Steve Vai

Fear Factory's Dino Cazares on living in the technocratic world the act's been singing about

Fear Factory were pioneers of the so-called nü metal genre, before that designation became a bit of an insult. Early proponents of a fusion of industrial and death metal, Fear Factory brought the first full realization of that sonic alchemy with its influential 1995 album Demanufacture. Since then, ... More >>

How a Frank Zappa fixation fostered an appreciation for classical compositions

Gateway Acts is an ongoing series on Backbeat in which we examine the music that served as an entry point for our burgeoning musical obsessions, a gateway drug that tuned us in and turned us on. Today, A.H. Goldstein reflects on his Frank Zappa fixation. Some of my earliest musical memories revol ... More >>

Zappa Plays Zappa at the Fox, 12/14

ZAPPA PLAYS ZAPPA @ FOX THEATRE | 12/15/12 "Still, nothing sounds like that," Dweezil Zappa marveled after his band had made its way through "Who Are the Brain Police," the feedback-laden, surreal anthem from the 1966 Mothers of Invention album Freak Out!. Dweezil and the rest of the Zappa Plays Za ... More >>

The ten best concerts this weekend: Dec. 14-16

It feels like we say this every week, and we probably do, but we're continually astounded by how good we have it here music wise. If you haven't noticed, this time of year, the number of touring acts decreases dramatically, generally in line with the music industry itself, which pretty much slows to ... More >>

Dweezil Zappa on his father's music and the degree of difficulty of playing his songs live

Dweezil Zappa is on a mission, and it's a pretty personal one. Since 2006, the son of the late guitarist/composer/bandleader Frank Zappa has toured the world, playing his father's music in an effort to attract and educate a new generation of listeners. In leading the Zappa Plays Zappa project, Dweez ... More >>

The ten best concerts this week: December 10-14

We're blessed to live here, you know. If you haven't already come to this conclusion on your own from feeling the ever-present sunshine and observing the wondrous sunset paintings we're treated to each evening, all you have to do is take a look at the brimming concert calendar. Whereas the live musi ... More >>

The ten best concerts this weekend: Sept. 28-30

Hell yeah! It's finally Friday! Welcome to the weekend! Feel like tossing back a few cold ones and seeing some live music? You've come to the right place. There's an overwhelming number of outstanding shows for you to check out this weekend. We've got all of them listed in our concert calendar if yo ... More >>

Esperanza Spalding at the Ogden, 9/26/12

ESPERANZA SPALDING @ OGDEN THEATRE | 9/26/12 Last night's Esperanza Spalding performance was unlike most that the Ogden Theatre sees -- or has seen, for that matter. The presence of chairs (chairs!) in front of the stage was testimony to this. The Ogden is a rock club, first and foremost. If there' ... More >>

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 >>

Rob Zombie, Marilyn Manson, Odd Future, Atmosphere and XX lead this week's shows

See Also: - Afghan Whigs, Amanda Palmer, Aimee Mann and Seether lead this week's shows - Mumford and Sons, Brother Ali, Henry Rollins and Melvins Lite lead this week's shows - Morrissey, Snoop Dogg and Ice Cube, Dinosaur Jr., Jackson Browne lead new shows - Wiz Khalifa, Mac Miller, Shinedown, Godsma ... More >>

Afghan Whigs, Amanda Palmer, Aimee Mann and Seether lead this week's new shows

See Also: - Mumford and Sons, Brother Ali, Henry Rollins and Melvins Lite lead this week's shows - Morrissey, Snoop Dogg and Ice Cube, Dinosaur Jr., Jackson Browne lead new shows - Wiz Khalifa, Mac Miller, Shinedown, Godsmack, Steve Vai and Kimbra lead new shows Oh, man, what a fall we have to look ... More >>

Peaches, Kottonmouth Kings, Why?, Warrant, Cinderella and Skid Row lead this week's shows

Now that we're moving into the thick of summer concert season, the fall schedule is starting to take shape with new dates from Peaches, Kottonmouth Kings, Why?, Warrant, Cinderella and Skid Row on the books. Page down for the full rundown on this week's new show announcements, as well as local radio ... More >>

Mumford and Sons, Brother Ali, Henry Rollins and Melvins Lite lead this week's shows

While things are slowing down a bit somewhat with summer concert announcements, the fall show season is beginning to shape up nicely with new shows from (updated) Mumford & Sons, a trio of dates with Brother Ali in October, as well as the Melvins Lite and Henry Rollins in September and an October da ... More >>

Wiz Khalifa, Mac Miller, Shinedown, Godsmack, Steve Vai and Kimbra lead this week's shows

A fresh batch of new shows announced this week, including Wiz Khalifa and Mac Miller at Red Rocks, the Head and the Heart and Blitzen Trapper at the Boulder Theater, Kimbra at the Ogden Theatre, Shinedown and Godsmack at Comfort Dental and Steve Vai at the Ogden. Page down for a full rundown plus lo ... More >>

Low Gravity: "You have to create a desire for people to be there."

Low Gravity (hosting its dual CD release party tomorrow night at 3 Kings Tavern with Jaded Poet) got together in the summer of 2009 when Jess Ellis -- who used to play in the noteworthy, and unconventionally literary, sludge metal band the Nod, as well as Half of Zero -- started jamming with Austin ... More >>

Alexi Laiho of Children of Bodom: "Yeah, I broke my shoulder bowling."

Children of Bodom (due tomorrow night at the Gothic Theater) formed in 1993 in the Finnish town of Espoo. Lead guitarist and singer Alexi Laiho and drummer Jaska Raatikainen formed the band around the age of fourteen under the name Inearthed. By the time the outfit released its debut album, 1997's S ... More >>

Buckethead

Thursday, July 21, Gothic Theatre, 303-788-0984.

Trey Anastasio Band at the Ogden, 03/01/11

Adam Perry​ TREY ANASTASIO BAND 03.01.11 |Ogden Theatre Whenever I think of Phish singer/guitarist/composer Trey Anastasio's most powerful solo work, my mind always turns to "orchestral funk" -- the term Anthony Keidis used to describe the Talking Heads' large-band era (with Adrian Belew on ... More >>

Chef and Tell, part two: Geoffrey Groditski on incompetent culinary school grads, pounds of butter and the whole hog

Lori Midson​ Geoffrey Groditski The Fort 19192 Highway 8, Morrison 303-697-4771 www.thefort.com This is part one of my interview with Geoffrey Groditski, executive chef of The Fort. In part one of that interview, Groditski raps on his $40,000 mistake, raw bull's balls and how pine nuts ma ... More >>

Dweezil Zappa keeps his father's music alive at the Paramount

​ Dweezil Zappa Plays Zappa 06.07.10 | The Paramount Theatre Dweezil Zappa stressed again and again how thoroughly his band had done their homework. At several points during Monday's two and a half hour show, he explained how the seven-member ensemble had dissected the original stereo mixes ... More >>

Joe Satriani stops by Musician's Superstore next month

​Not only is Joe Satriani a hell of a shredder on the guitar, early in his career he taught a bunch of guitarists like Steve Vai, Metallica's Kirk Hammett and Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello. Now Satriani's giving away free half-hour lessons. Well, the only catch is that you have to buy ... More >>

Hearsay bits: Mama signs distribution deal with Steve Vai's Digital Nations imprint and more

​Mama mia!: Mama, the outfit led by frontman Jeff Leonetti and Jonny Barber (aka Chris Barber, frontman of Spiv and the Velvet Elvis), has signed a distribution deal with Steve Vai's Digital Nations imprint. The label, an offshoot of Vai's Favored Nations, will handle worldwide distribution of Bay ... More >>

Last Night: Prog Nation at the Buell

Big Elf​Progressive Nation Dream Theater, Zappa Plays Zappa, Big Elf, Scale the Summit August 25, 2009 Buell Theater Better than: Reliving high school memories by flipping through a yearbook. Let me admit to a strong bias up front: I spent at least three of my teenage years with a diet almost excl ... More >>

Q&A with the Found Footage Festival's Nick Prueher

Live Review: Unearth at Gothic Theatre

Wild Game

Larimer Lounge

OK Go

There’s plenty of smarts behind this outfit’s stupidity.

Tommy Emmanuel

Saturday, September 23, First Church of Divine Science, 303-777-1003.

Yule's Tide

Searching for gems in the flood of seasonal discs.

Retribution Gospel Choir

Wednesday, August 31, Larimer Lounge, 303-291-1007.

GasHead

Knuckles Avec Sombreros (Hapi Skratch Records)

The Beatdown

All hail the return of royalty.

Folk Explosion

The Waybacks strike a chord with fans of old-timey music.

Rock and Roll Is the Question

With Pearlcopper, guitarist Mark Spiewak is already a legend in his own mind.

Music for the Holidaze

Digging out from a blizzard of seasonal CD releases.

Feedback

Feedback

PLAYING HURT

STANLEY JORDAN RETURNS AFTER RELEARNING HOW TO PLAY THE GUITAR.