The Top Hat is happy to welcome The Sheen for a live concert performance at the Top Hat on Saturday, July 21, 2018.
About The Sheen
The Sheen is a quintet occupied with the creation of curious sonic structures haphazardly disguised as rock music. The Sheen’s origins trace back to their former organist/vocalist Kelsey and guitarist/vocalist Riley moving into Riley’s dead grandma’s Chevy wandering around the Pacific Northwest, they eventually wound up in Bellingham, WA, where the group currently resides.
There, Riley met Justin (a New Jersey transplant and bassist) in a park and discovered a mutual love of Anthony Braxton, Art Ensemble of Chicago, obscure Russian classical music and rock bands such as The Jesus Lizard. The pair wrote a trove of gross chromatic music on nylon string guitars in the park until Riley found employment on a shellfish farm, Justin got a job as a cabbie, and they both moved out to the quiet suburban neighborhood in the woods known as Sudden Valley. They began playing amplified music with drum kits and electric guitars which resulted in eventual eviction.
The Sheen draws inspiration from pataphysics, Charlie Chaplin, Cinema, avant-garde jazz, psychedelia, noise rock, and West African music. The group often utilizes jarring contrasts, unpredictability, harmonized guitars, electroacoustics, and free improvisation, without completely discarding forms or songwriting techniques common to rock music. The Sheen is punk rock, rigorously rehearsed through the lens of dada.
The group has played a number of shows around the Puget Sound, and they recorded their debut album in the fall of 2017 at The Unknown in Anacortes. They will be embarking on a West Coast tour in August, and are in the process of writing and recording a new album. The current lineup features Justin Benz on bass, Kellan McLaughlin on guitar, Riley on guitar and vocals and Brock Muench alongside Jonathan Sherman on dual drum kits.
