Denver Group Probes Isn't Your Typical Sludge Band

Throughout history, the number three has been recognized as a sacred numeral, even mysterious or ominous.

Pythagoras, the Greek philosopher responsible for the Pythagorean theorem, believed that three was divine and represented the cycle of life: birth, life and death. In Christianity, the Three Wise Men, their actual names and appearances still unknown, traveled to witness the birth of Jesus, himself a symbol of the holy trinity. And then there’s the Appalachian superstition that deaths, or tragedies, occur as hat tricks (in threes).

For Denver trio Probes, the number just happens to be at the root of everything it does, from the lineup to the writing process. Bassist Matt Rinehart explains that there wasn’t any special meaning or intention behind it. At first, it was more out of necessity that anything else. “It was kind of imposed a little bit,” he says, adding that he initially aimed to post three pictures at a time on social media, but "that became a huge pain in the ass.”

Then there are the band’s four EPs, including this year’s You Were Gone, which all feature three songs. “We had a thing about threes for a while. We write three songs, we record three songs, play some shows in between, then we write three more songs and record them. That’s just the way it’s always been,” Rinehart shares.

“I guess it’s a formula in certain aspects, but we’re not stuck in it; it’s just what works,” drummer David Saylor adds.

Saylor and Rinehart, along with vocalist Matt Lamoureaux, have talked about changing it up a bit, whether that’s adding another full-time member or collaborating with other musicians in general. But there’s no urgency or need to do so anytime soon.

“I do like threes better than fours, though,” says Lamoureaux, who goes by Lam. “Odd numbers are better.”

“But it’s 2024. EP number four. That’s what it’s for,” Saylor quips.

It’s also Probes' fourth year as a band, and the three amigos are starting it off with an EP-release show on Friday, February 2, at HQ. Lost Relics, Burn Unit and Black Yeti are sharing the bill.

While Probes has proved prolific, it was never supposed to be anything more than a pandemic project. “We didn’t intend for it to last this long. It was a side project, and it just kept progressing and we kept writing,” Lamoureaux explains. “Now it seems like it’s the only consistent thing every week that we can rely on.”

Probes isn't the only band the three play in together, though. Rinehart and Lamoureaux are also in local hardcore band Chew Thru, while Rinehart and Saylor play in doom group Voideater. In addition, Lamoureaux and Saylor previously partnered in punk outfit the Lurchers.

Making noise as Probes was more about passing time and funneling frustrations into something creative. “It was kind of to be the yin to the yang of our hardcore band Chew Thru, which is positive and trying to motivate people for change,” Lamoureaux says. “Probes is everything negative. It’s like a release, cleansing your soul.

“We were just jonesing to do something completely the opposite — doomy, sludgy,” he continues. “It just all worked out. It was a natural birth.”

Not having a proper guitarist might seem like a birth defect, but Rinehart more than makes up for it by splitting his bass signal and playing two different parts. “I was stuck at home with just my bass and fucking around,” he recalls. “I wrote this eleven-minute, homemade, programmed-drum thing and showed it to Lam, and he was like, ‘We've got to do this live.’ We started with a bunch of riffs.”

Add in Saylor’s jazz-like drumming — specifically, how he never truly plays a song the same way twice live — and Probes is unlike anything the members have done before.

“We don’t use loops or samples,” Saylor says.

“No backing tracks or any of that shit,” Rinehart adds.

That’s why “you have to make up for it in other ways. Your right arm gets stronger,” Lamoureaux explains.

“It’s pretty intense. We’re in this hardcore band, but it’s a completely different kind of intense,” he continues. “It’s almost harder to do, even though it’s slower. It’s just constant.”

Loudness is a given with the type of music Probes plays, and being bass-driven only makes it heavier. “We kind of have a handicap, but we use it to our benefit,” Lamoureaux says. “Matt’s evolved his bass sound as we’ve been going, and it’s just so much thicker. It’s just a constant evolution.”

Other than the musical makeup, lyrically the band consciously writes about more real-world problems and not the conventional doom themes. “We want to stay away from the stereotypical topics like weed and space and Dungeons & Dragons, wizards, and keep it more real to life,” the vocalist adds, explaining that his mother was hospitalized when the group first started jamming together.

“That’s where the first song came from,” he notes. “We try to keep all of the songs topically related to real things that have happened.”

In that sense, there are “a lot more dynamics in Probes than any other band I’ve been in,” says Saylor.

“You can’t have the loud without the quiet,” he concludes.

Probes, 8 p.m. Friday, February 2, HQ, 60 South Broadway. Tickets are $10.