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Your new favorite band is from Denver — you just have to find it! No small task in a city with thousands of artists and hundreds of venues, we know — but you can start this weekend at the Westword Music Showcase. More than 140 of our favorite local artists will play sixteen stages around the Golden Triangle neighborhood, and we’ll tie the whole thing together with an outdoor main stage featuring a few party-starting out-of-towners, including Diplo and 2 Chainz.
This is our twentieth year putting on the Showcase, and it’s a great place to find those new favorites. But it’s also just one part of our ongoing effort to introduce you to the best of this city’s music. All of the local bands playing the Showcase are also nominees for Westword Music Awards. That list is even more daunting, featuring over 300 bands and artists selected by our expansive nominating committee as the finest Denver has to offer. You can see the full list of nominees and vote for your favorites here.
See also: Meet 100(ish) of Denver’s best bands: Part one
That list is organized by genre. You can find other introductions elsewhere in this section, including a playlist featuring many of the bands and some advice they have for newcomers to the scene. There will be more this week, including this series, where you’ll find over 100 Westword Music Award nominees (those who filled out our survey) in alphabetical order. You can watch a video of each artist in action and read the one thing he/she/they hope you know about the project. If you’re interested in what you see or hear, you can click on the name of any artist to go to a website, facebook or bandcamp page where you’ll find information on buying music and upcoming shows.
No matter what kind of music you like, there are bands and artists making it right here in Denver. They’ve got that guitar tone that just sounds right to you, and harmonies that fill your head so perfectly, they must have been built specifically for you.
Westword Music Award Category: Rock — Ambient/Psych
What’s the one thing you wish a prospective new fan knew about your band or project?
“We like naps, puppies, and ice cream.”
— Kurt Ottaway
Westword Music Award Category: Hip-Hop — MC (Male)
What’s the one thing you wish a prospective new fan knew about your project?
“That my music is very honest and energetic and always will be. I’m a very easy person to approach and I’m always willing to grow.”
–Extra Kool (Danny Vincennie)
Westword Music Award Category: Hardcore
What’s the one thing you wish a prospective new fan knew about your band or project?
“We’re an old school hardcore band heavily influenced by New York hardcore like Sheer Terror and Agnostic Front. Way too often is the term “hardcore” applied to bands that are anything but.”
–Vino
Westword Music Award Category: Pop — Indie
What’s the one thing you wish a prospective new fan knew about your band or project?
“We recorded our latest album “What Is The Life?” at the same recording studio where the Beach Boys recorded “Pet Sounds” and The Mamas and The Papas recorded “California Dreamin’,” the energy in the room was unbelievable!”
–Nathan Brazil
Westword Music Award Category: Metal
What’s the one thing you wish a prospective new fan knew about your band or project?
“That everyone in the band is approachable, come up and say hi!”
–Johny Fysh
Westword Music Award Category: Rock — Traditional
What’s the one thing you wish a prospective new fan knew about your band or project?
“We’re a high energy Rock and Soul band, and we are what we sound like. Our mission is to stay true to ourselves, and feel this is evident in audiences new and old.”
–Jonathan “Skippy” Huvard
More artists are on the next page.
Westword Music Award Category: Hip-Hop — Group
What’s the one thing you wish a prospective new fan knew about your band or project?
“We put everything we’ve got into every song.”
–Res
Westword Music Award Category: Hardcore
What’s the one thing you wish a prospective new fan knew about your band or project?
“…”
–Chuck French
Westword Music Award Category: Folk
What’s the one thing you wish a prospective new fan knew about your band or project?
“We love happy songs that sound sad and sad songs that sound happy.”
–Steve Varney
Westword Music Award Category: Jazz
What’s the one thing you wish a prospective new fan knew about your band or project?
“We are kind of Jazz.”
–Joshua Trinidad
H*Wood x The Elevation EPK Video from Dan Olsavsky on Vimeo.
Westword Music Award Category: Hip-Hop — MC (Male)
What’s the one thing you wish a prospective new fan knew about your band or project?
“H*Wood x The Elevation is the best band in Colorado. Period.”
— H*Wood (Brandyn Bordeaux)
Westword Music Award Category: Metal
What’s the one thing you wish a prospective new fan knew about your band or project?
“We’re here to have a good time. We’re not here to take ourselves too seriously, but we’re not here to beat around the bush. All of us want this to be a career and we won’t stop until we’ve exhausted every avenue for success. Oh, uh, we play metal.”
–Kade Beem
Cassowary and Fruit Bat from Adam Singer on Vimeo.
Westword Music Award Category: Avant-Pop
What’s the one thing you wish a prospective new fan knew about your band or project?
“We write progressive songs with cello, piano, and more. We’ve collaborated with 303 Choir and Wonderbound.”
–Ian O’Dougherty
More artists are on the next page.
Westword Music Award Category: Rock — Heavy
What’s the one thing you wish a prospective new fan knew about your band or project?
“We do this out of necessity, not because we hope or expect to gain something out of it. It keeps us relatively sane. It’s the best way we’ve found to calm the demons screaming inside each one of our skulls.”
–Matt Bellinger
Westword Music Award Category: Metal
What’s the one thing you wish a prospective new fan knew about your band or project?
“We’ve had an opportunity to open for many of our heroes as far as Doom or Sludge Metal is concerned, but we don’t sound like any of them.”
–Grant Netzorg
Westword Music Award Category: Rock — Alternative
What’s the one thing you wish a prospective new fan knew about your band or project?
“There’s only two of us, but our music has balls.”
–Eric Reilly
Westword Music Award Category: Pop — Traditional
What’s the one thing you wish a prospective new fan knew about your band or project?
“Don’t expect to see us play the same show twice. Whether it’s on purpose or it’s just because a band member is missing, we try to take each show into careful consideration as we continue to evolve as a band, whether it’s an acoustic show or a full band show with lights.”
–Connie Hong
Westword Music Award Category: Punk
What’s the one thing you wish a prospective new fan knew about your band or project?
“Sorry we’re not punk enough to piss your parents off.”
–Alex Pelissero
Westword Music Award Category: Singer-Songwriter
What’s the one thing you wish a prospective new fan knew about your band or project?
“We play a blend of folk, bluegrass and acoustic rock that we call ‘Mile High Americana.'”
–Jeremy Dion
Westword Music Award Category: Folk
What’s the one thing you wish a prospective new fan knew about your band or project?
“We’ve just finished a collaboration with contemporary dance company Wonderbound entitled “A Gothic Folktale,” in which we have scored music for a full-length ballet, and we’re excited about our upcoming Red Rocks debut as a part of the Film On The Rocks series.”
–Jesse Manley
Westword Music Award Category: Jazz
What’s the one thing you wish a prospective new fan knew about your band or project?
“We’re doing our best to be ourselves and make our own musical statement, based on our own experiences. We love and respect classic Jazz, but we’re not trying to imitate anyone else, per se.”
–Jon Wirtz
Westword Music Award Category: Singer-Songwriter
What’s the one thing you wish a prospective new fan knew about your band or project?
“That I’m metal as fuck.”
–Joshua Novak
Westword Music Award Category: Singer-Songwriter
What’s the one thing you wish a prospective new fan knew about your band or project?
“I create music from the heart for the love of it, and I think that music is one of the greatest connectors of people in the world.”
–Katey Laurel
And here’s a bunch more information about the Westword Music Showcase:
–The 36 best songs you might hear on the main stage at this year’s Westword Music Showcase
–The 2014 Westword Music Awards nominees
–The people of Westword Music Showcase 2013
–Ticket page for this year’s Showcase