When guitarist Mike Buckley first became known around town in the mid-’90s as a player in the popular teen-punk band Vivid Imagination, it would have been impossible to predict where he’d wind up circa 2004. Now a seasoned, if low-key, veteran of the Denver scene, he’s carved out a much…

When Sparta (above) was hastily convened in 2001 before the corpse of its predecessor, Texas’s would-be punk messiah At the Drive-In, had even been hauled down off the cross, the whole thing smelled a little suspicious. But any charges of necrophilia or opportunism have been conclusively laid to rest with…

Colorado has had a decent track record over the last few years when it comes to bands led by fierce, forceful women. Still, that might not be enough to prepare your average Denver rock slob for Stoli and the Beers. In the Alley is the trio’s debut, and it lays…

Reverend Horton Heat (appearing Friday, July 23, at the Ogden Theatre) was once the James Brown of psycho-billy. But with Revival, his eighth full-length, he’s in danger of becoming the genre’s George Thorogood. His warmed-over Elvis riffs and sleazy double entendres have never been exactly what you’d call penetrating, but…

Picture some weird teen-romance flick in which a lonely kid goes on an oceanside vacation with his family and winds up falling in love with the girl of his dreams against a soft-focus backdrop of rain showers, pounding surf and long, scenic drives up the coast. Now slice up the…

There were many reasons why we moved away from Denver,” explains Martyn Leaper, singer/guitarist for the Minders, as he catches his breath after a sweaty day of gardening in the back yard of his Portland home. “But this did me in: I was a huge fan of the Forney Museum…

Don’t let the black outfits and stenciled skulls fool you; Alkaline Trio doesn’t exude a fraction of the ghoulish atmosphere of similarly-adorned goth-punks such as the Misfits and AFI. Angst, though, it’s got in spades. Since 1997, the Chicago threesome has plumbed the sticky, half-scabbed depths of bloodshed and heartbreak,…

Few things outside of puberty or the oratory of George W. Bush are as awkward as a waltz. Like an amputated square dance, the waltz’s three-count cadence and stiff formality represent the ultimate triumph of social order over the organic rhythms of the human body. It’s no wonder, then, that…

A while back, Pearl Jam issued a slew of cheap, generically packaged live CDs, supposedly as a treat for its fans. Of course, Vedder and crew, who haven’t exactly been raking it in lately, were just trying to beat the bootleggers at their own game. What’s great about Fugazi’s similar…

“What the fuck do I have to do? I’m not paying you unless someone in the band does this interview.” The man speaking is named David. He’s the tour manager of Hollywood’s latest savior of rock and roll, the Icarus Line. His frustration cuts through his cell phone’s ear-splitting static:…

James Cagney and Sham 69 might seem like oil and water, but both the venerated actor and the legendary punk group have worked on projects called “Angels With Dirty Faces.” Add Manda and the Marbles (above), whose new album is so titled, to that list — just don’t expect any…

Once there was this little group from suburban Illinois that somehow hit upon a brave new sound. It was an amalgam of the edgy, aggressive rock that came before and the vulnerable, melodic pop that had grown up alongside it. In accordance with this dichotomy, the four bandmembers were a…

Ever wonder what would have happened if Fugazi had retroactively developed fetal alcohol syndrome and became addicted to wearing rattlesnake codpieces and huffing gold-glitter spray paint out of plastic Safeway bags on the corner of Park Avenue and California? Well, wonder no more. Eaglemaniac, the second full-length release by Black…

Echoes are cool. You know, the way they lap against your skull like waves, slapping faster and faster until they start to run into each other, clipping their edges off and ultimately collapsing into a clunky, recursive stutter. Rock-and-roll history is full of them; in fact, the progression of ’60s…

There’s a man lying near death at your feet. His body has been punctured by seven slugs of enemy fire, and your compatriots — the ones who don’t bolt out of fright — try frantically to plug the gushing leak in his neck. But it’s all in vain, and you…

Eric Lowe’s tenure as a Denver musician has been a quest for essence. Starting with his ’90s stints in the warmly remembered pop-rock bands the Christines and Honeydew, the singer/guitarist has been paring down and laying bare the hidden, pulsing heart of classic songcraft, digging for that raw pulp at…

Somewhere deep in the swampland of New Orleans, a diabolical, bayou-spawned shaman begot the ultimate rock-and-roll voodoo doll. Angus Young’s broken guitar picks became its eyes; Gene Simmons’s used condoms became its skin. And then, in a fit of unholy transfixion, this high priest of the occult emptied out one…

Broncos vs. Raiders. Blur vs. Oasis. Bush vs. Kerry. Us vs. Them. All of these pale before Bear vs. Shark. Like a tightly packed bundle of nerve endings trying to burst in five directions at once, this Michigan-based quintet is at war with itself. The territory being fought over is…

Are you sitting down for this? The members of Matson Jones are. Or at least three-quarters of them are: Unlike the typical rock lineup of leg-kicking pose-strikers or pigeon-toed emo wusses, they’ve got their asses planted in chairs. That’s because both of Matson Jones’s singers — Martina Grbac and Anna…

One of Christianity’s virtues is misericordia: mercy of the heart, a sense of pious compassion for your fellow human being. Seeing as how Pedro the Lion’s (due at the Bluebird Theater on Tuesday, July 6) David Bazan is a self-confessed Christian, it’s a sin that he doesn’t take more pity…

Yeah, Mm is from Iceland, but let’s forgo all the snow similes for a minute. As goosebump-raising as the group’s music can be, it’s anything but frigid; in fact, Mm’s new album is called Summer Make Good, and it’s infused more with warmth and friskiness than chill and desolation. Formed…

While the half-baked genre of electroclash cashed in its chips almost quicker than it could ante up, its echoes resound. One such reverberation is Oakland, California’s Gravy Train!!!! (below). Although the coed quartet’s music is far removed from the contrived, plasticky kitsch of electroclash, it shares an affinity for the…