No one has worked as hard to promote the Denver metal scene as Wayne Quigley, the man behind Big Q Productions. From frequently booking shows at the Ogden, Gothic and Bluebird theaters to putting together smaller gigs at Iliff Park and Eck’s saloons, Big Q has shone the spotlight on…
Ever been down to the Soiled Dove and experienced anything other than flawless sound? Yeah, didn’t think so. In the extremely rare event that you did, chances are someone other than Chris Steele was sitting behind the mixing board. Although it would be easy to credit the Dove’s P.A. for…
Tucked away in a small warehouse studio just south of downtown, producer Dave Otero has captured some of the most ferocious music ever to be recorded — not just in Colorado, but anywhere. Anomalies, Cephalic Carnage’s release for Relapse Records, was recorded at his Flatline Audio studio and is currently…
Producer Bob Ferbrache has been the studio ace behind many of the truly exceptional releases to emanate from the Front Range over the last decade. Working from the unlikely confines of his mother’s basement in Westminster (Absinthe Studios is actually located within arm’s length of a washer and dryer!), Ferbrache…
Rudy’s Studio sits on the outer edge of north Denver, in the basement of Mark Obermeyer’s suburban ranch home. Using two tracking rooms and a slew of gear, Obermeyer has recorded some of Denver’s best-sounding records over the past few years. And although he initially cut his teeth working with…
Randall Frazier not only fronts the moody, psychedelic outfit Orbit Service, but he’s responsible for recording and mixing some of 2004’s most engaging local releases, as well. After moving from a west Denver cellar to a space that currently shares walls with the Revoluciones art space, Frazier and production veteran…
Tony and Lydia Fiore, a musician and artist, respectively, sensed that the local music community needed a high-quality, inexpensive place to record and mix music. They were right: Since opening last year, Globalsound Recording Studio has produced demos and CDs for scores of local acts drawn by its accessible atmosphere,…
The Walnut Room is a massive extension of Soundstructure Studios — a popular, musician-friendly rehearsal space on a formerly barren fringe of the Ballpark neighborhood — with its own restaurant, bar and performance venue. Since it opened, the room has netted a reputation as one of the best-sounding rooms in…
It’s no secret that the club market in Denver is oversaturated. And like crabgrass, for each spot that doesn’t make it, two or three others sprout up in its place. Nowadays, folks need a reason to search a place out — namely, cheap drinks, plenty of free parking, and great…
It’s like a full-scale ninja battle on stage: eight sweaty freaks brandishing guitars, horns, tambourines, microphones, pheromones, feedback and blood as they eviscerate everything that is decent and respectable about rock and roll. The band is Call Sign Cobra; that wet splat hitting your underpants is what’s left of your…
Fort Collins-based Matson Jones has been around for a couple of years, but it’s only in the last few months that the group has really started carving out its empire. Not that the coed quartet seems crassly ambitious; instead, it’s wholly focused on creating music that obliterates expectation even as…
While not entirely a straight-up ramen act (though lead guitarist Damon Wood can noodle with the best of them), Harmonious Junk pulls together savory parts funk, jazz, blues, psychedelic, soul and jam. The versatile outfit is equally comfortable pumping the groove at a Colfax smoke hole or loosening wallets and…
In July 2001, Tyfoid Mary lost its frontman, Vince Stott, in a fatal car accident. While such a tragedy would cause most bands to hang it up for good, Tyfoid persevered and found a new voice in Jerry Harper. He had his work cut out for him, as Stott was…
Dow Jones, Sid Fly, Aseone, D.O. Da Fabulous Drifta and DJ C.Y. — the five members of Ground Zero Movement — have spent much of the past year teasing area hip-hop fans. A few copies of Writer’s Square, the exceptional followup to the 2003 full-length Future I.D. , were leaked…
When not pulling duty in the veteran local outfit Uphollow, Ian Cooke writes and performs his own music. But instead of going the orthodox acoustic route, the flamboyantly coiffed artist employs electric cello, piano and a wireless microphone headset to sculpt arty, gorgeous pop compositions that are as delicate as…
Who would have thought that the 21st century would see a huge resurgence of interest in Guns N’ Roses? Too bad Axl Rose is too messed up to capitalize on his own legacy. But picking up his Slash, er, slack is Rocket Queen. Begun as a one-off Guns N’ Roses…
When Chuck French moved to Denver last year to play bass for Planes Mistaken for Stars, he was already playing guitar in a Chicago act called Git Some. Instead of breaking up, the band followed French to Colorado. With handmade demo tapes in hand, the foursome started tearing up bars…
It’s a rule of thumb: Never include a musical genre in the name of your band. Metal groups with “metal” in their monikers? Bad. Punk outfits called the Punk Rock something-or-others? Even worse. Machine Gun Blues, though, never got the memo. Which sucks, because the quartet’s music is a writhing,…
Way before The Matrix, a struggling actor named Laurence Fishburne donned Jheri curls and a ten-gallon hat to play a character called Cowboy Curtis on the Saturday-morning kids’ show, Pee-wee’s Playhouse. Today we have Cowboy Curse, a trio featuring bassist Tyler Campo, singer/guitarist Ben Bergstrand, and Ben’s brother, Josh Bergstrand…
Tobias Jupiter was a strong contender for this year’s “Best Band With the Worst Name” award, but the quintet dodged that honor by changing its name last month to the FlashBangs. Where Tobias Jupiter stumbled clumsily off the tongue, the group’s streamlined new moniker efficiently sums up its sound: a…
You say love has no boundaries? Tell it to the judge, fucker. Then back up a thousand feet…
When Rocket Ajax disbanded in early 2003, many scenesters were befuddled. Just a few months earlier, the band had picked up stakes and headed for the West Coast in search of fame and fortune — or at least a record deal. At the time, Ajax was one of the most…
