Ben Verellen is an American musician from Tacoma, Washington

Tacoma, Washington

Tacoma is a mid-sized urban port city and the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. The city is on Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Park. The population was 198,397, according to...

. Ben Verellen is also the brother of Dave Verellen

Dave Verellen

Dave Verellen grew up in Tacoma, Washington and was the vocalist for the mathcore band Botch. He has since gone on to play drums for the folk-country band Roy with his brother Ben Verellen . In 2008 he formed a band Narrows with members of Some Girls and These Arms Are Snakes.-References:...

—member of Botch

Botch (band)

Botch was a four-piece mathcore band from Tacoma, Washington, United States, that formed in 1993 and disbanded in 2002.-History:The band released two full-length albums and a handful of smaller releases including several singles and an EP. Its members went on an indefinite hiatus to form Roy,...

, Roy, and Narrows

Narrows (band)

Narrows is an American mathcore band based in Seattle, but with members "spread out across both the United States and two continents." The band has been described as a supergroup, as its lineup includes Dave Verellen of Botch and members of bands including Unbroken, These Arms Are Snakes and Bullet...

.

Musician

Verellen's first role was as drummer of the Tacoma post-hardcore

Post-hardcore

Post-hardcore is a genre of music that developed from hardcore punk, itself an offshoot of the broader punk rock movement. Like post-punk, post-hardcore is a term for a broad constellation of groups...

/noise rock

Noise rock

Noise rock describes a style of post-punk rock music that became prominent in the 1980s. Noise rock makes use of the traditional instrumentation and iconography of rock, but incorporates atonality and especially dissonance, and also frequently discards usual songwriting conventions.-Style:Noise...

 group Harkonen which formed in 1995. Harkonen released their debut album in 1999 through Wreck-Age before signing to Hydra Head Records

Hydra Head Records

Hydra Head Records is an independent record label which specializes in heavy metal music, founded in New Mexico by Aaron Turner in 1993...

 in 2001. The group's final release was Like a Virgin—a split release with These Arms Are Snakes

These Arms Are Snakes

These Arms Are Snakes was an American post-hardcore band that formed in 2002 and featured former members of Botch and Kill Sadie. The band was known for their intense live shows, which often feature vocalist Steve Snere crowd surfing and spending a large portion of the live performance in the...

— before disbanding in 2005.

He formed the country music

Country music

Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

/folk rock

Folk rock

Folk rock is a musical genre combining elements of folk music and rock music. In its earliest and narrowest sense, the term referred to a genre that arose in the United States and the UK around the mid-1960s...

 band Roy

Roy (band)

Roy was an American rock band that formed in 2002. The folk rock group was composed of drummer Dave Verellen and guitarist Brian Cook from the then recently disbanded mathcore group Botch...

 as a side project in 2002 with his brother Dave Verellen

Dave Verellen

Dave Verellen grew up in Tacoma, Washington and was the vocalist for the mathcore band Botch. He has since gone on to play drums for the folk-country band Roy with his brother Ben Verellen . In 2008 he formed a band Narrows with members of Some Girls and These Arms Are Snakes.-References:...

 and Brian Cook

Brian Cook (musician)

Brian Cook is an American bass guitarist currently in the band Russian Circles. He was also previously a full-time member of Botch, These Arms Are Snakes and Roy, and also a session musician for Mouth of the Architect...

. The group released two studio albums and a few EPs and has been inactive since 2006.

Verellen performed additional bass on These Arms Are Snakes' debut album Oxeneers or the Lion Sleeps When Its Antelope Go Home

Oxeneers or the Lion Sleeps When Its Antelope Go Home

-Band members:*Brian Cook – bass guitar, microKORG, vocals and pump organ*Ryan Frederiksen – guitar, pump organ and design*Steve Snere – vocals and microKORG*Erin Tate – drums and percussion-Additional personnel:...

, and was also briefly a touring drummer in 2005 until he abruptly quit without explanation and was quickly replaced by Chris Common.

He is currently a member of the experimental metal band Helms Alee.

Other avenues

In 2000, Verellen began working as an audio engineer for many local Washington bands in his basement. He later earned a Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, and started his own business building and selling guitar amplifiers called Verellen Amplifiers.

As band member

With Harkonen

• Harkonen (1999)
• Grizz (2001)
• Shake Harder Boy
  Shake Harder Boy
  Shake Harder Boy is an album by Harkonen, released in 2002 by Hydra Head Records.-Track listing:All tracks written by Harkonen.# "Smile Pretty" – 1:43# "Baristas Get Stalked" – 3:35# "Bargains Only" – 3:47# "Caseydrive" – 2:29...
  
  (2002)
• Dancing (2003)
• Like a Virgin (2005)

With Roy

• Tacomatose (2003)
• Big City Sin and Small Town Redemption (2004)
• Killed John Train (2006)

With Helms Alee

• Helms Alee (2008)
• Night Terror (2008)
• Weatherhead (2011)

As guest musician

Year	Band	Album	Role
2004	These Arms Are Snakes These Arms Are Snakes These Arms Are Snakes was an American post-hardcore band that formed in 2002 and featured former members of Botch and Kill Sadie. The band was known for their intense live shows, which often feature vocalist Steve Snere crowd surfing and spending a large portion of the live performance in the...	Oxeneers or the Lion Sleeps When Its Antelope Go Home Oxeneers or the Lion Sleeps When Its Antelope Go Home -Band members:*Brian Cook – bass guitar, microKORG, vocals and pump organ*Ryan Frederiksen – guitar, pump organ and design*Steve Snere – vocals and microKORG*Erin Tate – drums and percussion-Additional personnel:...	Additional bass
2006	Botch Botch (band) Botch was a four-piece mathcore band from Tacoma, Washington, United States, that formed in 1993 and disbanded in 2002.-History:The band released two full-length albums and a handful of smaller releases including several singles and an EP. Its members went on an indefinite hiatus to form Roy,...	061502 061502 061502 is a live concert DVD of Botch's final show at The Showbox in Seattle. It has two discs, one for the Concert DVD which includes 14 songs with bonus commentary, and a video for "Saint Matthew Returns To The Womb", and other bonuses...	Backing vocals
2009	Pelican Pelican (band) Pelican is a post-metal quartet from Chicago, Illinois.-Biography and description:The band is known for its dense combinations of different melodies and extended track lengths. Its distinctive sound draws from stoner rock, doom metal, post-rock, and other influences...	What We All Come to Need What We All Come to Need -Personnel:Band members* Trevor de Brauw – guitar* Bryan Herweg – bass* Larry Herweg – drums* Laurent Schroeder-Lebec – guitarOther personnel* Greg Anderson ))) – guest guitar on "The Creeper"* Ed Brooks – mastering...	Guest bass

As producer

Year	Band	Album	Role
2005	Valis	Champions of Magic	Engineer
2006	The Plains	Boy in the Mansuit	Mixing, vocal engineer
2006	The Vows	Vows	Engineer
2006	Mastodon Mastodon (band) Mastodon is an American heavy metal band from Atlanta, Georgia, formed in 1999. The band is composed of bassist/vocalist Troy Sanders, guitarist/vocalist Brent Hinds, guitarist Bill Kelliher and drummer/vocalist Brann Dailor...	Blood Mountain Blood Mountain (album) -Story notes:* The main character is in search of the Crystal Skull which he hopes to place at the top of Blood Mountain. In the making of DVD, the Crystal Skull is supposed to remove "the reptile brain" causing its owner the ability to achieve the next step of human evolution.* In an interview...	Assistant engineer
2006	The Helm	Grim Harvest	Engineer, mixing
2007	Champion Champion (band) Champion was a youth crew band that was formed by vocalist Jim Hesketh, and guitarist Chris Williams, in the spring of 1999 in Seattle, Washington...	Different Directions	Engineer, mixing
2007	Lozen	Enemies Against Power	Engineer
2008	Mamiffer	Hirror Enniffer	Engineer
2009	John Spalding	Loveland: The Beautiful Truth	Engineer
2009	The Nightgowns The Nightgowns The Nightgowns are a four-piece electronic indie rock band based out of Tacoma, Washington, with members Trevor Dickson , Cody Jones , Kyle Brunette , and B.J. Robertson...	Sing Something	Tracking

External links

• Verellen Amplifiers
• Ben Verellen on Discogs
  Discogs
  Discogs, short for discographies, is a website and database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. The Discogs servers, currently hosted under the domain name discogs.com, are owned by Zink Media, Inc., and are...