Email Author Tom Murphy

2011 Stories by Tom Murphy

• Review: Melt Banana at Larimer Lounge, 10/8/11

  published Oct 09, 2011

  MELT BANANA at the LARIMER LOUNGE | 10/8/11Nothing can fully prepare you for the sounds coming off stage at a Melt Banana show unless you've seen the band before. Between the breakneck rhythms, Yasuko... More >>

• Veteran Denver musician Andy Monley on gigging in 2011

  published October 6, 2011

  Andy Monley started playing live music in Denver in 1981, when he was still in high school, with his first band, the Joy Division-inspired... More >>

• Mombi

  published October 6, 2011

  From the jump, the songs on Mombi's The Wounded Beat sound like they were written during a transitional time of day. Or perhaps during... More >>

• Michael Monroe

  published October 6, 2011

  Michael Monroe made his name as the charismatic frontman of seminal Finnish glam band Hanoi Rocks. Before the tragic death of drummer Nicholas... More >>

• Melt Banana

  published October 6, 2011

  Though renowned among fans of bizarro punk rock in the West, Melt Banana is still somewhat unknown in its home of Tokyo, where J-pop still... More >>

• Collapse plays October 8 at Bender's Tavern

  published October 6, 2011

  Cephalic Carnage, Vale of Pnath, To Be Eaten, Swashbuckle and Rainbowdragoneyes are all names that anyone paying attention to the better end of... More >>

• Roger Taylor of Duran Duran on writing new music rather than resting on one's laurels

  published Oct 04, 2011

  During the 1980s and into the '90s, Duran Duran (due tonight at the 1STBANK Center with Neon Trees) was one of the most popular and successful rock bands of that time. It was the kind of band for whom... More >>

• Spineshank's Tommy Decker on his approach to drumming and reconvening with Jonny Santos

  published Oct 02, 2011

  Spineshank (due Sunday, October 2, at 3 Kings Tavern) started in 1996 as a band that fused industrial sounds and ideas with elements of thrash. With the release of its 1998 debut, Strictly Diesel, Spi... More >>

• Dick Dale on the central role of rhythm in music and playing to the grassroots people

  published Oct 02, 2011

  Dick Dale (due tonight at the Gothic Theatre) is one of the most influential living musicians. If Dale hadn't blown the first 48 guitar amplifiers Leo Fender had brought to him, guitar amps as we now ... More >>

• Review: Wolves in the Throne Room at Rhinoceropolis, 9/30/11

  published Oct 01, 2011

  WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM at RHINO After Skully Mammoth's set, some of us waited patiently, cracking jokes as various people brought in items needed to set up the room for the Wolves in the Throne Ro... More >>

• Aaron Weaver of Wolves in the Throne Room about the mythic levels his band operates on

  published Sep 30, 2011

  Since 2004, Wolves in the Throne Room (due tonight, September 30, at Rhinoceropolis) has established itself as one of the most sonically innovative black metal bands going. Rather than imitate the Vik... More >>

• A Shoreline Dream

  published September 29, 2011

  From the opening track of "Dreamsong," this latest album from A Shoreline Dream transports you back to a time when you'd hear bands like... More >>

• Wolves in the Throne Room

  published September 29, 2011

  Olympia, Washington, would seem to be an unlikely home for one of the world's most inventive black-metal bands. But Wolves in the Throne Room... More >>

• Insane Clown Posse

  published September 29, 2011

  More than most of this country's musical groups, Insane Clown Posse has an American-dream backstory — but not the kind that makes for... More >>

• Sun Red releases Breathes Ages October 1 at the hi-dive

  published September 29, 2011

  (die) Pilot was one of the most promising pop bands of the last decade. Eugene Brown's almost pastoral lyrics painted vivid images of American... More >>

• Kissing Party's Wasters Wall shows the indie band has arrived

  published September 29, 2011

  This one's so secret, I don't even know where it's at," admits Gregg Dolan. Starting with 2006's Hold Your Hour and Have Another, he's... More >>

• Review: Come As You Are, a covers show for Nirvana's Nevermind, at Hi-Dive, 9/24/11

  published Sep 25, 2011

  One of the obvious highlights of last night's exceptional Nirvana covers celebration in honor Nevermind's 20th anniversary was when Eric Halborg of The Swayback told us we knew the words to the third ... More >>

• Review: Dwarves and Nashville Pussy at the Bluebird, 9/23/11

  published Sep 24, 2011

  There were no costumes on stage until near the end when some silly fan got up with a shirt over his head like some low-rent imitation of HeWhoCannotBeNamed and sang into the mic. And yet somehow The D... More >>

• Andy Cabic of Vetiver on songwriting and Michael Hurley

  published Sep 22, 2011

  Andy Cabic of Vetiver (due tonight at The Bluebird Theater) started out in more rock-oriented bands when he was a college student in North Carolina in the 1990s, rubbing shoulders with some of the gre... More >>

• Hawk Attack

  published September 22, 2011

  From the opening song, "Brew Ha Ha," Hawk Attack celebrates rock's hedonistic era. Yes, there is a hint of early solo Ted Nugent here and there... More >>

• Beirut

  published September 22, 2011

  Zach Condon's backstory, in which he left a small city to travel around Europe with his older brother, absorbing the indigenous music of the... More >>

• Grave Babies

  published September 22, 2011

  Many people will probably stamp this band with the "lo-fi garage" label or something equally inaccurate. But while Grave Babies' sometimes raw... More >>

• Critic's Choice: Come As You Are celebrates Nevermind on September 24 at hi-dive

  published September 22, 2011

  Scheduled on the actual date that Nirvana's Nevermind was released in 1991, this show (dubbed Come As You Are and slated for... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Review: Peter Hook & the Light at the Bluebird Theater, 9/19/11

  published Sep 20, 2011

  PETER HOOK & THE LIGHT at the BLUEBIRD THEATER | 9/19/11It was to be expected that Peter Hook & the Light would be playing Unknown Pleasures in its entirety, and that it wouldn't be a half-hearted and... More >>

• Review: Goldrush Festival on South Broadway, Delite and hi-dive, Night Two, 9/17/11

  published Sep 18, 2011

  GOLDRUSH FESTIVAL | NIGHT TWO, 9/17/11Day two of Goldrush Festival also felt like you had stepped into an alternate universe where a good friend with good taste in music was introducing you to his or... More >>