Ska music has a rough-and-tumble energy. The energy comes easily for Hatrick Penry, whose members have an average age of 19. Like all things, though, eventually the music comes to an end, and Hatrick Penry will be playing its last show as a band at the Fox Theatre on May 25.
A run like Hatrick Penry has had is different than most other bands, considering its origins in the hallways of the members’ high school.
Paul Schirmer, lead guitarist, Ian Rosenstein, bassist, and former member Drew Volz (who left the band in the fall of 2012) met in 2011, and would later be joined by Chris Roob, drummer, as well as Jake and Eli Johnson. This kicked off what would be a wild run for the band that would see it win the title of best local band in Boulder Weekly’s 2012 Best of Boulder.
Although the atmosphere at the Fox Theatre has the potential to be a somber one, considering the circumstances, Roob says that the show will be an exciting night for everyone inside.
“We expect it to be a crazy party,” Roob says. “It’s going to be a packed house. It’s going to be all of our friends and family there. It’s going to be nuts.”
Rosenstein says that the band will be having fun even though it could be the last time that they are together. He says that the members will be having fun, no matter what emotions show themselves backstage.
“We’ll definitely be emotionally unstable, but in a good way — crazy,” Rosenstein says. “We will be excited. Lots of memories and everything — it will be all of it together.”
The band has had some memorable experiences. Jake Johnson, a saxophonist, recalled one great memory that the band had in its two years together — when they opened for ska legend Goldfinger.
“Probably the Goldfinger show [was our best memory],” Johnson says. “The horns got to play on stage with them. That was the best part, I think. We got to meet with them and play with them. It was a blast.”
Though nothing is imminent or has been explicitly discussed, Roob hinted at possible reunions in the future.
“We talked it out, and nothing is in stone, but we will probably try to get back together at least once a year — but we will keep it a secret,” Roob says.
The members say they are very appreciative of the fans who helped them get to where they are.
“A lot of our fan base started with kids in our high school, but as we started to get more shows in Denver with the other local bands, then the local ska community started to grab on to your sound,” Roob says. “We started to have fans that we didn’t actually know from before we started playing music.”
“The coolest part was getting to know those people,” Rosenstein says. “Everyone in that scene is awesome.”
The members of Hatrick Penry may be closing out this chapter of their musical careers, but they insist that they will continue their relationships in the future. The group isn’t separating on bad terms. The breakup was simply because life had taken precedence over Hatrick Penry’s music.
“It’s not a negative thing,” Roob says. “It’s just as we are growing up, some of our paths go different ways, and opportunities arise. It’s been the greatest run I think that we have had in the Colorado music scene in the past two years. It’s something to be thankful for.”
“In the future, as we are all working on different things, we will go out and just support each other,” Schirmer says. “By no means is this an end of friendships.”
Although this seems to be the last time that Hatrick Penry will take the stage as a group, the band’s music will not soon be forgotten by their friends, family and the members themselves.
Hatrick Penry plays the Fox Theatre on Saturday, May 25. Doors at 8:30 p.m. Synthetic Elements and The A-OKs open. Tickets are $10. 1135 13th St., Boulder, 303-443-3399.
Respond: [email protected]
