Nearly a year after Quixote’s relocated into the former Bender’s location on 13th, owner Jay Bianchi has opened up a new place. This one’s called The Donkey O.T. (get it?), and it’s at 1630 Federal Boulevard, which was the home of Atmosphere Ultra Lounge since June, 2012. Since the bar…
One of the things that made the Grateful Dead so special was its ability to flawlessly transition from one song into the next, often taking the audience, as well as band members, completely by surprise. Masters of improvisation, these musicians had such great non-verbal communication on stage that they could…
Heartbreaking news for fans of the kiddie pop (or more like parents of those fans): The Jonas Brothers have canceled their tour. (Cue: chorus of deflated sighs.) According to the official release, the band, originally due at Bellco Theatre on Friday, November 1, as part of its nineteen-city tour, is…
Update, 10/17/13: We have a winner. Congrats to Brad Mann. Brad and a guest will be our guests at the show. Thanks to everybody else for the other entries. It just wouldn’t be October without DeVotchKa’s annual Halloween extravaganza. This year, the beloved Denver act is holding court at the…
Ian Cooke has always been known for his stunning lyrical imagery, and while he’s dropped a handful of interesting video accompaniments in the past, he’s never attempted anything like this before. In a project spanning two years, Cooke collaborated with local artist Adam Singer and bandmate Ian O’Dougherty to produce…
Every week now for the past five years or so, resident genius Noah Van Sciver has gifted us with 4 Questions, his always entertaining and brilliantly illustrated comic strip. If you pick up the paper each week, you know it’s always a must-read within the pages of Backbeat. And now,…
Since immigrating from Russia in 1992, Ivan Ovchinnikov — better known by his stage name, Scum — has grown into one of the best-selling horrorcore artists in the country, through relentless touring and with Lyrikal Snuff Productions, the label he founded more than a decade ago. In that time, Scum…
A bunch of storied bygone Denver bands are getting back together for a night of mesmerizing music-making. On Friday, November 15, at the hi-dive, Machine Gun Blues, Red Cloud, Monofog, Red Orange Yellow and Horace Van Vaughan are slated to reconvene to help the beloved South Broadway bar celebrate its…
Like any other town, Denver has its share of cover bands, and those bands often tend to get overlooked, because, well, they’re playing somebody else’s music. Thus, our latest feature, Cover Band of the Week (or, perhaps more accurately, every few weeks, because let’s be honest: There’s a finite number…
Music is life — or at least it is for us. When we’re not writing about it, we’re thinking about it, talking about it or listening to it. These are the things that were in heavy rotation for us this week. What are you listening to? What should we be…
All performers, no matter who they are or how talented they may be, had a time before they were famous when they were still coming into their own. For some, that time can be awkward or even cringe-inducing to reflect on, while for others, the progression seems more natural. Take…
For many jam band fans, traveling and seeing concerts goes hand in hand. Often when a favorite band announces its tour, folks will scan the tour dates and choose which dates to go to depending on which venue they are booked at. From giant outdoor summer sheds to intimate houses,…
Shawn Lee’s music can be heard in everything from snowboard films and video games to documentaries and TV series. Over the course of his career, the Wichita, Kansas, native has released dozens of albums, both on his own and with Ping Pong Orchestra. Tonight, he stops by the Marquis with…
With new bassist Kim Shattuck in tow, Pixies are slated to headline the Fillmore Auditorium on Thursday, February 13, with Best Coast. Tickets ($49.50/$55) go on sale this Friday, October 11, at 10 a.m. Keep reading to see what other shows are on sale this week, what songs are being…
This band with costumes would be GWAR,” says Victoria Lundy, who plays theremin for the Inactivists, offering one of the most astute assessments that’s been uttered yet regarding Denver’s strangest and most eclectic underground rock band. For a decade now, the Inactivists have amused, confounded, offended and even inspired other…
Katey Laurel has arrived. While she’s always shown potential, on Periscope, she really lives up to that promise. Her voice was amiable enough before, but her material just wasn’t that memorable. Here, though, she shows tremendous growth, singing with greater confidence, which adds heft to the overall affectiveness of her…
With a moniker that means “lucid canvas” in Spanish, the Littleton-based Lucida Tela draws from a varied palette on this self-titled effort. Prog-rock remnants of the band Tryst — some of whose members are now in Lucida Tela — can be heard on cuts like “Temperal Illusion” and the odd-metered…
Ashen Embers’ self-titled debut has the meditative feel of a Rocky Mountain sunset. Chalk it up to the slow tempos, the haunting rounds of slide guitar or the bluesy lyrical plaints — whatever the source, the record offers a strong sense of high altitudes, late-night campfires and small-town calm. That’s…
Essentially Crash’s swan song, Live — recorded at Herman’s Hideaway on St. Patrick’s Day 2013 — captures the raw, crunchy power of the band better than any studio album ever could. And that undoubtedly has to do with the fact that Crash was always best when allowed to follow its…
Since immigrating from Russia in 1992, Ivan Ovchinnikov — better known by his stage name, Scum — has grown into one of the best-selling horrorcore artists in the country, through relentless touring and with Lyrikal Snuff Productions, the label he founded more than a decade ago. In that time, Scum…
Inspired by early art-rock bands like Genesis and King Crimson, Goblin started out in 1972 as Cherry Five. But when the Italian group was recruited to help score the 1975 Dario Argento film Profondo Russo, the act changed its name to Goblin before releasing an album of the music it…
GUITAR WOLF @ MARQUIS THEATER | 10/06/13 After Bass Wolf more or less stumbled into place and Drum Wolf sat down behind the kit, Guitar Wolf himself strode on stage and smashed down any unnecessary walls between punk, garage rock, noise rock, R&B, the blues, soul and rockabilly song after…
