“Here I am — rock you like a hurricane” could serve as a storm warning for the Scorpions’ latest Stateside tour, which has unleashed a sonic cyclone of power ballads and full-force rockers. Even after more than 35 years in the business, this tenacious Teutonic band still has plenty of…
The Blue Mule won’t be alive and kicking much longer — it’s soon to go Underground. Yes, the Mule, which took over the lower-level space at 1624 Market Street that once held Brendan’s, will give up that spot; taking its place will be a hybrid venue called the Velvet Underground,…
With its horn-filled ska and good-time beats, Fishbone may not be swimming in the mainstream — but it’s the mainstream that’s missing out. Since the then-junior-high-schoolers formed this band in 1979, its musical underbelly has always been rocking rhythms layered with alternative-tilted tracks. A saxophonist-singer further defined the group’s funky…
Here’s how Rob Dressel summarizes his philosophy for Diamond’s Pub: “Music is what we are, not what we do.” Even over the phone, his average-workingman vibe comes through loud and clear, conjuring up images of a Bruce Springsteen-type manager running a bar that Dressel admits was “built on a blue-collar…
On its current tour, Queensrÿche brings disparate worlds together, mixing heavy metal with live opera and enhanced AV technology. But this band’s never been easy to stereotype. It spent two years rehearsing rather than playing the club scene, and was signed after selling 20,000 copies of its self-everything EP. Thematic…
In the early ’80s, the new British band Silmarillion put out an instrumental demo echoing the introspection and epic themes of the band’s namesake novel. The act had changed lineups — adding multi-talented frontman Fish — and shortened its name to Marillion by the time it released the full-length Script…
Let’s bowl, let’s bowl, let’s rock and roll. Okay, maybe Grease 2 song lyrics don’t do justice to the entertainment venue slated to open late next month, but Lucky Strike Lanes, which will take over 20,500 square feet on the third floor of the Denver Pavilions, is building plenty of…
During a recorded Cowboy Mouth performance of “Jenny Says” (available for a full, free listen on the band’s website), vocalist Fred LeBlanc announces: “When the world is coming down, we’re gonna play a solo.” That slim statement — a twist on a key line in the song’s chorus — is…
“Please be kind,” Kevin Geraghty asks as I scribble notes of our conversation. He has good reason for the request: There’s been a nasty buzz going around that Brendan’s Pub may close. The blues bar has been in business at its new location, 2009 Larimer Street, for just over a…
We’ll break this to you gently: Twenty years before Shania Twain kicked up her cowboy boots, Juice Newton crowned charts with her crossover classics. The Queen of Hearts (and crooner of a few heartbreakers) may not have penned the majority of her hits, but she reigned over every tune she…
The Copper Chimney’s getting down and dirty. Sorry, make that DJ Dyrti, a transplant from Panama City, Florida, who helped launch Club Ra last year and now is working with new manager Cord Townsend to transform the establishment at 9650 East Arapahoe Road in Greenwood Village from Tech Center-typical to…
The alchemists of Yes melded musical elements into the first formulas for progressive rock, sonic concoctions that stood apart from the flower-fueled pop of the late ’60s. In the band’s first year, Yes opened for Janis Joplin and signed to Atlantic Records for its eponymous 1969 debut. The platter combined…
Sorry, Cartman: South Park’s been canceled. No, not the shit-talking Comedy Central show — South Park Tavern, a Broadway bar that had housed a running theme night for South Park, the cartoon. But on August 13, the day after Mike Mastro and his three partners pulled the plug on South…
The Taste of Colorado is still right on the money when it comes to providing quality acts — like, for instance, Eddie Money, who’s headlining this year’s festival. Accruing interest since 1977, the Brooklyn-based singer garnered platinum sales with songs such as “Baby Hold On,” from his self-titled debut. In…
Huey Lewis once said, “Sometimes ‘bad’ is bad.” And I think he’d agree that saddling your bar with a name likely to net more Beavis-like snickers than business is one of those bad times. While there may have been other factors involved in the recent closing of Surges, I’ll bet…
In 1978, Grease was the word. And Olivia Newton-John proved she could be America’s darling as both the sweet, sweater-clad character seen throughout most of the movie — and the black-leather bad girl glimpsed at the end. Starring with a young, lean John Travolta in the cinematic romp that’s still…
Michael Bruno, co-owner of two bars that bookend the metro-Denver area — Aurora’s Iliff Park Saloon and Lakewood’s Eck’s Saloon — is now negotiating the details on the purchase of a third venue, the current Club Cristobal’s, at 8501 East Colfax Avenue in Aurora. As Sports Field Roxxx, this space…
The chain saw was immortalized by Leatherface in movies about Texas massacres. But credit for sinking its teeth into music belongs solely to the members of Jackyl — or, more specifically, its power-tool-wielding frontman, onetime Playgirl centerfold Jesse James Dupree. These good ol’ boys from the land of Skynyrd carved…
While checking out upgrade efforts at Whiskey Bill’s (7290 West Colfax Avenue in Lakewood), I came face to face with some national stars of yesteryear. A trimmed-down Bad Boys of Metal Tour show had brought ’80s pop-metal playboys Bang Tango to the Whiskey, along with original Guns N’ Roses drummer…
Beauty may be only skin deep, but bad goes straight to the bone — for George Thorogood, anyway. But the slide-guitar guru wasn’t exactly “Born to Be Bad.” Before he started playing the blues, Thorogood played minor-league baseball — and if not for a pivotal concert by John Hammond in…
Pardon the mess and forget the name — that’s my advice for anyone who stopped by Punch & Judy’s, Littleton’s low-key lounge at 6657 South Broadway, before last Saturday’s grand opening. When I visited a week ago, the carpeting still wasn’t finished — and that was cutting things close for…
Steven Adler kicked his addiction several years ago, thanks to the help of a methadone program. But apparently the original Guns N’ Roses skinsman is still a bad boy — or at least bad enough to be part of the Bad Boys of Metal tour with fellow bad seeds Kevin…
