It began with a book: Girls to the Front, by Sara Marcus. After a fellow musician gave David Castillo the book, which chronicles the rise and influence of the riot grrrl movement, he was inspired to make a zine. The zine never happened, but the idea became a band called…
I met Felix Ayodele (aka Fast4Ward) through a small DJ circle when he moved to Colorado twelve years ago. Every week, fellow musician Jacob Sanders and I visited Ayodele’s music shack behind his house, and the three of us would seize whatever instruments were close by, huddling over an eight-track…
The guys in Homebody pulled into Boise, Idaho, for the Treefort Music Fest on Wednesday, March 25. On paper, the drive from Denver to Boise is roughly eleven hours, but it really takes more like thirteen-plus if you choose to take I-70 instead of I-25 out of Colorado. Why make…
Who says a rock star has to be real to be awesome? With all of the movies, books and songs about the music industry (or otherwise featuring fake bands), there’s a wide range of fictional musicians to love. Unlike real musicians, they’ll never let you down by putting out a…
Writing a book is hard. Writing a book on something that happened thirty years ago when you’re half way across the world is harder. But for Bob Medina, finding a way to archive and share the Denver punk scene of the ’80s while spending most of his time teaching in…
Colorado Springs is just over an hour by car from Denver, but that has often been enough to prevent too much cross pollination in music between the two cities. Still, anyone willing to make the trip from Denver to check out shows or to catch a Springs band knows that…
Editor’s note: Each week, illustrator Noah Van Sciver shares his ongoing story of an ’80s rocker on a road trip through his past with the readers of Backbeat. You can see more of Van Sciver’s work in his new book SAINT COLE from Fantagraphics books. Last Week’s Episode of Rufus…
West coast act Random Rab played Cervates’ Masterpiece Ballroom over the weekend, and the visual spectacle was equal to the music — there was live painting, swirling glowsticks and plenty of enthusiastic fans. Our Brandon Marshall was there to give you a sense of the scene. …
Kiesza 8:30 PM, Monday, Gothic Theatre Punch Brothers $35.50 8:00 PM, Tuesday, Ogden Theatre Futurebirds $10/$12 7:30 PM, Tuesday, Fox Theatre Brand New $28.50-$33 7:00 PM, Wednesday, Fillmore Auditorium The Color Morale $15 6:00 PM, Wednesday, Marquis Theater Father John Misty $20.75/$25 8:00 PM, Thursday, Ogden Theatre Yung Lean $23/$25 9:00 PM, Thursday, Cervantes’ Masterpiece Ballroom…
Sitting on State Highway 105, Tri-Lakes Center for the Arts in Palmer Lake, Colorado is like a well-appointed community arts center in any small town. With its tastefully painted exterior and a sense of having been part of the community for years but never neglected, it reminded one of something…
Hot Rize w/ Aoife O’Donovan Tuesday, June 16 – York Street Shovels & Rope w/ John Fullbright Wednesday, June 17 – York Street Cooder – White – Skaggs Monday, June 22 – York Street Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis Tuesday, July 7 – York Street Boz Scaggs…
East Colfax has become one of Denver’s most vibrant music neighborhoods, and this summer, it will be home to a music festival. Called the Bluebird District Music Festival, it will take place from July 10 to 12 at Bluebird Theater, Goosetown Tavern, Park House, Lost Lake and Southside Bar and Kitchen. …
This weekend’s best shows include a couple of local release parties: In the Whale and Edison will both celebrate new records with shows at the hi-dive and Larimer Lounge, respectively. Elsewhere, Jason Boland brings Red Dirt to Denver, Natalie Merchant returns and more. Jason Boland & the Stragglers $12 8:30…
One of the finest and most well-respected ambient music projects going, A Winged Victory For the Sullen is performing tonight for the first time in Colorado at the Tri-Lakes Center for the Arts. Formed in 2011, AWVFTS is a duo comprising Adam Wiltzie and Dustin O’Halloran, along with supporting musicians…
Delicate-voiced Minnesota singer-songwiter Luke Redfield, somewhat of a nomad, has spent a lot of time in Boulder and Denver over the years. January found him headlining Shine and the Walnut Room, with his sometime-backup singer Patrycja Humienik, a University of Colorado graduate who lives in Denver, opening both shows as…
If rock ‘n’ roll had a baby and that bay was schizophrenic, its actions would most likely be represented in the stage presence of Alex Cameron and Foxygen. The two groups played at the Fox Theatre this week, and I witnessed the entire episode. When we arrived at the theatre…
The Pepsi Center was moving and shaking on Wednesday evening to the smoky sounds of the infamous Fleetwood Mac. The night was full with velvet-draped microphone stands, beards, vests and the crackle of big personalities. Although the group seemed to be in high spirits, there was a suggestive tinge of…
Denver trio Edison is releasing a story-filled EP this Friday at the Larimer Lounge. Called Ghost, the four-track album is an ode to songwriter Sarah Slaton’s mother, who passed away five years ago after a year-long battle with cancer. It’s a story that is so ingrained in the music that…
Phish returns to Dick’s Sporting Goods Park a fifth year in a row for a three-day Labor Day weekend run from Friday, September 4 through Sunday, September, 6. Genera admission field tickets ($60) and GA stand tickets ($49.95) go on sale on Saturday, April 4 at 10 a.m. Three-day camping…
The Grateful Dead is still noteworthy, fifty years after the San Francisco band’s emergence amid the remnants of the Beats and the beginnings of the hippie generation. According to longtime Grateful Dead Hour producer David Gans (who also co-hosts the Grateful Dead channel on SiriusXM with Gary Lambert), “People are…
Ultra Music Festival is 36 solid hours of EDM-themed overstimulation. Superfamous DJs! Pop-star cameos! Half-naked ladies! Oiled-up beefcakes! Dancing robots! Human tacos! Toothpaste Man! Pyrotechnics! Cryo cannons! Fireworks! Everything at Ultra deserves an exclamation point. Or maybe ten. And there’s never less than 120 decibels rumbling through your already stimuli-flooded…
One day about six years ago, Peter Isakovic’s then-nine-year-old daughter expressed an interest in playing drums, and he wanted to make that happen for her. But Isakovic’s life wasn’t in the best shape at the time: He was a recently divorced dad crashing on a friend’s couch while working through…
