Insomniac Folklore is an American rock band from

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

. The group is made up of Rev Tyler Hentschel, Adrienne Michelle and Amanda Curry with other members joining them from time to time. Hentschel is the project's only consistent member since he founded the group in 2001.

Biography

Insomniac Folklore had its start in the small town of

Roseburg, Oregon Roseburg is the most populous city in and the county seat of Douglas County, Oregon. It is located in the Umpqua River Valley in southern Oregon. Founded in 1851, the population was 23,683 at the 2020 census, making it the principal city of th ...

, when lead singer Tyler Hentschel decided to start doing acoustic singer-songwriter sets (then known as "The Tyler Hentschel Band") as a side project to the punk and hardcore bands he was playing in at the time. Over the years Hentschel has been joined by a rotating cast of friends and family as they released six full-length records and three E.P.s and toured the continental United States. The group has become known for their somewhat unpredictable live shows and their sense of camaraderie as a group. Insomniac Folklore has toured and played with acts such as

Jason Webley Jason Webley is an American musician known for his fusion of folk, experimental, and alternative music. Webley plays the guitar and accordion, sometimes providing percussion by stomping or shaking a plastic vodka bottle filled with coins. Webley b ...

Chelsea Wolfe Chelsea Joy Wolfe (born November 14, 1983) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. Her work blends elements of gothic rock, doom metal, and folk music, folk. Growing up in Northern California with a country musician father, Wolfe began ...

, The Fall of Troy, Wovenhand, Unwoman,

The Locust The Locust was an American hardcore punk band from San Diego, California, known for their mix of grindcore aggression and new wave experimentation. The band has been noted for their use of insect costumes when performing live. History Prio ...

and

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. Insomniac Folklore has also made appearances at

Steamcon Steamcon was one of the largest steampunk Fan convention, conventions/symposium, symposia in the United States. Located in the Seattle area of Washington (U.S. state), Washington state, Steamcon held its first symposium in 2009. Steamcon grew ou ...

SXSW South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

, Steampunk Worlds Fair, Audio Feed, and Tomfest. The name "Insomniac Folklore" is a reference to Hentschel's own battle with

insomnia Insomnia, also known as sleeplessness, is a sleep disorder where people have difficulty sleeping. They may have difficulty falling asleep, or staying asleep for as long as desired. Insomnia is typically followed by daytime sleepiness, low ene ...

when he started the project. Hentschel intends for the project to me more about friendship than being a "concise" band. Hentschel writes more of the material but wants everyone involved to have part of their personality in the music. Hentschel's second release, "Consumer Appreciation" gained moderate popularity in the early 2000s, but he struggled to find an audience for his music during the several years he spent living among the redwoods in Northern California. It was during this lonely period that he released the album "Smile or Die," which in 2005 was on the

HM Magazine ''HM Magazine'' is a monthly, digital and print on demand publication focusing on hard music and alternative culture of interest to Christians. It is based in Houston, Texas. Originally published as ''Heaven's Metal'', it was renamed to ''HM'' in ...

top 5 staff pics for record of the year. In 2006, Hentschel moved back to Oregon, taking up residence in Portland. The album ''Oh Well'' celebrates this transition with ditties such as "North to the Future" (a reference to the Joe Christmas album) and "It rains." This album also marked a turning point in the band, as the sound became darker and more theatrical, moving away from early influences such as The Beatles and Simon & Garfunkel, and showing a deeper connection with the likes of

Nick Cave Nicholas Edward Cave (born 22 September 1957) is an Australian musician, writer, and actor who fronts the rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Known for his baritone voice, Cave's music is characterised by emotional intensity, a wide variety ...

and

Tom Waits Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American musician, composer, songwriter, and actor. His lyrics often focus on society's underworld and are delivered in his trademark deep, gravelly voice. He began in the American folk music, fo ...

. On May 13, 2010, ''E.P.'', was released. This is the first stand-alone EP from Insomniac Folklore. It features a full band lineup and a very raw sound. Nate and Tessa Allen from Destroy Nate Allen provided vocals on "Campfire Song." On June 13, 2010, ''L.P.'', Insomniac Folklore's largest project to date, was released, bringing together new material with fresh recordings of early favorites, and officially uniting the group of friends now known as the Portland chapter of Insomniac Folklore. In 2011, Insomniac Folklore recorded and released a new full-length album, ''A Place Where Runaways Are Not Alone''. ''Runaways'' was a concerted effort between members of the Portland and St. Louis bands, and the finished album features the work of every current member of Insomniac Folklore, and guest tracks by Daniel Otto Jack Petersen of the Horror Punk act, Blaster the Rocket Man. On November 3, 2011, the band released a music video for the song "Useless," filmed by Emily Kathryn Curry. The band's most recent E.P., ''The Scariest Thing in the Dark'' (2012), features songs by both the Portland and St. Louis bands, as well as spoken word tracks by Tyler and Daniel Otto Jack Petersen. Insomniac Folklore has been associated with both the

Cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, casino, hotel, restaurant, or nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or drinking, ...

and

Steampunk Steampunk is a subgenre of science fiction that incorporates retrofuturistic technology and Applied arts, aesthetics inspired by, but not limited to, 19th-century Industrial Revolution, industrial steam engine, steam-powered machinery. Steampun ...

movements. They have been featured on Sepiachord for the songs "Kids", "Useless" and "The Scariest Thing in the Dark". On November 5, 2013, the band's website announced a new album in the works entitled, "Everything Will Burn" would be recorded during the winter of 2013. The album was released on June 28, 2017.

Members

The only constant member of the band since the beginning is Tyler Hentschel. Every other position in the band has been filled by several of other musicians. Dennis Childers joined the band as part-time bass player in 2007. Dennis has also played with

Yum Yum Children The Yum Yum Children, also known as YMYM FAM, are a Christian band originally from Portland, Oregon, now located in Oklahoma. Their music is similar to that of They Might Be Giants or 1970s style art rock. Background Prior to his involvement wi ...

, Flock 14, Empty Tomb &

Larry Norman Larry David Norman (April 8, 1947 – February 24, 2008) was an American musician, singer, songwriter, record label owner, and record producer. He is considered to be one of the pioneers of Christian rock music and released more than 100 album ...

. In 2008, Ayden Simonatti joined the band as a bass player then moved to drums while working with Hentschel on another project as alter egos "Runes and Numerals." Around the same time, Ayden's sisters Zoe and Anavah Simonatti joined the band as backing vocalists. Ayden, Zoe and Anavah are the children of Randy and Chris Simonatti of the alternative punk group, The Clergy. Zoe and Anavah stopped being active members of the band in 2011. Wallace the Sheep joined the band shortly before summer tour of 2011.

Current members

* Tyler Hentschel – Vocals, Guitar,

Stomping A stomp (also referred to as a stamp) is a downwards strike with the heel of the foot from the stand-up position, and is usually directed at the head or body of a downed opponent. A stomp similar to an axe kick is referred to as an axe stomp, ...

*Adrienne Michelle –

Puppetry Puppetry is a form of theatre or performance that involves the manipulation of puppets – wikt:inanimate, inanimate objects, often resembling some type of human or animal figure, that are animated or manipulated by a human called a puppeteer. S ...

, Vocals, *Amanda Curry – Bass, Vocals *Sam Ellis – Percussion, Vocals *Peter Corbin – Hammond B3, Keyboard, Vocals

Part time members

*Joshua Hedlund –

Accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German language, German ', from '—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a Reed (mou ...

*Lisa Barfield – Violin *Ayden Simonatti – Drums *Dennis Childers – Bass *St John Van Beek –

*Danielle Maes – Violin

Former members and contributors

*Zoe Simonatti – Vocals *Anavah Simonatti – Vocals *Brian Fletchner – Drums *Leon Goodenough – Guitar *Tim Westcott – Synthesizer * Bradley Hathaway – Voice *Ricardo Alessio –

Ironing Board Ironing is the use of an iron, usually heated, to remove wrinkles and unwanted creases from fabric. The heating is commonly done to a temperature of , depending on the fabric. Ironing works by loosening the bonds between the long-chain polymer mo ...

*Kat Jones – Vocals *Daniel Petersen – Voice *Nate Allen – Vocals *Tessa Allen – Vocals

Discography

;Studio albums * '' Consumer Appreciation'' (2003) * '' Smile or Die'' (2005) * '' Oh Well'' (2007) * '' LP'' (2010) * '' A Place Where Runaways Are Not Alone'' (2011) * '' Everything Will Burn'' (2017) ;EPs * ''EP'' (2010) * ''Folklore, Narcissism, Destruction'' (2011) * ''The Scariest Thing in The Dark'' (2012) * ''Kill a Tree for Jesus'' (2012) * ''Hands, Lips and Eyes'' (2024) ;B-side, Demo and Compilation albums * ''What a Mess Vol. 1'' (2010) * ''Alone'' (2010) * '' Sleep in Your Car'' (2014) * '' The Early Years'' (2014) ;Live albums * ''Live in Salem'' (2006) ;Singles * "Listen to Your Parents (But Don't Trust the Government)" (2013) ;Compilation albums * "Quiver Society Comp 1" (2006) * "Failing Records: A Compilation Of Portland Music Volume 4" (2007) * "Folk Family Union Volume 2" (2010) * "Eat This Comp. Volume 1" (2013
Eat this Comp. Volume 1, by Eat this Comp

Tours

* Spring 2002: West Coast Tour (with Kat Jones & MAP) * Summer 2003: "Consumer Appreciation" National Tour (solo) * Fall 2005: "North to the Future" West Coast tour * Summer 2006: "Smile or Die" West Coast Tour * Summer 2007: "Oh Well" West Coast tour * Summer/Fall 2010: "Alone" National tour (solo) * Summer 2011: "The Runaways Tour" national * Spring 2012: "Runaway Pioneers" Midwest tour (with Kevin Schlereth) * Spring/Summer 2013: "You Have Died" National tour * Fall 2013: "Going Out West" National tour (w/ Kat Jones) * Summer 2015: National Tour (duo) * Fall 2016: "Premonitions / recollections" National tour * Summer 2016: Tour of South and Midwest * Summer 2017: "Everything Will Burn" National Tour * Summer 2018: "Duo" National Tour (duo) * Summer 2019: "Summer Tour" West/Midwest (Full band tour)

References

{{authority control 2001 establishments in Oregon Musical trios from Oregon Dark cabaret musicians Gypsy punk groups Indie rock musical groups from Oregon Musical groups established in 2001 Musical groups from Portland, Oregon Steampunk music