Does Denver have a burgeoning urban/top 40 sensation on its hands?

Yes. It appears so. Meet Hunter Brown, an eighteen-year-old artist from Denver, who’s already amassed an impressive pedigree. Over the past three years, Brown has worked Dr. Dre associate Kirv (aka Kevin Irving) and collaborated with fellow Denverite, Frank E of the aptly dubbed Red Hot Beats productions  — yet…

Q&A with Krispy Kream of the Knux

Don’t let the tight jeans and thick-rimmed glasses fool you. The brothers who make up The Knux were raised about as far away from the suburbs as you can get: New Orleans’ Ninth Ward. Still, Krispy Kream and Rah Almillio (aka Kentrell and Alvin Lindsey) found their sound by listening…

Q&A with Kyle Evev of Breathe Carolina

It started out as a simple phone interview for a feature commemorating Breathe Carolina’s participation in this year’s Warped Tour, which rolls into Invesco Field at Mile High on Sunday, August 9. But it turned into something considerably more unexpected when, during our conversation with BC’s Kyle Even, his partner…

Tip sheet: Meet Shel, our new favorite band

What in the hell are they putting in the water up in Fort Collins? Seriously? Seems like every ten minutes or so our neighbors to the north are churning out another batch of noteworthy artists. Meet Shel, the latest FoCo outfit to cast us under its spell. Comprised of four…

Over the weekend: Phish at Red Rocks, 8/02/09

Reviews: Night I | Night II | Night III | Night IVPhish’s last night at Red Rocks Amphitheatre was made complete with one very special guest, Bill Kruetzman. The former drummer of the Grateful Dead was not expected and to bring him out for six songs to close out the…

Over the weekend: Phish at Red Rocks, 8/01/09

Reviews: Night I | Night II | Night III | Night IVPhish’s return to the stage after five years on the lamb has them reenergized, focused and most importantly, sober. The effects of these changes have greatly enhanced the Phish experience. Phish 3.0 was on glorious display this past Saturday…

Over the weekend: Phish at Red Rocks, 07/31/09

Reviews: Night I | Night II | Night III | Night IVPhish’s second night in Morrison was a rain soaked affair that offered a stark contrast in music, from the leisurely and drab first set to the energized and voiciferus second set. Despite a strong start with crowd favorites like…

Last Night: Phish at Red Rocks, 07/30/09

Reviews: Night I | Night II | Night III | Night IVPhishThursday, July 30, 2009Red Rocks AmphitheatrePhish’s first show in their return to Red Rock was, by all accounts, a success. The four-night run sold out instantaneously, and spare tickets were a rare site in the parking lot before the…

Exchanging Phish stories before the big gigs this weekend

For fans of America’s biggest cult band, the term “boys of summer” doesn’t refer to guys who get paid millions to play baseball but rather four Vermont men in their forties who earn millions by playing goofy, unpredictable music while jumping on trampolines, having glowsticks thrown at and around them,…

Q&A with Dana Janssen of Akron/Family

Last year, Akron/Family went from a quartet to a three piece when former cohort Ryan Vanderhoof decided to move on — and according to singer-songwriter/drummer Dana Janssen, the departure shook he and his remaining partners, Seth Olinsky and Miles Seaton. However, they’ve not only survived the ordeal, but they’re moving…

Q&A with Joe Perry of Aerosmith

In Rolling Stone’s list of the greatest guitarists of all-time, Aerosmith’s Joe Perry placed 48th — a ranking capable of slackening the jaw of any true rock-and-roll fan. This former Toxic Twin has penned one indelible riff after another over nearly four decades, as anyone who’s tried to play along…

Q&A with Elizabeth Zilman of Elizabeth & the Catapult

Elizabeth & the Catapult is a Brooklyn-based trio playing the kind of jazz-inflected pop music that is simultaneously soothing and thought provoking. The act’s debut album, Tall Children, bears favorable comparison to the more adventurous pop songwriters of recent years like Suzanne Vega and Tori Amos. As a live band,…

Q&A with Derek Vincent Smith of Pretty Lights

In this week’s paper, we featured a short Q&A with Derek Vincent Smith of Pretty Lights, an act whose last two albums have surpassed 110,000 digital downloads. As with most of our Rough Mixes interviews, the piece only told half of the story. The Pretty Lights mastermind sat down recently…

Q&A with Rodney Atkins

Rodney Atkins may be a man of few words, but this quiet country singer is quickly amassing a body of hits that speaks loudly to his place as one of Nashville’s emerging power players. Since his platinum 2006 album If You’re Going Through Hell, Atkins has spun together a string…

Quote/Unquote: “Don’t Trust Me” by 3OH!3

All right, how many times have you been bopping along, minding your own business, listening to some tunes, when all of the sudden, you’ll hear a line in a song that instantly makes you do a double-take? You know, the ones where you keep rewinding the sucker, marveling aloud to…

Mile High Music Festival Q&A: Jet

Jet is eager to get back onto the road. More than two years after the release of the Aussie rock outfit’s last album, Shine On, the band will be stopping for a slot at the Mile High Music Festival before continuing on a world tour to promote the August release…

Mile High Music Festival Q&A: Pepper

Averaging 200 shows every year for the past eight years, the members of Pepper have earned a reputation for being as dedicated as they are hedonistic.  With five full-length albums under their belt and the development of their own record label, the Hawaiian-bred members have demonstrated an intense love for…

Mile High Music Festival Q&A: The Duke Spirit

Forming in London in 2003, the Duke Spirit has evolved a sound that brings together elements of garage rock, soul, the blues and swirly, noisy atmospheric rock. Rather than sounding like’s trying to do too many things at once, act’s music sounds rich with textures and emotional landscapes. A perfect…

Mile High Music Festival Q&A: Incubus

Incubus was three-fifths of the way formed back in high school in California twenty years ago. Safe to say the band had no idea how popular its music would be – the group has three platinum albums in the US, and two of those went platinum twice. Born in the…

Mile High Music Festival Q&A: Davy Knowles

In an industry littered with tween pop stars and Disney Channel minions, it’s refreshing to come across an artist whose work isn’t a medley of foot-tapping drivel swathed with AutoTune. Equipped with awe-inducing guitar skills and a hauntingly intense wail, 22-year-old Davy Knowles is quickly making a name for himself…

Mile High Music Festival Q&A: Band of Heathens

Although acts such as Tool, Widespread Panic and the Fray are clearly the main draw at this weekend’s Mile High Music Festival, it’s support bands like Band of Heathens, slated to perform on Saturday, that demonstrate the prodigious depth of the fest’s lineup. Boiling down Band of Heathens sound to…