How This Denver Band Is “Weeding Out Fans”

While Bobby Malone was trying to come up with potential names for his band, his then-girlfriend blurted out tachypnea, a medical term for rapid breathing. 

After tweaking the word and changing the spelling, the moniker was ready to go: Takipnik .“Some people can say it the first try (while) some people can’t,” the guitarist says. “Maybe it’s our way of weeding out fans or something.”

Takipnik is preparing to drop its latest project, Awakened, and the metal trio will celebrate the release on Friday, October 24,  at the Skylark Lounge. 

The band, which formed in 2019, comprises Malone, drummer Brandon Grande and guitarist Will Rice. The upcoming eight-track LP maintains and expands on Takipnik’s sound, which lies at a crossroads between post-metal and alternative genres, with atmospheric forays and heavy riffs. 

Malone, who grew up in a small town in Nebraska, was exposed to live music early on. “My mom managed a restaurant and bands were always setting up in the back bar,” he says. “So I was sort of sneaking off and looking at their instruments as a little boy because I thought they were super cool. And I still think that.”

His musical taste would develop further; a particularly formative experience came when he traveled to South Dakota to see Pantera, after the band released its seminal album Far Beyond Driven. Eventually, Malone moved to Denver in 2005 and began creating his own music in a two-piece act.

That group split up, but it wasn’t long before Malone discovered his co-worker at Cervantes’ Masterpiece Ballroom was a drummer.  “We got together, he hit the drums really hard, I liked playing metal and it just started evolving into something heavier,” Malone says. “We played that way for a while and maybe a year later, [Ethan Kotel] joined” as bassist in 2021.

The first and short-lived iteration of Takipnik aimed for a setup similar to Phantogram, with automated samples and lighting that remain a core part of live shows. But the band is very different today, and has faced more lineup shifts: The original drummer exited after two records and Grande joined in, and Kotel left the project earlier this year. 

Kotel, who met Malone while working at Evergroove Studios, was still a major part of Awakened, though, as the recording and mixing engineer. He also co-wrote the album alongside Malone. “This album really did become an amalgam of our styles,” Kotel says. “It’s just a really fun process to be able to see how things come together with different backgrounds.”

The band’s newest member is Rice, who joined on guitar earlier this year. He sees Awakened not just as an album, but as a musical journey for listeners.

“As a newcomer to the band, I do think that this batch of songs is really a high point for the band in terms of writing, technicality and release,” Rice says. “Grab the LP, especially if you have a kick ass hi-fi at the house. [It’s] epic, poetic, heavy.”

The album will be available at the release show, where Takipnik will be joined by Denver band Orna and the self-described “prog-punk American ghouls” of Sexy Coyote. Since the concert is a week away from Halloween, attendees are encouraged to dress up in costumes. For more incentive, the best-dressed attendee of the night will win a free vinyl and T-shirt. 

“Support local music! The local scene is critically endangered [from a] general lack of interest going out post-COVID,” Kotel concludes. “I hope that more people check us out and come for the experience because I think we provide a good one.”

Takipnik, 7 p.m., Friday, October 24, Skylark Lounge, 140 South Broadway. Tickets are $14.47.