will be your first real chance to take Helms Alee home, aside from a previously released and hard to find four-song EP hardcore fans of the band probably cherish.  Helms Alee also plans to release a two song seven-inch on Hydra Head later this year.  

So, if you didn’t know Helms Alee before, 2008 is going to offer you plenty of chances to become acquainted. Your first chance will be this Saturday’s all-ages show at the Viaduct.



“I have no idea what to expect from the show (at the Viaduct), except I’m sure it’ll be fun. Everything I’ve heard about (the Viaduct) seems positive,” says James.

“For being a pretty new band I think we do fairly well in Tacoma. I really enjoy playing shows there because it feels like the people are super into it. Tacoma seems to me a little more rowdy and excited about new bands. Maybe it’s because it’s pretty easy to catch a new band in Seattle every night of the week. I really can’t theorize on the differences between (Seattle and Tacoma). They’re both awesome places for a band to play but in completely different ways.”



Helms Alee will play the Viaduct with Bloodhag, Lozen, and others on Saturday, April 18. The show is all ages, as all shows at the Viaduct are. The show will kick ass, as it seems most shows at the Viaduct do. Here’s to bands like Helms Alee coming to town to dish out the rock, and plenty of venues like the Viaduct to host them. Tacoma has had it far worse.



[The Viaduct, Helms Alee, Bloodhag, Lozen, Mendozza, Funerot, Conteminator, Friday, April 18, 7 p.m., all ages, 5412 S. Tacoma Way, Tacoma, www.myspace.com/viaductvenue]