All illustrations by Dave Watt.Although musicians are infamous for walking out on bar tabs, trashing hotel rooms and hijacking chuckwagon sandwiches from gas stations, there is one thing they deserve: the ability to torture society with their particular brand of art. Sadly, it happens all too often that bands’ tours…
Wesley Davis has long been hosting his Textures series, with its focus on live ambient music. A couple of years ago, he used to host Textures in the basement of Gypsy House Café, but at the series’s new home, Mutiny Information Cafe, he doesn’t have to bring in a P.A.,…
By Chris Walker Do you have anything that goes well with Beethoven?” The clerk at the Denver Wellness Center looks at me strangely before motioning me over to a display case full of various THC-infused candies and baked goods. “Well,” he says, “we’ve got weed cookies, gummies, lollipops, chocolate…. I…
There’s an Internet meme that tells you what band you’re probably into based on state. For Colorado, that band is Naked and Famous. In 2013 that band played at the Fillmore to a large crowd. That sort of mixture of rock and synth pop and R&B finds a different manifestation…
It’s no secret that Denver is blessed with an overwhelming amount of music venues, places boasting calendars packed full of local and national acts every night of the week. We wanted to highlight some of the best of the little guys — venues that can hold crowds under 500 people…
. In recent years, fall has come on with a vengeance: with uncharacteristically heavy rains and early snow, and winter has refused to leave. But this year it has felt more like we’ve been given a reprieve. That climate, that natural ambiance perfectly suited a place like Chautauqua Auditorium and…
Sixteen-year-old me would’ve been obsessed with Lorde. Seriously: her number one fan. I would’ve bought tickets to her 1ST Bank Center show as soon as they went on sale, gotten to the venue early, and would’ve been the girl randomly cheering from the front long before Lorde appeared on stage…
STS9 headlines the Fillmore Auditorium on New Year’s Eve, and tickets ($75) go on sale on Saturday, October 4 at 10 a.m. Jane’s Addiction will perform Nothing’s Shocking in its entirety and more songs at the Ogden Theatre on Wednesday, November 19. Tickets ($85) go on sale on Saturday, October…
Itchy-O is a band that defies explanation: It’s a massive, noise-making horde of masked weirdos, an ecstatic jumble of influence and culture and myth. The Denver-based mobile unit is celebrating the release of its first full-length album, Burn the Navigator, on Alternative Tentacles. It headlined a show over the weekend…
Boulder-based Big Gigantic — the instrumental livetronica, hip-hop, jazz and electronic duo — took the Red Rocks stage this weekend for its third annual “Rowdy Town” show. The group collaborated with Denver-based funk band the Motet to do a full band set each night. Dominic Lalli, saxophonist of Big Gigantic…
Whenever someone mentions Ty Segall to me, I immediately feel compelled to tell the story of my friend Kevin. Years ago, at the sadly-defunct Boulder warehouse venue Astroland, a Ty Segall show got a bit insane, the band threw the drum set into the crowd, and Kevin’s head collided with…
Editor: Please see the Author’s note on this new photo-driven series at the end of this article. Ian MacKaye once said that the most relevant bands are those that exist right now, because they exist and you can go see them. I couldn’t agree more. One of the reasons I…
[jump] Editor’s note: Each week, illustrator Noah Van Sciver shares his ongoing story of an 80’s 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 YOUTH IS WASTED. Rufus Baxter: Part Eleven Rufus Baxter:…
You know Mike Dunafon: Mayor of Glendale, married to the owner of Shotgun Willie’s strip club, libertarian candidate for Colorado governor. He may not have a political resume with quite as much heft as his opponents, current governor John Hickenlooper and congressman Bob Beauprez. But he does promise to make…
Justin Townes Earle is playing at the Fox Theatre on Saturday, September 27. What you see here is a portion of the cover for his latest album, Single Mothers. It is another jewel in a growing catalogue of remarkable work. Earle has a unique ability to see the dignity and…
Tonight, the Savoy Events Center will once again be filled wall-to-wall with people from all walks of life who came for one reason: Rocking the mic. MCs from across Colorado will come together for the second Rap-A-Thon, which will feature art, fashion and hours of rhyming. See also: The “Controversy”…
Last weekend, Skylab, which featured headliner Tiesto, brought some 10,000 people to the Denver Coliseum. Among those were approximately 150 members of the online rave community Colorado EDM Family. A few of the “EDM Fam,” as they call themselves, saw a young girl fall to the ground outside the venue…
Mark Turner is a dynamic and lucid jazz tenor saxophonist who’s been part of Billy Hart’s Quartet for a decade. He’s also been a member of Fly, the collaborative trio with the skilled bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jeff Ballard. But Turner, who will be at Dazzle on Saturday, September…
While the current connotation of the term DJ involves neon-clad teens, lasers and confetti cannons, artists like DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist rely on the hip-hop tradition of the genre. On past tours, Shadow and Cut toured with only a collection of hand-picked 45s (the Hard Sell Tour, from 2007…
When Lonely Boy (also known as Joshua Heath) launched the Blend in Los Angeles about ten years ago, he envisioned the night as a combination — a blend — of electronic and live music. “At the time, I had a live band, and we wanted to do a night where…
Brennan Bryarly, founder of the Hundred, put on his first festival this weekend, Cloak and Dagger, which was held in the Golden Triangle at City Hall and Vinyl and featured almost thirty electronic producers and DJs. The festival was in the works for two years. But when Bryarly first tried…
Many musicians are accustomed to playing for free, especially those who don’t have a large following. The joy of it, as well as the promise of exposure, often suffice as a reward. But this can cause consternation for serious or professional artists who spend hours upon hours honing their craft…
