By Nicholas Merl
Andrés Perez (Left), Bryon Parker (Center) and Dan Monaghan (Right) playing at Wesley Foundation United Methodist Church, Saturday, Feb. 8 (Photos via Machkne Rudnicki)
Denver-based experimental hardcore trio Scorplings played at the Punk Standard show at Wesley Foundation United Methodist Church on Saturday, Feb. 8. Playing alongside coloradan punk acts Soneffs, Chair Bomb and Plastik Mystik, it was the band’s second appearance in Boulder. Between drummer Dan Monaghan, guitarist Andrés Perez and baritone guitarist Bryon Parker, Scorplings’ sound was emphatically unique, combining grinding noise with bold sonic experimentation.
Performing last, Scorplings differentiated itself from prior acts with a more eclectic, wide-ranging style. After Soneffs’ heavy grunge, Plastik Mystik’s frenetic intensity and Chair Bomb’s incendiary shock, Scorplings’ music mixed stinging hardcore with complex rhythm and dynamic, spatial vocals.
The end result was a performance covering a spectrum from nuanced experimentalism to raw noise. On one end, songs like “Fever Dream Death Kiss” and “A Private Discussion” were more introspective and abstract. On the other, the feverish paranoia of “Terrain” and blistering whirlwind of “Spaghetti” injected a razor-sharp hardcore. What tied Scorplings’ music together was a subtle intricacy, from Monaghan’s polyrhythmic drumming to Perez’s and Parker’s cascading riffs.
Scorplings’ original inception happened over Craigslist, with Monaghan and Parker connecting first and Perez joining soon after. “Dan and I met over coffee, and then maybe a week later, we met with Andrés,” Parker said. “It’s been about a year this month,” Perez said. “We’ve practiced just about every week since then, missed a few here and there, but generally very consistent.”
The band’s name was originally Perez’s idea. “I’ve eaten scorpions before, you know, just like, once or twice,” he said, adding: “I just wanted something interesting. I don’t know, the scorpions, they just grabbed me. Diminutive but dangerous.“ Coincidentally, Monaghan’s wife had also been stung by a scorpion. In Monaghan’s words, “life makes you sting.” Much of Scorplings’ musical philosophy is aimed at capturing just that.
On another level, many of Scorplings’ songs are inspired by the spaces they inhabit. Monaghan’s backyard recording studio, nicknamed “The Spaghetti Warehouse,” has been an important focal point for Scorplings, often referenced in their songs. “Over the course of a year, it’s become like my home away from home,” Perez said. “It permeates through everything. You know, it comes into the names of the songs, the color paint that it has on the side, I’ve gotten the hex code for that and used it in some of our art.” Parker went so far as to call the studio “just as much of a member” of Scorplings as the actual bandmates.
Deep down, the trio’s songwriting is mostly personal, exploring their identities and relationships with one another. “I think what I really like about the way we create is we kind of only do stuff that we all like equally,” Monaghan said. “And so we’ll all kind of come together with different parts, little ideas and stuff. So we’ll, like, put our puzzles together.”
For Parker, the synergy between his own and his bandmates’ musical style was all about communication. “I think if you’re a musician, you have acquired this gear, and maybe you can say that your equipment is your language,” Parker said. “If you can have a conversation with your friends and other people are sticking around to hear it, I think that’s the end goal.”
“It goes back to, like, the idea of a conversation,” Perez said. “That’s what we try to do with the music too. It’s like, what can I do? I can compliment them, or maybe it’s just my turn to stop playing for a little bit.“ Parker agreed that this open-mindedness helped forge a harmonious unit out of each member’s individual style. “I just think we’re all drawing from such different reference points that it meshes really well,” Parker said.
Ultimately, Scorplings’ music defied easy labels. This collective openness to new approaches was key to the trio’s songwriting process. “You kind of let it come to you,” Parker said. “I think collectively, we’re all capable of writing a song, but the trick is to contribute to each other’s songwriting.”
Individualism, synergism and relentless experimentation were square favorites among Boulder’s youthful hardcore scene. The band’s impression of the crowd at the Wesley Church was broadly positive. “It’s super special to just see the community coming together and just like, smiling and dancing, and it’s nothing better than that,” Monaghan said. “Does it really get better than a safe space where people can be themselves? And you can see people being themselves,” Parker said. “I think that’s probably the best.”