The Helio Sequence is an American

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

duo from

Beaverton, Oregon Beaverton is a city in Washington County, in the U.S. state of Oregon with a small portion bordering Portland in the Tualatin Valley. The city is among the main cities that make up the Portland metropolitan area. Its population was 97,494 at the ...

, signed to

Sub Pop Sub Pop is a record label founded in 1986 by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman. Sub Pop achieved fame in the early 1990s for signing Seattle bands such as Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Mudhoney, central players in the grunge movement. They are often ...

. The band consists of Brandon Summers on vocals and guitars and Benjamin Weikel on drums and keyboards.

History

Summers and Weikel formed The Helio Sequence in 1999, and played their first show in

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

at the Mount Tabor Theater. The band has released three albums on

, two on the Portland-based label

Cavity Search A body cavity search, also known simply as a cavity search, is either a visual search or a manual internal inspection of body cavities for prohibited materials (contraband), such as illegal drugs, money, jewelry, or weapons. Body cavities frequen ...

and a self-released EP. Their fifth album, entitled ''

Negotiations Negotiation is a dialogue between two or more people or parties to reach the desired outcome regarding one or more issues of conflict. It is an interaction between entities who aspire to agree on matters of mutual interest. The agreement ...

'', was released on September 11, 2012, on Sub Pop. The Helio Sequence toured the United States with the British band Keane in 2009, and in June 2010, they were Keane's support act in several gigs through Great Britain during the band's Night Train Tour. In September 2013, The Helio Sequence again toured the United States, this time co-headlining with

Menomena Menomena is an indie rock band from Portland, Oregon, United States, made up of Justin Harris and Danny Seim. Both members of the band share singing duties and frequently swap instruments while recording. In concert, Seim plays drums, while Ha ...

. For their 2015 self-titled album ''The Helio Sequence'', the band revamped the process in which they created their music. They wrote 26 songs which they sent to friends, asking them to list their favorite ten songs. Using the responses, by the end of June 2014 the band had compiled a list of ten songs for the album. The album received generally favorable reviews, with Eric Swedlund of ''Paste Magazine'' calling it a "career-defining album". Others, such as Adam Kivel of ''Consequence of Sound'' claimed that "it’s

he album He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...

a reset of the odometer rather than a definitive statement of destination." They announced a tour in support of the album, beginning on April 14, 2015, in Portland and winding up on June 27, 2015, in

St. Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (abbreviated St. Paul) is the capital of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County. Situated on high bluffs overlooking a bend in the Mississippi River, Saint Paul is a regional business hub and the center o ...

. In September and October 2017, The Helio Sequence toured the U.S., performing 29 dates as the opening band for Australian rock band The Church.

Band members

Brandon Summers

Summers is responsible for the

lyrics Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a "libretto" and their writer, a ...

, lead vocals, guitar, and shares production credits with Weikel. Prior to the release of their 2008 album ''Keep Your Eyes Ahead'', Summers lost his voice, but he regained it before their newest release. The band's sound evolved on ''Keep Your Eyes Ahead'', due in part to Summers damaging his

vocal cords In humans, vocal cords, also known as vocal folds or voice reeds, are folds of throat tissues that are key in creating sounds through vocalization. The size of vocal cords affects the pitch of voice. Open when breathing and vibrating for speech ...

and then relearning to sing. On prior albums he can be heard also playing the

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica inclu ...

on several tracks from their 2004 release, ''

Love and Distance ''Love and Distance'' is the third release from the Portland-based band The Helio Sequence. It was released on June 8, 2004 by Sub Pop Records Sub is a common abbreviation of words beginning with the prefix "sub-". Sub or SUB may also refer to ...

''.

Benjamin Weikel

Benjamin Weikel grew up in Beaverton, Oregon, where he worked with Summers at the local music store. As well as playing drums and keyboard for The Helio Sequence, and taking part in production, Weikel also recorded with the band

Modest Mouse Modest Mouse is an American rock band formed in 1992 in Issaquah, Washington, and currently based in Portland, Oregon. The founding members are lead singer/guitarist Isaac Brock, drummer Jeremiah Green, and bassist Eric Judy. Strongly influenced ...

, drumming on their platinum-selling record ''

Good News for People Who Love Bad News ''Good News for People Who Love Bad News'' is the fourth studio album by American rock band Modest Mouse, released on April 6, 2004 by Epic Records. Founding member Jeremiah Green did not perform on this album due to his temporary absence from th ...

'', and later their record '' No One's First, and You're Next'' in 2009. This led to the Helio Sequence and Modest Mouse touring together at one point. He also recorded with Ramona Falls for their 2009 album ''

Intuit Intuit Inc. is an American business software company that specializes in financial software. The company is headquartered in Mountain View, California, and the CEO is Sasan Goodarzi. Intuit's products include the tax preparation application Tu ...

''.

Discography

* '' Accelerated Slow Motion Cinema (EP)'' (1999) * ''

Com Plex ''Com Plex'' is the first album by indie rock band The Helio Sequence. It was released on September 5, 2000, on Cavity Search Records. It contains a cover of the Beatles song "Tomorrow Never Knows". Critical reception ''The New York Times ...

'' (2000) * ''

Young Effectuals ''Young Effectuals'' is the second release from the Portland-based band The Helio Sequence. It was released on October 9, 2001, by Cavity Search Records. It is less pop-oriented than their later albums, and it features longer songs densely laye ...

'' (2001) * ''

'' (2004) * '' Keep Your Eyes Ahead'' (2008) * ''Heliomena "Converter"'' (split 7-inch with

) (2010) * ''

'' (2012) * ''The Helio Sequence'' (2015)

References

External links

The Helio Sequence page
at

2007 The Helio Sequence interview at Bandega.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Helio Sequence, The 1999 establishments in Oregon Cavity Search Records artists Indie rock musical groups from Oregon Musical groups established in 1999 Musical groups from Portland, Oregon Rock music duos Sub Pop artists