Audio By Carbonatix
Welcome to the eighteenth annual Westword Music Showcase! Our baby is finally old enough to vote and buy cigarettes and porn — though who really buys that anymore? How things have changed since the Showcase was born way back in 1995. Bill Clinton was in his first term as president, cell phones were still a luxury of the rich, Coors Field was hosting its first season of the Colorado Rockies, and while there were 55 bands on the inaugural ballot that year, only 31 performed, at six LoDo venues.
This year’s Showcase, on Saturday, June 23, features roughly five times that many acts performing at fifteen venues spread out across the Golden Triangle, the neighborhood where Westword is now located. We have an absolutely killer lineup on the main stage, not to mention all the stages filled with the town’s best local acts, culled from this year’s Westword Music Showcase ballot.
To help you get to know this year’s performers a little better, we asked each of the featured bands to tell you what you need to know about them in a hundred words or less. Read what they have to say, in their own words, and then check them out this Saturday. If you haven’t already bought tickets, get them now at Westword Music Showcase tickets — prices go up the day of the show — and stop by backbeatblog.com for additional interviews and Showcase-related stories.
See you at Showcase!
A MOUTHFUL OF THUNDER
ROCK — INDIE
3:45-4:15 Rooster & Moon
A Mouthful of Thunder started out of the ashes of Hearts of Palm, formally Nathan & Stephen, which featured members of a slew of other bands, including Black Black Ocean, Five Iron Frenzy, Dan Craig Band, Barbizon, Lion Sized, the Symptoms, Walking Distance, Co-Pilot, Planet 9 and Ending People. A Mouthful of Thunder features members from Rifle Men, Black Black Ocean, Solar Bear, Two Tone Wolf Pack (formally Munster Boogie), Barbizon, Gromit and Ending People. Slow burn.
A. TOM COLLINS
AMERICANA
3:45-4:15 Curious Theatre
A. Tom Collins is a five-piece rock-and-roll band that is hard to pigeonhole. Navigating and transmogrifying the murky swamps of New Orleans R&B and ’60s soul, the outfit follows the cues of diverse influences, from Otis Redding and Cab Calloway to Tom Waits and Jack White. A. Tom Collins drops anchor with an impressive crash at each and every port, transfixing bewildered audiences with its strange brand of celebratory sounds that are as familiar as they are refreshing. Expect wild horns, surprising rhythms, catchy gang chants and one hell of a live show led by Aaron Collins, whom Westword has called “one of the city’s best frontmen.”
ACHILLE LAURO
ROCK — INDIE
2:15-2:45 Bar Standard
Denver four-piece Achille Lauro continues to perfect the tricky art of forging an encyclopedia of influences into a unique and approachable sound. Whether evoking scenes of a Kingston dance hall, a smoke-stained jazz club or a 1985 dressing room choked with hairspray, its sound is always incredibly polished and always sounds as if it takes twice as many hands to create. Equal parts headphone science and hip sweat, an Achille Lauro show never fails to leave a smile.
ALPHABETS
ELECTRONIC — EXPERIMENTAL
12:00-12:30 Rooster & Moon
AMERICAN TRASH REPUBLIC
HIP-HOP — GROUP
1:30 — 2:00 City Hall Amphitheatre
ANDY PALMER AND GRUB STREET WRITER
ROCK — ROOTS
4:30-5:00 The Church
Andy Palmer and Grub Street Writer thump and growl through their sets of electric alt-folk rock. Though a newer Denver band, the act has quickly been recognized for its unique blend of dynamic songwriting, powerful bass lines, soaring guitar solos and lyric and vocal stylings that draw apt comparisons to Waits, Dylan and Cohen.Westword listed Palmer’s debut album, Sometime Around, as one of Denver’s best releases of 2011. And the band recently returned from playing a SXSW showcase, where they were invited to perform at the Korg party. Palmer came west after working in Brooklyn, New York, as a public defender. Living and working in the trenches of Brooklyn’s underbelly clearly provides fodder for the grit and honesty of this must-see band.
ANXIOUS<
hip-hop mc
city hall upstairs>
SINGER-SONGWRITER
5:15-5:45 Rooster & Moon
ELECTRONIC
6:45-7:15 City Hall Amphitheatre
HIP-HOP — MC (MALE)
6:40-7:05 City Hall Upstairs
METAL
3:00-3:30 Broadways
METAL
12:00-12:30 Broadways
FOLK/ACOUSTIC
1:30-2:00 Curious Theatre
POP — ALTERNATIVE
1:30-2:00 Stoney’s
BLUES
3:00-3:30 Dazzle
ELECTRONIC — EXPERIMENTAL
2:15-2:45 Rooster & Moon
WORLD
6:45-7:15 The Church
SOUL/R&B
7:05-7:30 City Hall Upstairs
HIP-HOP — MC (MALE)
12:45-1:15 City Hall Street Level
SINGER-SONGWRITER
6:45-7:15 Curious Theatre
POST-PUNK
3:45-4:15 Bar Standard
HIP-HOP — MC (MALE)
1:45-2:10 City Hall Upstairs
ROCK — ROOTS
12:00-12:30 La Rumba
ELECTRONIC — EXPERIMENTAL
12:45-1:15 Rooster & Moon
ROCK — TRADITIONAL
4:30-5:00 La Rumba
ROCK — ALTERNATIVE
4:30-5:00 Bar Standard
HIP-HOP — MC (FEMALE)
1:10-1:35 City Hall Upstairs
ROCK — INDIE
12:45-1:15 Bar Standard
ROCK — INDIE
3:00-3:30 Bar Standard
POP — ALTERNATIVE
4:30-5:00 Broadways
ROCK — HEAVY
3:45-4:15 Broadways
POP — INDIE
1:30-2:00 Vinyl Main
ELECTRONIC — POP
5:15-5:45 City Hall Street Level
HIP-HOP — MC (MALE)
4:40-5:05 City Hall Upstairs
POP — INDIE
12:00-12:30 Vinyl Main
ELECTRONIC — EXPERIMENTAL
1:30-2:00 Rooster & Moon
ROCK — HEAVY
5:15-5:45 Broadways
HIP-HOP — MC (FEMALE)
6:15-6:40 City Hall Upstairs
JAZZ
12:00-12:30 Dazzle
ROCK — AMBIENT
3:45-4:15 City Hall Street Level
ROCK — AMBIENT
1:30-2:00 Bar Standard
HIP-HOP — MC (MALE)
2:55-3:20 City Hall Upstairs
DJ — PROGRESSIVE
6:00-6:50 Vinyl Rooftop
ROCK — PROGRESSIVE
12:30-1:00 Main Stage
COUNTRY
2:15-2:45 La Rumba
POST-PUNK
5:15-5:45 Vinyl Main
METAL
2:15-2:45 Broadways
SINGER-SONGWRITER
3:00-3:30 Stoney’s
DJ — PROGRESSIVE
1:30-2:00 City Hall Street Level
ROCK — ALTERNATIVE
6:45-7:15 Bar Standard
ROCK — PROGRESSIVE
12:45-1:15 The Church
DJ — PROGRESSIVE
5:00-5:50 Vinyl Rooftop
POP — ALTERNATIVE
12:45-1:15 Curious Theatre
POST-PUNK
6:45-7:15 City Hall Street Level
WORLD
6:00-6:30 The Church
PUNK
2:15-2:45 Bannock Street Garage
WORLD
5:15-5:45 The Church
POP — TRADITIONAL
3:45-4:15 Stoney’s
JAZZ
12:45-1:15 Dazzle
POP — TRADITIONAL
3:00-3:30 Rooster & Moon
AMERICANA
4:30-5:00 Curious Theatre
ELECTRONIC — POP
2:15-2:45 City Hall Street Level
PUNK
3:00-3:30 Bannock Street Garage
PUNK
6:45-7:15 Bannock Street Garage
HIP-HOP — MC (MALE)
3:30-3:55 City Hall Upstairs
PROGRESSIVE
12:00-12:30 The Church
AMERICANA
4:30-5:00 Rooster & Moon
POP — INDIE
4:30-5:00 Vinyl Main
PUNK
12:00-12:30 Bannock Street Garage
SINGER-SONGWRITER
12:45-1:15 Stoney’s
REGGAE/DUB
3:00-3:30 The Church
HIP-HOP — MC (MALE)
5:50-6:15 City Hall Upstairs
ROCK — INDIE
12:00-12:30 Bar Standard
HIP-HOP — MC (MALE)
5:15-5:40 City Hall Upstairs
ROCK — ALTERNATIVE
6:00-6:30 Bar Standard
PUNK
6:00-6:30 Bannock Street Garage
POP — ALTERNATIVE
2:15-2:45 Stoney’s
DJ — DANCE
1:00-2:00 Vinyl Rooftop
ROCK — ROOTS
3:00-3:30 La Rumba
BLUES
2:15-2:45 Dazzle
REGGAE/DUB
3:45-4:15 The Church
METAL — EXTREME
1:30-2:00 Broadways
POP — ALTERNATIVE
3:45-4:15 Vinyl Main
SINGER-SONGWRITER
6:00-6:30 Rooster & Moon
HIP-HOP — GROUP
4:30-5:00 City Hall Amphitheatre
ROCK — JAM/IMPROV
6:45-7:15 La Rumba
HIP-HOP — MC (MALE)
2:15-2:45 City Hall Amphitheatre
POST-PUNK
6:45-7:15 Vinyl Main
ROCK — JAM/IMPROV
6:00-6:30 La Rumba
FOLK/ACOUSTIC
12:00-12:30 Curious Theatre
ELECTRONIC — EXPERIMENTAL
3:00-3:30 City Hall Street Level
BLUES
1:30-2:00 Dazzle
ROCK — HEAVY
6:00-6:30 Broadways