TNERTLE — an acronym, an imaginary reptilian-like animal I just made up and a Denver band with a “Dope” new release on the horizon — have an exciting month ahead of them. The band is about to drop a four-song EP and host a corresponding release party at Ophelia’s. The EP, Monsters Out West, is TNERTLE’s follow up to 2015’s MataMata and just the same, features more collaborations with Ray Salazar. In addition, the album features a fresh trombone component courtesy of Jon Kenney, a new addition to the band.
“For me, each song tells a tale and you can hear the stories in the melodies. The thought of monsters and stories made me think of books like ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ that involve monster-type creatures in high fantasy scenarios, so I decided that this group of four monsters would live out amongst the monster mountains of waves of the west.” – Monsters Out West producer and TNERTLE bassist Trent Campbell.
With this new EP, it’s become very clear that TNERTLE is Denver’s next big thing — and maybe even beyond the Mile High. You can catch a preview of the upcoming EP with the synthy, brass-heavy “Dope” below, exclusively here at 303 Magazine.
“There are a lot of different synth sounds and vocal samples [on ‘Dope’] collected from a variety of sources, one of which being an interview of two gang members from New Orleans’ 9th Ward. ‘Dope’ also happens to be one of my all-time personal favorite TNERTLE songs…” – Campbell
The release party at Ophelia’s on June 30 will include performances by TNERTLE, Jeraff (Jeff Barlow) and Impact (Luke Simms). Monsters Out West will be available for purchase in CD format at the event before the album’s official release on July 11. You can find more information on the event here and purchase tickets here. The band will also be playing ARISE Music Festival this August.