Black Flag (Band)

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

Shiner on!

Let your hair down at Eck's

Shiner on!

Q&A with Mike Watt

Mike Watt is most certainly a man whose thoughts cannot be expressed in a mere 500 or so words. Needless to say, this week's Rough Mixes entry only highlighted excerpts of our recent conversation with punk's elder statesman. While on tour supporting his newest punk rock opera "Hyphenated Man" and in ... More >>

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

Mike Watt is most certainly a man whose thoughts cannot be expressed in a mere 500 or so words. Needless to say, this week's Rough Mixes entry only highlighted excerpts of our recent conversation with punk's elder statesman. While on tour supporting his newest punk rock opera "Hyphenated Man" and in ... More >>

Dirty Projectors

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

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

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 >>

Westword Music Showcase headliners: Behold the majesty of Dirty Projectors

As you'll see from the exchange after the jump, Dirty Projectors mastermind Dave Longstreth isn't much of a talker. It's almost as if he'd rather let the music speak for itself -- and it speaks volumes, as evidenced by the act's latest opus, last year's Bitte Orca. One of the freshest sounding disc ... More >>

Ghostland Observatory tops a stacked bill at this weekend's Westword Music Showcase

As you'll see from the exchange after the jump, Dirty Projectors mastermind Dave Longstreth isn't much of a talker. It's almost as if he'd rather let the music speak for itself -- and it speaks volumes, as evidenced by the act's latest opus, last year's Bitte Orca. One of the freshest sounding disc ... More >>

Heeler

Release the Snake!
Self-released

Kahn Morbee of the Parlotones on its hard won success at home in South Africa

​ The Parlotones is not a household name in North America, but it is one of the best known bands out of South Africa. With hit singles in its native country, the Parlotones started to make waves outside South Africa with its second album, 2005's Radiocontrolledrobot. Hailing from Johanesburg, ... More >>

Our favorite T-shirts and Social D tattoos from Saturday night at the Fillmore

Travis shows off his Social D neck tat. He received it eight years ago and has seen Social Distortion four times.​As you might have heard or read, Social Distortion was in town over the weekend, playing Friday and Saturday night at the Fillmore Auditorium (Read our review of Social Distortion ... 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 >>

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 >>

Our 55 favorite musical releases of 2010

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 >>

With Rare Forms, Woodsman focuses its musical experimentation

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 >>

Miracleman, Bury My Bones, Night of Joy and Thee Goochi Boiz at Rockaway Tavern, March 5, 2011

Tom MurphyMiracleman​ Miracleman, Bury My Bones, Night of Joy and Thee Goochi Boiz Rockaway Tavern | March 5, 2011 Miracleman set up on the floor in front of the stage. The duo, comprised of Chris Westin and Sara Century, had a bedraggled drum set, keyboards, a tape player with samples and a ... More >>

Emil Amos of Holy Sons on stint in Jandek, Lee Hazelwood and J. Mascis

Eliza SohnEmil Amos of Holy Sons​ Emil Amos is part experimental rock musician and part philosopher poet. Amos is a champion of stripping away the layers of conditioning we accept as payment for being part of a mainstream society that demands obedience to arbitrary rules of identity and what ... 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 >>

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 >>

Henry Rollins on National Geographic gig and other adventures in work

​Henry Rollins (appearing at the Soiled Dove Underground this Sunday, April 3) began his career fronting Black Flag, an endeavor he won a Grammy for chronicling in the audio book Get in The Van. He went on to front The Rollins Band and appeared in numerous films.

Tesco Vee of the Meatmen on punk in Michigan, Meatmen album covers and Touch and Go

The Meatmen​ In the late 1970s, Tesco Vee was an elementary school teacher in Michigan who lead something of a secret life, first as a fan of punk rock and then as the frontman of one of the most notorious and hilarious bands of that era -- the Meatmen (due this afternoon at Twist & Shout for ... More >>

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 >>

The Meat Puppets

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

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 >>

An interview with Ideal Fathers in advance of their farewell show tonight at the Larimer

​Over the course of a line-up change or two, Ideal Fathers Ideal Fathers, playing its final show tonight at the Larimer Lounge, developed a sound and a stage presence that probably would have been lumped in with "dance punk." But there was always an agenda in the band to inspire people to wake ... More >>

Is Stranahan's the punk rock of whiskey? Ask the bartender...

​Growing up in New Jersey, I was a punk-rock kid. I started with Iggy and the Stooges, the Ramones and the Clash, and moved on to Bad Brains, Fear, the Misfits, early Bad Religion, then into NY hardcore, Black Flag, Dead Kennedys, etc. As the '80s progressed, so did my punk-rock fervor. I re ... 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.

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

​Up until about ten years ago, coffee seemed to have a 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 ... More >>

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

​Up until about ten years ago, coffee seemed to have a 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 ... More >>

Review: Rise Against at 1STBANK, 12/6/11

Aaron ThackerayTim McIlrath of Rise Against last night at 1STBANK Center at KTCL's Not So Silent Night with Flobots, Air Dubai and Calibrate MeRISE AGAINST at 1STBANK CENTER | 12/6/11 No matter what genre you ascribe to the band -- punk, hardcore, plain vanilla rock from people who wear solid blac ... More >>

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

Aaron ThackerayTim McIlrath of Rise Against last night at 1STBANK Center at KTCL's Not So Silent Night with Flobots, Air Dubai and Calibrate MeRISE AGAINST at 1STBANK CENTER | 12/6/11 No matter what genre you ascribe to the band -- punk, hardcore, plain vanilla rock from people who wear solid blac ... More >>

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 >>

Review: Mudhoney at the Bluebird Theater, 1/6/12

Dave IngrahamMudhoney last night at the Bluebird.​MUDHONEY at the BLUEBIRD THEATER | 1/6/12Though the mood hanging from the heads of the Bluebird Theater crowd last night was a heavy one, it was also bittersweet -- Mudhoney, The Fluid and the bands' mutual fans were gathered together to rememb ... 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 >>

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 >>