Blenderhead was an indie rock/punk/post-hardcore/math rock band from the Pacific Northwest and active throughout the 1990s, disbanding in 2001. They were one of the coolest and hardest to peg bands to come out of the 90s Christian alternative scene. It was this innovation and genre-blending that made them unique, but also perhaps limited their fanbase, always being just slightly out of reach for the average listener.
While much of Christian punk in the 90s was either in the pop-punk vein or moving towards hardcore, Blenderhead dabbled in a range of angular, dissonant sounds, all the while maintaining a sense of cohesion. Their material would have been right at home on D.C.-based Dischord Records, Quarterstick, or several other mainstream noisy punk labels.
The band comprised Bill Power (Point Blank, Iambillpower, Tenkiller, Spoken in Tongues), Ed Carrigan (Don’t Know), Eben Haase (Coolidge, Fellsway), Paul Henry (Don’t Know), and Matt Johnson (Don’t Know, Roadside Monument, Fellsway, Ninety Pound Wuss, and much more).
While each of the band’s three full-length albums has merit, I’ve always been drawn to their third and final offering, the ironically-titled Figureheads on the Forefront of Popular Culture. On the album, the band perfected its marriage of post-hardcore, atypical melodicism, and mathy indie rock. “Emerald City Indie Queen” is the 6th song from the album, released on Tooth & Nail in 2000.
