Glen Phillips of Toad the Wet Sprocket on Embracing Awkwardness

After Toad the Wet Sprocket (due at the Ogden Theatre on Saturday, November 22) started 25 years ago, the guys in the band eventually became reluctant rock stars, partly thanks to 1991’s Fear, which included the singles “Walk on the Water” and “All I Want.” But front man Glen Phillips…

Southern Soul Assembly Brings Four Legends Back to Their Roots

JJ Grey, Anders Osborne, Marc Broussard and Luther Dickinson are currently touring as Southern Soul Assembly — but Dickinson notes that the emphasis should be on the “soul” rather than the “Southern” part of the name. The reason, he explains, is because everyone in the group draws from their wide-ranging…

Judas Priest’s Ian Hill on America and Sexuality

Judas Priest (due tonight, November 19, at the 1STBANK Center) is one of the most influential heavy metal bands in the history of the genre. From Birmingham, England (the same city that produced Black Sabbath), Priest basically created the blueprint for the sound and look of most of the heavy…

Bright Channel Was Denver’s Last Great Shoegaze Band

Bright Channel was one of the most widely respected bands in the Denver underground scene during its relatively short existence. From February 2002 through the fall of 2007, the trio flooded small bars and large venues with its colossal sound. Though it would probably today be called a shoegaze band,…

Award-Winning Video Game Composer Austin Wintory Returns to Conduct the CSO

On November 15, Austin Wintory will return home to conduct the Colorado Symphony Orchestra in a program devoted to “Comic-Con”-themed music, including his own compositions for the universe of video-games, where he’s found his greatest success. At 30, Wintory is already an accomplished veteran and trailblazing composer. He received the…

Banshee Tree Is Willing to Give Up Running Water to Play Music

As Banshee Tree, Kalyn Pembridge and Thomas LaFond make a surprisingly original and enticing mix of gypsy jazz, folk pop and swing. They moved to Colorado from upstate New York four years ago, and can be seen seemingly every night of the week along the Front Range, playing a mix…

49 of the Hi-Dive’s Most Unbelievable Shows

This weekend, the hi-dive is celebrating eleven years of existence, with two years under its current ownership. When the club opened for business in the old location of 7 South and Quixote’s True Blue, it represented a sea change in places where one could see original, underground music. In its…

No One Plays Guitar Like Adrian Belew

Before Adrian Belew, who’s due at the Boulder Theater on Tuesday, November 4, performed and recorded with King Crimson, David Bowie and the Talking Heads, Nine Inch Nails and a slew of other artists, the adventurous guitarist spent a year working with Frank Zappa. Belew sees that year between 1977…

Denver Does Denver Proved the Lack of Barriers in the Local Scene

In 2009 and 2010, Yuzo Nieto of Pink Hawks and Adam Gildar put together a festival of a different stripe: The concept was that Denver bands covered songs by their own favorite Denver bands. The result was an eclectic and affectionate affair featuring obscure and more well-known artists. The covers…

Whiskey Blanket Celebrates Ten Years of Truly Unconventional Hip-Hop

Steven “Steakhouse” Pampel and Jordan “Funny Biz” Polovina started Whiskey Blanket ten years ago, when they were still teenagers. Originally focused on beatboxing and keyboards, the two friends soon transitioned into rapping over live instruments. That change came about after they met Joe “Sloppy Joe” Lessard at a house party…

Behind the Vital New Jazz Program at Metro State University in Denver

It’s been a busy month for the Department of Music at Metropolitan State University. Its accreditation was renewed by the National Association of Schools of Music, and it added a new Jazz and American Improvised Music Performance concentration (also accredited). We interviewed Peter Schimpf, associate professor and chair of the…

J. Roddy Walston on the Identity of the South

Courtesy of ATO RecordsBy Roy Kasten Onstage — his hair whipping like a battlefield banner, his piano splintering, his gnarled voice bellowing and his band crushing out something like rock, something like the blues — J. Roddy Walston is surely a force, but not really a force of nature, as…

Iceage Has Evolved Beyond its Knife Era

Iceage (due this Sunday, October 26, at the Hi-Dive) from Copenhagen, Denmark made a splash when it first started playing in the U.S.A. over three years ago. Synthesizing the raw energy of hardcore with the moodiness of post-punk, Iceage was and still is an electrifying live act. Even then, though,…