Jeffrey-Paul Norlander just doesn’t get it. Ever since he and the Denver Gentlemen put down their instruments five years ago, the band has been swathed in an almost mythic lore that constantly eludes him: The Gentlemen, he is repeatedly told, were giants of Denver’s then-emerging roots-rock music culture. The fact…

Some bands want to change the world, and Dressy Bessy is no different. But the group’s methods don’t involve any force-feeding of philosophy: The only thing the players might shove down your throat is a candy cane. The band’s psychedelic cyberspace home, at dressybessy.com, vividly illustrates this point. Vocalist/songwriter Tammy…

In the world of Western pop music, there’s a reason the drummer sits in the back: We are married to melody. The casual pop-music consumer could probably easily rattle off names of musicians responsible for his or her favorite melodic hooks, but that same individual would probably draw a blank…

In 1995, punk was, once again, dead. What still lived in the hearts of the punk faithful who lived and made music in the nation’s capitol, however, was eternal hope — or maybe just a stubborn denial of the genre’s passing. Washington, D.C., was all too desperately hanging on to…

Not so long ago, the ghosts of Denver’s past were threatening to become this city’s only future. On any given night, an earnest drone could be heard emanating from various downtown clubs; hymnlike songs summoned spirits of a boomtown from days gone by. With themes ranging from black lung to…

Soothing vocal cords meet fuzzbox power chords as the melancholy brooding of the Czars collides with the wall-of-noise, guitar-fueled ambience of Space Team Electra (pictured) on Saturday, August 5, at the Gothic Theatre. In an evening dubbed Czars Team Electra, each group will perform one of its counterparts songs during…

Gladhand has spawned an offspring. Anyone familiar with Denver’s compelling avant-garde musical misfits — whose live act involved everything from vomiting dancers to flaming baby-doll heads — may find this thought slightly unnerving; visions of a mutant cross-pollination of Cirque du Soleil and a resurrected G.G. Allin spring to mind…