Black Flag (Band)

Ten Essential albums from the CBGB scene

It's easy to look at what's become of rock music over the last three and a half decades and find countless traces of the CBGB micro-culture and the fast-and-loud aesthetic it cultivated. During their now-legendary years at CBGB, bands like the Ramones, Talking Heads, Blondie and Patti Smith were dis ... More >>

Can we get Sirus for minute? It's time to give these six artists their own channel already!

Craig Hlavaty I've had satellite radio in my life since Christmas. Nothing is better than falling asleep on the couch on a Saturday afternoon after a big fat lunch with Willie's Roadhouse playing; waking up every few hours to piss during a Ray Price cut and then falling back to sleep. What I love t ... More >>

The ten best concerts this weekend: 12/7-12/9

Welcome to the weekend, y'all. Breathe easy. You made it. Good Friday to you. And, oh, what a good Friday it is. Another stacked weekend of music awaits you. Just like the Broncos win streak continues, so does the steady stream of solid shows, whether you're hankering for some old-school punk or old ... More >>

Fat Mike of NOFX on pornography, punk-rock parenting and how America is a sinking ship

NOFX was started in Los Angeles in 1983 by Michael "Fat Mike" Burkett and Eric Melvin. The band was born of the same West Coast scene that produced some of the most important punk bands of all time, from Black Flag and the Circle Jerks to the Minutemen and the Descendents. Although the sound that NO ... More >>

Murph of Dinosaur Jr on how the fans seem just as young and rowdy now as they once were

Dinosaur Jr was the product of three guys from Massachusetts who had played in the hardcore bands Deep Wound and All White Jury. But when J Mascis, Lou Barlow and Murph got together, the music they produced sounded like it had all but shed that background in favor of melody, and the outfit made the ... More >>

Saint Vitus at Bluebird Theater, 10/03/12

SAINT VITUS @ BLUEBIRD THEATER | 10/03/12 When Saint Vitus came on stage, the quartet went right into "Blessed Night," with Dave Chandler letting out a wail or siren sound with wah and distortion from his guitar. From there, guitar and bass rumbled together like a high idling engine, as Mark Vasque ... More >>

The five best concerts this week: October 1-5

Welcome to Rawktober! The month is getting kicked off with a bang tomorrow night at 1STBANK Center with the Twins of Evil Tour featuring Rob Zombie and Marilyn Manson, and the rest of the week is shaping up to be pretty stellar, too, with some dubstep and doom metal shows rounding out the week's bes ... More >>

Saint Vitus

Wednesday, October 3, Bluebird Theater, 888-929-7849.

Buzz Osborne of Melvins on how to him Beastie Boys were Warlock Pinchers for Dummies

Since 1983, Melvins have been perfecting their brand of influential rock, inspired in part by punk and in part by the music Buzz Osborne and Dale Crover grew up hearing as kids in the '60s and '70s. With Melvins, the two have taken that sound to different places with each record that their contempor ... More >>

Hank 3 on the self-contained anarchy of his shows, from a stabbing once to a heart attack

See also: Hank 3 at Boulder Theatre, 9/4/12 Hank 3 has one of the most unimpeachable country music pedigrees of anyone alive: His grandfather is the late Hank Williams Sr., one of the pioneers of both country and rock and roll, and his farther is Hank Williams Jr. To his credit, Hank 3 has never re ... More >>

Blag Dahlia of Dwarves on kicking ass and not being old guys going through the motions

Dwarves are one of the most notorious punk bands of all time. In a time when punk rock has become a kind of brand rather than an authentic lifestyle, Dwarves are always dependable to show what the real thing looks, feels and sounds like. With a reputation for dangerously raucous live shows often inv ... More >>

Dirty Projectors

Friday, July 20, Bluebird Theater, 888-929-7849.

Twenty fabled moments in Denver music: #10: Nirvana's first post-Nevermind show here, 1991

Over the course of the next few weeks, Backbeat will be counting down the twenty most fabled moments in Denver music history. Today, a look back at when Nirvana came back to town for a show at the Gothic Theatre with Dinosaur Jr., fresh off of recording Nevermind. When the members of Nirvana left a ... More >>

Twenty fabled moments in Denver music: #12: Denver's "Red Elvis" comes home, 1985

Over the course of the next few weeks, Backbeat will be counting down the twenty most fabled moments in Denver music history. Today, a look back at when Dean Reed (aka "Red Elvis") came back to Denver and didn't receive the warmest of welcomes. Dean Reed was more than a Denver-born, Wheat Ridge-bre ... More >>

Twenty fabled moments in Denver Music: #13: Ray Charles causes a ruckus at Red Rocks, 1962

Over the course of the next few weeks, Backbeat will be counting down the twenty most fabled moments in Denver music history. Today, a look back at when a Ray Charles concert at Red Rocks in 1962 turned into a beer-can-tossing melee. With the passage of time, our heroes become more heroic, if docil ... More >>

Twenty fabled moments in Denver Music: #14: Marc Cohn gets shot in downtown Denver, 2005

Over the course of the next few weeks, Backbeat will be counting down the twenty most fabled moments in Denver music history. Today, a look back at when Grammy winner Marc Cohn got shot in the head in downtown Denver during a car-jacking attempt gone awry. Marc Cohn might be a superhero. At least t ... More >>

Twenty fabled moments in Denver music: #15: Grateful Dead's first time at Red Rocks in 1978

Over the course of the next few weeks, Backbeat will be counting down the twenty most fabled moments in Denver music history. Today, a look back at the the first time the Grateful Dead played at Red Rocks in 1978. The origins of Colorado's jam band "scene" are pretty nebulous, but July 7, 1978, is ... More >>

Twenty fabled moments in Denver music: #16: Radiohead's gear gets jacked in 1995

Over the course of the next few weeks, Backbeat will be counting down the twenty most fabled moments in Denver music history. Today, a look back at the time when Radiohead had all of its gear stolen outside the Rockmada before a 1995 show at the Ogden Theatre. Okay, so it's bad enough that Radiohea ... More >>

Brent Loveday of Reno Divorce: "Originality is the evolution of influence"

Reno Divorce (due tomorrow night at the Marquis Theater) began in the middle '90s when frontman and guitarist Brent Loveday founded the outfit while still living in Orlando, Florida. Some early, glowing press came the way of the band's 7-inch. But it wasn't until Loveday relocated to Denver and disc ... More >>

Twenty fabled moments in Denver music, #18: Black Flag at the Rainbow Music Hall 1984

Over the course of the next few weeks, Backbeat will be counting down the twenty most fabled moments in Denver music history. Today, a look back at Black Flag's 1984 show at the Rainbow Music Hall that ended with members of the opening act being arrested. You may have heard about this one; it was n ... More >>

Sam Tallent talks about his comedy mixtape Joke Life, and his Fine Gentleman's Club

Sam Tallent gave up the daily grind four years ago to focus on comedy. A full-time comedian since that jump-off, Tallent co-founded the Fine Gentleman's Club comedy troupe, a group that offers its Too Much Fun show every Wednesday night at the Deer Pile community space above City, O' City. In additi ... More >>

Review: American Idiot at the Buell, 3/6/12

AMERICAN IDIOT @ BUELL THEATRE | 03.06.12 See also: Interview with Gabrielle McClinton (Whatsername) The first murmurs of canned news clips and talking heads began before the house lights went down and the curtain went up in the Buell last night. They started as hints and whispers, really -- the d ... More >>

Bill Stevenson of Descendents: "Maybe it's just all of our fans are paying us back for some good music we've given them "

Chapman BaehlerDescendents Descendents (due tomorrow night at the Fillmore Auditorium) didn't exactly invent pop punk, but the band's musical influence can be heard throughout that movement whether latter day poppy punk bands know it or not. Starting in 1978, Descendents were early compatriots of w ... More >>

Review: The Skeleton Show at Bar Bar, 1/7/12

Tom MurphySara Century with Tana Thornock on tamborine​THE SKELETON SHOW at Carioca Café ("Bar Bar") | 1/ 7/12Halfway through her set, after hitting who knows what chords and wailing about being hatched from a witch's egg and flying high, Sara Century held up the guitar she was playing and a ... More >>

The Other F Word is a half-poignant, half-absurd punk-rock-dad doc

Jacob Bannon on the accessibility Converge's music: "We're not made for first level listeners"

Matt Miller​Converge (due tonight at the Marquis Theater with Git Some and Glass Hits) is one of the most influential of the what some might call post-hardcore or metalcore acts still going. Formed in the early '90s in Salem, Massachusetts, Converge fused a musical precision with the articulat ... More >>

Keith Morris of OFF!: "I don't see the light at the end of this tunnel"

Black coffee! The 10 songs about black coffee on National Coffee Day!

Up until about ten years ago, coffee seemed to have its grip firmly around us. Just take the songs below, for example. You won't find any written in the past decade, which is a little sad, the death of coffee and all. Because no one is going to write a song about the energizing effects of a Starbuck ... More >>

R.E.M. calls it quits after 31 years and fifteen Colorado shows

​After three decades together, the guys in R.E.M. announced today in a statement on the band's website that they're throwing in the towel.

Curt Kirkwood of Meat Puppets on the band's legacy and his vivid lyrical imagery

Photo by Jaime Butler​When Meat Puppets (due tonight at the Bluebird Theater with Bad Weather California and The Black Box Revelation) formed and released its first few records on SST in the early '80s, the Phoenix-based act challenged punk rock conformity with its eclectic blend of countrifie ... More >>

The Meat Puppets

Wednesday, June 29, Bluebird Theater, 303-830-8497.

Q&A: H.R. of Bad Brains just wants everyone to love Jah and learn how to love universally

​Bad Brains (due tonight at Summit Music Hall with Frontside Five and the Other Russia) is a band that's consistently mentioned in the same breath as Black Flag and and Minor Threat as groups that made massive contributions to defining the hardcore/punk movement in the late '70s and early '80s ... More >>

Dave Chandler of St. Vitus on the band's early days at SST and what inspired the reunion

Tina-Korhonen​St. Vitus (due tonight at Summit Music Hall) were one of the pioneers of a style of music that took its direct inspiration from the first four, maybe even the first six, Black Sabbath albums. The band's aggressive guitar work flirted with psychedelia but was too heavy to ever be ... More >>

St. Vitus

Tuesday, March 29, Summit Music Hall, 1-866-468-7621.

Bad Brains at Summit Music Hall April 22

​You're not going to see the Bad Brains of thirty years ago, so go ahead and just get that idea out of your head right now. The ferocious, manic energy of eccentric lead singer H.R. has been all but muted by years of drug use and seeming mental instability. But the original line-up is playing ... More >>

With Rare Forms, Woodsman focuses its musical experimentation

The 20 bands that inspire tattoos like no other

An average Misfits fan.​Personally, it's been the "One Bad Album" rule. That's all it takes for a band's musical reputation to be asterisked forever, which makes getting a tattoo of that band, well, risky. You have to wonder how often thirty-somethings across the land hear "Nice Chi' Pep's tat ... More >>

No Age at Bluebird Theater, 12/01/10

Tom MurphyNo Age​ NO AGE With Hot White and Lucky Dragons 12.01.10 | Bluebird Theater Hot White was first on stage and discharged its signature shards of angular, off-kilter, eruptive sound. It looked like the trio was more comfortable playing a big stage, and yet Tiana Bernard crossed over ... More >>

Heeler

Release the Snake!
Self-released

Kinetix on recording at the Blasting Room, getting to perform at the Fillmore and offering up a stoner-approved rendition of "Bohemian Rhapsody"

​ In this week's paper, we ran excerpts of Andy Thomas's recent conversation with the members of Kinetix in Rough Mixes. That Q&A barely scratched the surface. After the jump, you'll find not only Thomas's exchange with band in its entirety but the transcript from Dutch Seyfarth's recent chat ... More >>

What is the true definition of punk? Let's consult the experts, shall we?

Patti Smith provided an interesting definition of punk rock in the current issue of New York magazine: "Punk rock is just another word for freedom." That got us thinking about what punk is and was, and how, as with all abstractions, you get to make up your own definition. As you can see in the ab ... More >>

Over the weekend: Acoustic Profanity at Bender's Tavern

Acoustic Profanity Friday, January 8, 2010Bender's Tavern Better than: MTV Unplugged. Acoustic Profanity was about what you'd expect from the name: Get a bunch of punks together and take them out of their element a little by handing them acoustic guitars and sitting them on some stools. Over the co ... More >>

Q&A with Jacob Bannon of Converge

Matt Miller​Although tagged by some as "this generation's Black Flag," Converge vocalist Jacob Bannon is a long way off from becoming Henry Rollins -- off stage anyway. Onstage, Bannon is a whirling dervish of emotion, complete with violent fist pumps and blood curdling screams. Offstage, however, ... More >>

Dirty Projectors

Sunday, November 8, Bluebird Theater, 303-830-8497.

The melodramatic rock of Aloft in the Sundry is a scene kid's guilty pleasure

Let your hair down at Eck's

Although Chicago is home to Rise Against, the band has strong ties to Colorado

The Undoing of a President

Henry Rollins makes a post-election appearance in Boulder.

Wyman’s No. 5

Shiner on!

Mini Reviews