For a few years around 2011, it seemed like not as many touring bands were coming through on the DIY venues circuit as there had been. Many bands were going through booking agents at that time and most DIY venues aren’t likely to give a guarantee even though certain bands would…
Charles Joshua Ogzewalla, who went by Josh, died on the evening of April 10 from a combination of colon cancer and liver failure. Doctors originally told him he wouldn’t make it to February. “He had that tattoo on his arm that is the Dylan Thomas quote — ‘Do not go…
Slovenian industrial band Laibach return to the Gothic Theatre this Saturday, May 23rd for its first show in Denver in over a decade. The group, comprising cultural provocateur and multi-media artists will share the bill with Ministry. Whereas the latter came up in a relatively free cultural climate in Denver and Chicago,…
Widely considered one of the best live rock and roll bands going now because of its joyously exuberant shows, Diarrhea Planet does one better on the modern reinvention of classic rock without sounding like a specific band from the 1970s. Think more like Thin Lizzy impossibly influenced by modern garage…
Kyle King was a guy you’d see at several Denver shows up through his untimely death on August 24th, 2009. As a student at Green Mountain High School, King was an avid music fan whose unmistakable, loud, silly and infectious laughter is something everyone remembers about the King. That and…
Bands performing classic albums in their entirety is hardly a new thing at this point. But it isn’t every band whose material has struck a chord across multiple decades. When the Jesus and Mary Chain’s Psychocandy was first released in 1985, it was a piece of music out of step…
Most people know Henry Rollins as the former frontman of Black Flag and Rollins Band. His 1994 memoir, Get In the Van, should be required reading for anyone coming up as a musician. A writer, spoken-word performer, actor, world traveler, radio-show host, cultural commentator and activist today, Rollins has kept himself impossibly…
Around fifteen years ago Jim Lanpheer approached Robert Rich about playing a house show, and that began a bit of a tradition for Rich, who has now played five of these types of living room/house shows in Colorado. The intimate environment and a truly appreciative audience kept Rich coming back…
The Toad Tavern is located, as Formant’s Charles Ballas put it last night, at the corner of Federal and Federal: Boulevard and Circle. That fact alone made it seem perfect for a show that featured some of the most prominent acts/artists in local experimental music. Unfortunately, on a rainy night…
From 2008 through 2010, the DIY space Rhinoceropolis and its sister venue Glob experienced their most active periods. The DIY touring circuit was still in full swing and many of the buzz bands in the underground made Rhino a stop along their route across America. I went to Rhino and…
When Psychocandy came out in November 1985, it established the Jesus and Mary Chain as an important band of the era, with a sound that harked back to the raw quality of early rock and roll as well as the tunefulness of ’60s pop. The album also put the band…
When Rhinoceropolis opened its doors to the public for the first time in May of 2005 for an art show, it represented a continuation of Denver’s long tradition of DIY venues. From warehouses and the like for punk shows in the 80s, the Greenhaus of early alternative rock band The…
The Sixth Annual Denver Noise Fest kicks off Friday night May 1st at Rhinoceropolis at 8 p.m. Over the course of two nights and Saturday mid-day, DNF will host some of the most interesting and innovative artists in the broad spectrum of the noise genre. Each night, guest DJs will…
Chris Callaway was an obsessive lover of music at a young age. While still in high school and through college, he wrote for Christian heavy- metal magazines before graduating to highe- profile publications like Boulder Weekly and Westword. His first book, Reel to Real by Reel, is a selection of…
Over the past ten years, Rhinoceropolis has invited countless acts from all over the world to play on its cement floor. It has also been a home for artists and a source of inspiration for all kinds of people. Below are stories from various musicians and artists about their experience…
Rhinoceropolis opened to the public with an art show the first week of May 2005. It was founded by Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design students Harry C. Walters and Jeremiah Teutsch and musicians/artists Milton Melvin Croissant III (aka “Buddy”) and Warren Bedell. The four had spent plenty of…
Underground hip-hop was on the ascent by the early 2000s and reached a bit of an apex in its popularity by the middle of the decade. In that time, Chris Steele released his debut album Litterture in 2004. His clever wordplay and thoughtful, if irreverent, humor made his rap songs…
Veteran songwriter John Common has been treating Denverites to well-crafted, imaginative songwriting since his days in alt-country band Rainville. Having worked with a handful of bands and projects since then, Common has demonstrated remarkable flexibility in both sound and performance. His collaborators over the years have included a number of…
Adam Rojo and Nick Salmon aren’t the kind of people that would beat you over the head with their importance or even much push their music on you. It’s nothing new as evidenced by the fact that their previous projects are cult bands at best in certain circles in Denver…
Colfax, 4/20 weekend, The Replacements pretty much just got out nearby and there didn’t seem to be much in the way of rowdy after carousing. Other than some curious daytime rush hour action Denver’s streets were pretty mellow and mild with temperatures in the 40s when the time for the…
Record Store Day is upon us! This Saturday, April 18, live bands will play in parking lots, fans will fill the aisles of your favorite record shop and, of course, there will be insane releases you never knew you needed. We walked you through a few of your options earlier…
Darren Kulback and Kevin Wesley had to be bored living in Parker, Colorado as teenagers. But both were aware of truly underground music from a young age. When Kulback was eleven years old he saw that legendary 2002 tour that featured Lighting Bolt, Arab On Radar, The Locust and Blood…
