Summer of Peril Brings Its "Grunge-Gaze" to the Creepatorium

The shoegaze scene is already familiar with this joke, but it’s said you can tell how good a band will be by the amount of effects pedals on stage. After all, legend has it that the subgenre's moniker is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the noticeable amount of time guitarists in pioneering Brit groups such as My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive would stare down at their feet — hence, shoegaze.

It might have been a snarky jab back in the early '90s, but the alt-rock offspring gained a legitimate following and fanbase, especially when it cross-pollinated with grunge and indie-rock by the 2010s.

Alex Forbes, the guitarist-vocalist and creative curator of Fort Collins crew Summer of Peril, fell into the somber sonic serenade of shoegaze somewhat recently, so when talking about how crowded his pedal board is, he admits there’s not too much gear to lug around to shows…yet.
“It’s nothing crazy — only nine, at the moment. Not nearly as much as some shoegaze bands with huge pedal boards with all sorts of insanely expensive gear on there,” Forbes shares.

“I try to keep it to what’s necessary and minimize sounding too muddy,” he continues, adding that means he has a pretty standard set-up — mainly tuner, reverb, delay — but has been messing around with phasers and flangers a little, too.

“I’ve experimented around with a lot of other stuff, but that’s what I’m liking right now," he says. "It all fits on one board. Coming into this genre, I didn’t really understand at first, but now I’m a big fan of it.”

But his favorite, or at least most-trusted, pedal has to be the RAT — the simple-circuitry, tried-and-true effect that became synonymous with 1990s alternative rock. “We use a lot of RAT pedal distortion,” Forbes says, “but Matt [Lopez, the band’s bassist] uses Big Muff distortion.” Same difference.

But don’t judge a band by its pedals. Summer of Peril, which Forbes first formed with the help of Lopez (also of Denver hardcore band Lucked Out) in late 2023, approaches shoegaze a little differently. That’s why the music he, Lopez, guitarist Jacob Spriesch and drummer Zach Aedo create is best described as “grunge-gaze.”
There are "doomgaze," “nu-gaze” and “blackgaze” now, so it’s not too far out there, but it’s certainly fitting, especially after you listen to Summer of Peril’s 2024 debut, HOMESICK. Such songs as “Remington” and “Safe Haven” are two of the best examples of Peril’s penchant for working within the framework of both established genres, while primarily living in the spaces in between.

Forbes, who moved to Fort Collins from Texas in 2022 after leaving the military, recalls how HOMESICK is really a collection of his reflections on his past. Listening to it feels like tuning into a therapy session. "It’s very self-reflective,” he says of his general approach. “We like the idea of being really blunt with lyrics and being very emotionally raw when it comes to songwriting.”

That helps Summer of Peril’s music “hit home” with listeners, he adds. After contributing a track, “Poison,” to New Year Split 2025 with Creek and Overhang, the quartet is releasing a new twofer, [Revision], with the Pittsburgh alt project Strayline. on Friday, June 6. There’s a release show at Creepatorium the same day that includes Glowstate, Strainer and feverishh on the bill.

For the two upcoming demos-turned-songs, Forbes again dug into his teenage years, which he explains were filled with mental-health and substance-abuse issues, to come up with what’s proved to be a better coping mechanism — music.

“It’s like looking back on times like that and feeling guilty because of the way your mental health affects other people,” he adds. “But songwriting has always been very therapeutic.”

Summer of Peril — the name is a misnomer of “Summer Apparel,” Forbes explains — got a dozen more in the hopper, too, so expect a sophomore full-length sometime early next year. But always wearing his heart on his sleeve, singing in hushed drones, bleeds into the Peril ambience and aesthetic.

“That moodiness is natural because it’s about whatever is going on in life or in the past that I’m trying to work through,” Forbes concludes.

And there isn’t a pedal out there that can capture that.

Summer of Peril, with Glowstate, Strainer and feverishh, 7 p.m. Friday, June 6, Creepatorium, 1974 South Acoma St. Tickets are $15.