Shapeshifting Sound: Huck N’ Pray and the Art of Iguana Rock
What started as spontaneous dorm room jams and late-night sessions in a church attic has evolved into one of Boulder’s most talked-about artists. In just two years, Huck N' Pray has gone from backyard openers to headlining the stage at the Fox Theatre, a landmark of Boulder’s vibrant music scene. Made up of Cory Shishik, Fintan Canning, Axel Pearson, and Will Berbaum, the band channels an undeniable chemistry built on friendship, community, and a shared devotion to their craft. Self-described as “chameleon, iguana rock,” Huck N' Pray’s sound challenges the status quo. No two setlists are ever the same, constantly being reshaped by gig and intuition. Their genre-blending approach breathes life into Boulder’s scene, showcasing a mix of 60s-inspired surf rock, heavy psychedelic grooves, and an unfiltered energy that keeps audiences coming back for more.As the band gears up to go on their second tour this summer, they’re also prepping their first live album, a love letter to Boulder’s thriving music scene. They continue to headline local venues, host backyard shows, and grow their fanbase one electric night at a time. Huck N' Pray embodies the essence of the city’s music culture: grounded, fearless, and endlessly evolving.I sat down with Huck N' Pray to dive into their origins, their creative flow, and what lies ahead for the band redefining what it means to be local legends in the making.
Stay tuned with their journey on Instagram: @hucknprayband
Huck N’ Pray live at the Fox Theatre
What’s the story behind your band name?
“I was in a dorm my freshman year talking to my friend Jane about skiing, she asked if I liked to hit the big jumps and I said ‘Just the medium-sized ones’ and she goes ‘Yeah, I don’t like the ones where you have to huck and pray’, and in that moment I knew I needed to write that down. I thought it fit pretty well given we’re in Colorado, we’ve even gotten a few gigs solely based on the fact that our name was related to skiing, like at Copper Mountain. (A ski resort in Colorado) We’ve also played at The Fox to accompany a skiing movie that was presented by Ikon. (a global ski & snowboard pass company) A couple of our mom’s were talking one day and said it was perfect because we just kind of take off and do a lot of improvisation, so we huck and pray and just see where the music takes us. So I think that’s also pretty fitting.”
How did you all meet, and when did it start feeling like more than just a few jam sessions?
“In the winter, sometime around November 2023, during our freshman year we jammed a few times in a place we call the church, which isn’t actually a church. It’s some abandoned religious building, but there was a practice space in the attic. We crafted a flyer because we realized we needed a bass player. So we formed a bunch of criteria like ‘could improvise, can solo, can lay it down, is chill”, then we had a bunch of auditions and Will was the only one who could nail the turnaround on ‘Down with Disease’ by Phish, so that’s when we really solidified the band. We played our first house show and Berkley Robbins, our manager, had taken a video and sent it to Ty Tullar, the drummer for The Dirty Turkeys. We were fortunate enough to get offered a spot to open up for them at The Fox Theatre for our third show ever due to her. Berkley also handled the booking for our tour this summer, so we’re really grateful for all her help, she’s a huge asset to Huck N’ Pray. But anyways, I started thinking it could be something bigger about a year ago when we started leaning into the heavy jam stuff more and moved away from indie. We realized we didn’t have to market ourselves as any specific sound, plus we weren’t very good at the whole indie thing.”
Every band in Boulder seems to have their own twist. Where do you think you fit into the scene, or are you trying to stand apart from it?
“I would say I haven’t really heard a student band that sounds like us in Boulder. We jam a lot, and most of the jam bands in Boulder are cover bands. I feel like we do a lot more spontaneous improvisation and play originals. Our stuff is heavier than the other jam bands in Boulder and we’ve been leaning more into this surf-rock sound that gives us more variety. We don’t like to market ourselves as a jam band because there's a lot of them already in Colorado, plus the genre has become kind of gimmicky. I feel like a lot of these modern jam bands write a song just to jam on it. I think you have to have the song before you can jam. We label ourselves as ‘iguana rock’ because we want to play a variety of genres really well, even though that’s more like a chameleon, but that doesn’t quite roll off the tongue as smoothly. If we’re playing a house show, we like to get thrashy and bring the energy up, but if we’re playing at Trident (a local bookstore), it’s a totally different scene, so we change our songs to fit a lot of different genres. That’s the nicest thing about being a band that improvises because you can change your sound based on the gig. We have this song called ‘Front Side Down’ and we’ve played that in so many styles. We’ve gotten super heavy with it, blissful with it, funky with it, and that’s where the magic happens. I think what separates us is that we just hit the ground running. We’ll jam over a certain chord progression and then change it into something completely different. So, I think that’s a big factor, at least for the jam bands in Boulder. We still love them and the traditional sort of jam bands, we just don’t really adhere to that.”
What themes or emotions do you find yourselves channeling in your music?
“It really just depends on the day. The weird thing is, when I was younger I was really inspired by James Taylor, Bob Dylan, and that acoustic sound. So, in high school I spent a lot of time writing sappy songs, and found it really difficult to do that. Then, I joined Huck N’ Pray and started writing songs about more negative stuff. Like the people I didn’t like, or angsty lyrics that weren’t necessarily positive. Now, those are some of the lyrics I’m most proud of. My lyrics in ‘Front Side Down’ are about a guy who’s lost everything, driving down the highway, and those aren't really happy lyrics you know? I also started leaning into songs that were more unserious too, like “F*ck on the Floor”. It’s a really goofy song, but then we have ‘Leap of Faith’ which is not a hopeful song. It’s about powerlessness and about a guy contemplating his life on the side of a bridge. I don’t know what kind of wavelength I was on, but it really all just depends on what kind of mood I’m in, or what songs I’m listening to at the time.”
When people walk away from your set, what do you want them to remember?
“I just want people to dance, have a good time, and be surprised. What got me into jamming was when I went to a Phish show and it was just a big dance party. I don’t want people to just stand around, I love when people are smiling, can feel the tension and release, and remember things from our set like a crazy guitar solo. Surprising people and keeping them on the edge of their seat is a big thing for us too. When we play ‘Sawtooth’ we always jump at a particular part of the song and the crowd loves it. I introduced it one time and no one knew what it was, but then I said, ‘I hope you guys like jumping’, and everyone went crazy and started cheering. So, just showing the crowd something they’ve never seen before, all the people that have inspired us do their own thing and don’t sound like anyone else, that's what we’re trying to go for. We’ve never played the same show, you could see three shows in a row and we won’t play the same songs, or jam on them the same way. But, the most important thing is that people like the music and think ‘I’d see them again’.”
