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More About

• Chris Brown
• Jody Monson
• Jen Frale
• Higher Education
• Colleges and Universities

A co-ed, lo-fi trio with a sound that's as garage as a dusty croquet set, the Speeks have been all over local stages in recent months. An upcoming gig will punctuate their hectic schedule: On Wednesday, April 2, at the Larimer Lounge, the band opens for Riverside, California's finest soul-punks, the BellRays. With fuzzed-out vocals and gnashing, clockwork riffs, the Speeks dish up quick-and-dirty songs that are catchy and non-formulaic, familiar and melodic. Aside from the garage clutter, there's a whiff of lovelorn, longhair balladry permeating the Speeks' oeuvre -- appropriate for a band with metallic roots but locks that were shorn long ago. Frontman Chris Brown and drummer Jen Frale (ex-Pindowns) are refugees from Dekalb, Illinois, while bassist Jody Monson thumped bass with Brown in the Witter Cofield Conspiracy. In this newish configuration, the members of the Speeks wield their collective heavy metal/punk past like a rusty razor blade in a Day-Glo plastic noisemaker.