SuperMagick Does Disco Funk Like No Other

The Denver disco-funk band formerly known as Filthy Children has seen a shift in its sound and lineup, including a new lead singer. The group was reborn as SuperMagick at the beginning of 2016, the new name better representing the fusion of soul and disco elements the seven-piece outfit injects into its jazzy tunes.

“We’ve kind of just gone through the motions, but last year we really started getting into some new material, writing new music,” founding guitarist Bryant Walker says.

Formed in 2003 by Walker and his friend trombonist Jon Braddy, Filthy Children was more of a “drunken jazz band,” Walker says, playing the local club scene.

After vocalist Micah Munro stepped away from the band in 2010 to focus on motherhood, the group hit a lull.

Braddy and Walker started auditioning vocalists to replace Munro, but she had already hand-picked her successor.

Enter Jenny Anderson. The dynamo vocalist was performing with her former band, the Atomic Brass Project, when Munro spotted her.

“She told me who to contact and everything,” Anderson says of Munro’s christening.

Just one thing: The band didn’t know about Anderson and her chops yet.

“These guys wouldn’t call me back because they were auditioning other cool people and hot chicks,” Anderson jokes.

A Boston native, Anderson has been singing since she could muster enough breath to belt out a note, and continued through high-school jazz-band competitions on to American Idol, where she finished in the Top 100.  

When she moved to Denver a decade ago, she started to perform at Mead Street Station's open mic nights. A friend helped her find a steady gig with a brass band before Munro recruited her.

“Jenny commands the stage,” Walker says.

Over the past six-plus years, Anderson has become more comfortable with the band’s process, which has allowed her to bring some personal flavor to songs and performances.

“They’ve given me so much creative decision on songs, and saying what works and doesn’t,” she says.

The band has been performing new material live over the past six months and there are plans to hit the studio in 2017, with an early 2018 release date for a new album.

SuperMagick will perform at Tony P’s Uptown, Saturday, March 18. Music starts at 9 p.m.; tickets are $5 at the door.