It’s close to midnight on Friday night, and the crowd at the Bluebird is enraptured by the singer on stage. There’s something of Buddy Holly in him, and he’s tearing through a cover of “Valerie” that would make Amy Winehouse proud. The singer is Brent Cowles, here for the CD-release…
Planet Bluegrass is a place that holds special significance, not just to fans — who line up days ahead of time for the ranch’s annual RockyGrass festival — but to the artists who play there. Partly that’s because of its setting: Tucked beside a cliff wall and the St. Vrain…
Critic Jessica Hopper has played in and managed bands, toured internationally, booked shows, produced records, worked as a publicist, and is the author of The Girls’ Guide to Rocking, a how-to for teen ladies. She is here to help you stop doing it wrong. Send your problems to her –…
You know gamelan music?” asks Michael Stein. “The instruments are tuned slightly differently, so that’s how they get it to shimmer. They play slightly out of time, so it has an organic delay to it. [Canadian musician] Mac DeMarco’s guitar is shitty and the neck’s really loose, so when he…
Pan Astral has been on the rise in the Denver music scene, partly thanks to their commitment to incorporating visual art with their musical talents. They have found the RiNo District to be the perfect home base for that combination. “The RiNo District is blowing up for sure, and the…
Editor: Robin Edwards is a frequent Westword contributor who has played in several Denver bands. Her solo project is called Lisa Prank. Sometimes I wonder what it was like before bands had Internet presences. Did creepy dudes just send their vaguely threatening messages to female musicians through the mail with…
Denver is full of excellent artists and designers, whose images successfully articulate the mood of a show before anyone hears the music. Here are thirteen of the best, from the most commercially successful artists to those starting out, from those who have worked for major music festivals to those who…
We’ve had some good times, Chris Carrabba. It wasn’t pretty, but I fell pretty hard for Dashboard Confessional. But that was a long time ago. This is where I say I’ve had enough, Chris. It’s over. I hoped it wouldn’t be. But after that show last night at the Bluebird,…
This week’s cover story, “Rocks and Roll,” is about four concertgoers who were injured by falling rocks at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in September 2011. They’re now suing the city of Denver, which owns Red Rocks. They allege that the city was lax in its efforts to prevent such an incident…
Andrea Petrucelli is standing on the street in Austin during SXSW, handing out cards printed with directions for downloading a song by the Denver band You, Me and Apollo. She is committed to her task, yelling to the hordes of music fans walking by that the song is a must-have…
The original spirit of punk rock lives on in Denver’s vibrant DIY music scene, where shows are open to all comers and the surroundings are as likely to include books as they are beer. We talked to a handful of fans about the scene and about the stories behind their…
[jump] Editor’s note: Each week, illustrator Noah Van Sciver shares his sunny outlook with the readers of Backbeat. You can see more of Van Sciver’s work and even buy it on his website. • BACKBEAT’S GREATEST HITS • – The fifty best rap lyrics of all time – The ten…
Four people who were injured by falling rocks at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in September 2011 are suing the City of Denver, which owns Red Rocks. In all, seven people were hit by rocks during the encore of a Sound Tribe Sector 9 show, but only four have filed lawsuits. They…
Guitar wiz Nels Cline says he used to envy people who could stick to one genre, like musicians who’d say, “All I do is play swing, or all I do is play bluegrass, or all I do is play prepared guitar.” But for Cline, due tonight at Dazzle, focusing on…
In a world where you can buy a Dead Kennedys T-shirt at Urban Outfitters, the “punk” label has lost some of its ability to describe anything at all. We spent the past couple of months going to the shows that still embody the genre’s original spirit, the ones that now…
Over the last six months, Cervantes’ has been at work on a new patio and outdoor stage by the Other Side portion of the venue. Woodworker Tommy Lyle of Wood of a Kind built the outdoor stage, seating and bar using wood from trees that fell during the floods last…
Although frontman Chris Anderson moved to Boston last year, indie-rock outfit Fierce Bad Rabbit, originally from Fort Collins, hasn’t broken up. On the contrary, the quartet is busy making music and playing gigs across the country. Even so, distance has affected the dynamic of the band and its members in…
The Westword Music Showcase is less than two months away. On June 21, 130-ish Colorado bands and artists of every possible variety will play assorted venues around the Golden Triangle, and an outdoor stage on Acoma Street and 12th Avenue will host Diplo, 2 Chainz and more. We’ll announce the…
The Blasters, due at the Lion’s Lair tonight, May 6, and tomorrow, May 7, were founded in 35 years ago in Downey, California, by brothers Phil and Dave Alvin along with drummer Bill Bateman and bassist John Bazz. Steeped in American music traditions, the band easily traverses through blues, rockabilly,…
It’s been a hell of a long time since Beck played these parts. Now touring in support of his new album, Morning Phase, which he’s called a companion piece to 2002’s Sea Change, Beck headlines Red Rocks on Friday, August 15. General admission and reserved tickets ($49.95-$57.50) go on sale…
There’s a lot of bad music out there. There are always people debating genres like contemporary country and Western and Top 40 music, but at the end of the day, the most reviled and defenseless genre of all is nu-metal. Too whiny to be intimidating and too dumb to be…
[The one and only Henry Rollins writes a weekly column for our sister paper, LA Weekly. You can find it every Thursday on their music blog, West Coast Sound. This week, he wrote about his trip to Denver for 4/20.] 4-19-14 Denver: 2250 hrs. In Denver to cover tomorrow’s Cannabis…
