It’s not uncommon to hear stories of a reggae star’s rise from the ghettos of Jamaica to international fame. But few performers have endured as much or struggled as hard as the harmony trio Israel Vibration, whose members are all survivors of polio. “I didn’t get no chance, no job,…
Prior to departing for a tour of California, George Fraska and Dave Paco, of the Denver punk band called Four, announce their intention to indulge in a favorite hobby between gigs. “Me and Dave have this thing about spanking kids,” says vocalist/guitarist Fraska. “Yeah,” adds Paco, Four’s bassist. “We pull…
Neil Young and Crazy Horse Broken Arrow (Reprise) In a review of 1977’s That Obscure Object of Desire, the last film made by the late Luis Bunuel, Pauline Kael noted the relaxed confidence of the director’s work; after decades spent absorbing every aspect of the cinematic medium, he was able…
When a writer at the New York Times coined the phrase “heroin chic” to describe those underaged bulimia babes who have defined the fashion scene in recent years, he didn’t have Augy, the front man for Denver’s MK Ultra, in mind. But the term applies. Consider the evidence. In performance,…
Golden Smog began its life as what singer-guitarist Dan Murphy describes as “the cover band from hell. We’d learn, like, twenty or thirty covers in two days. And we’d just barely learn them. We’d play requests, too–like ‘Freebird.’ There’d always be some wiseacre who’d call out for that one. But…
Singer/guitarist Michael Daboll loves garage music. He loves to play it in his band, Element 79, and he loves to listen to albums by other artists who love it, too. Which goes a long way toward explaining why Daboll has created Treble Fest! ’96, a celebration of all things garage…
The exhaustive liner notes that accompany Cowabunga! The Surf Box, a four-CD set recently issued on the Rhino imprint, are certainly respectful of the musical category dubbed surf; you’d expect nothing less from John Blair, author of The Illustrated Discography of Surf Music, 1961-1965, widely acknowledged as the most loving…
It’s Saturday night at the Knights of Columbus hall in Brighton, Colorado, and about 250 people are mingling near the stage, waiting for the band to strike up. Their patience is soon rewarded: Mike Gaschler counts to three, then gives his accordion a hearty squeeze. Another set by the Polka…
Unlike those musicians who play up a variety of interests, perhaps to demonstrate that there is more to them than their tunes, Tabu Ley Rochereau, the Zaire-born leader of L’Orchestre Afrisa International, insists that music is his be-all and end-all. “I’m writing one book about my life,” he says. “I…
Metallica Load (Elektra) Thus far, this album has been reviewed more often on the basis of the bandmembers’ new grunge-junkie haircuts and the act’s decision to headline the worst Lollapalooza bill imaginable than it has on the merits of the music itself. But even if you exclude the aforementioned factors…
Most local, independent record labels are labors of love–small outfits such as Arnie Swenson’s Prolific company (lauded in this space last issue) that struggle from day to day and month to month to remain in operation. But Pro T.U., a Denver imprint that makes its bow this week, is quite…
Kelley Deal and her twin sister, ex-Pixie-turned-head-Breeder Kim Deal, are anomalies among alternative-rock royalty: They enjoyed popularity in high school and positive relationships with their parents. So why would the lesser-known of the sisters be the focus of one of the past year’s more publicized descents into drug abuse–a slide…
Of course Rob Zombie’s surly; you’d expect him to be, wouldn’t you? But on this mid-July evening, he’s somewhat less glum than usual, and for a very good reason. The singer and conceptualist behind young America’s favorite band, White Zombie, just spent the previous 72 hours visiting the Happiest Place…
Boulder’s Roots Revolt takes an unusual approach to songwriting. “For our first show at the Fox Theatre, we still didn’t really know what we were doing,” concedes percussionist Grant, who, like his bandmates, feels that one name is plenty. “Since our songs were basically improvisational, we had to play back…
Patti Smith Gone Again (Arista) For an artist with such a stratospheric reputation, Smith’s body of work is, in a word, skimpy. Horses, from 1975, stands as one of the most impressive debuts in the annals of pop; the first words out of Smith’s mouth (“Jesus died for somebody’s sins/But…
It’s fifteen minutes shy of nine o’clock in the morning, but the rented Capitol Hill house of Superstar DJ Keoki, the newest prince of the Denver club universe, is already rocking. A deafening dance groove built on a roaring synthesizer and more beats per minute than at a porno theater…
As we all know, Ron Miles is finally receiving national attention thanks to his recently consummated album pact with Grammavision and the appearance of his latest recording, the first-rate My Cruel Heart. But only a handful of locals recall that Miles’s debut recording (Distance for Safety) was issued way back…
On a weeknight evening at the Blue Note Cafe, perhaps a dozen people chatter over pastries and coffee. The majority of them appear oblivious to Steven Ray Liedlich, a nondescript young man clad in a T-shirt and jeans who’s sitting on a chair tucked into a niche near the front…
Rick Miller, guitarist and frontman for Southern Culture on the Skids, has just returned from a European tour, and he’s got trouble. “I’ve got to get all this cheese out of my system,” he says. “People over there eat cheese with everything.” To make matters worse, “what they call sausage…
“It’s weird where songs come from,” muses Joe Reinke, lead vocalist and guitarist for San Francisco’s Meices, during a mid-June interview. “They just come out of the air or out of experiences and things like that. You have to live to be able to write, I think. If you sat…
“We’re thinking of changing our name to ‘Juhl: J-U-H-L,'” says Mike Behrenhausen, drummer for Boulder’s Juhl. “Because anymore, that’s how we have to introduce ourselves: ‘Hi, we’re in a band called Juhl: J-U-H-L.'” “Yeah,” adds guitarist/vocalist/frontman Ben Wolaniuk. “When we’re booking shows, people ask us, ‘What’s the name of your…
It’s early June, and less than 48 hours earlier, an event took place that immediately changed the manner in which the current Finn Brothers tour was perceived. At the conclusion of a concert in London, Crowded House, guitarist/vocalist Neil Finn’s main project for the past decade, shuttered its windows and…
