Courtesy Flak
Audio By Carbonatix
Don’t let the pineapple house and cheery disposition fool you: SpongeBob SquarePants is more metal than most cartoon characters. Fans of the long-running animated TV series have been treated to some surprising guest appearances during the show’s 25-year run, including Pantera providing the “Pre-Hibernation” instrumental in a 2001 episode, and Ween instructing viewers on how to tie their shoes.
Dante DeLaurier, lead singer and guitarist of Denver trio Flak, credits another unexpected musical moment – a version of Twisted Sister’s “I Wanna Rock,” from 2004’s The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie – for ultimately inspiring him to pick up the instrument and form a band. And Flak wants to rock.
“I overheard my brother and his friend talking about wanting to play guitar, but they wanted to do it for chicks. I guess that’s cool. But then I saw this SpongeBob episode where he was shredding really hard and saving Bikini Bottom with this awesome guitar solo,” he says, adding that he bought a guitar and the required gear from a friend before recruiting lifelong partner-in-crime Ben Christ on bass.
The band, which also includes drummer Eddie Eaton, started gigging locally in 2021 and has released a handful of singles since then. On Thursday, February 9, Flak is opening for Rookie of the Year, along with Wiff and Tiny Humans, at the Marquis Theater.
DeLaurier credits such heavy hitters as Black Sabbath and Melvins for shaping the band’s sound, which the members call “gunk” – a mash up of “grunge” and “punk.”
“It was just like, ‘Let’s mess around.’ We had that moment where we were really terrible but were like, ‘Dude, this could be our life. It just has to be catchy. It doesn’t even have to be good,'” he adds with a laugh. “The main people that I looked up to and tried to make music similar to was Black Sabbath. I wanted to shy away from being the typical new band that was trying to do Nirvana better than Nirvana. I was really into Black Sabbath, but when I would write music, it wasn’t like I was thinking, ‘What would Sabbath do?’ I was just playing what I could.”
After seeing Melvins at the Fox Theatre last September, as well as receiving some razzing about having a hairdo similar to that of legendary frontman Buzz Osborne, DeLaurier started mixing sludgier elements into Flak’s music.
“We are really inspired by the Melvins,” he says, explaining that it was a sound guy who teased him about resembling a younger King Buzzo initially, which prompted him to check out the grunge gods. “I ended up listening to the music, and I just loved everything about it. It wasn’t typical. It was kind of weird, but it was still heavy and fast. There were some metal aspects in there. Just sludge and doom music.”
Eaton – who is also in local bands Deadpan, Undissassembled and Warsaw – brings more of a hardcore edge to Flak through influences like Drain and Sunami, DeLaurier adds.
“I really wanted to start making heavier music,” he says, “and ever since he came on board, he’s helped us with that.”
Flak is also busy working on a “string of singles” to release this year, but the trio is “always down for a show,” which is what DeLaurier told Wes Luna of Wiff when reaching out about being on the Marquis bill. “We’re writing a bunch and trying to figure out our process of recording,” he adds.
While DeLaurier is in school for music – he originally was studying film – he and his bandmates are dedicated to making Flak their livelihoods sooner rather than later.
“Ultimately,” he says, “I want this to be my life.”
Flak, 7 p.m. Thursday, February 9, Marquis Theater, 2009 Larimer Street. Tickets are $12.
