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Andrés Diaz: “Due to some mix-up, we were thrown onto the ’80s Night bill. The ’80s aren’t our decade. Spandex, leg warmers, headbands, hair too big to fail. We looked like bears in a mall. Connecticut Yankees in King Arthur’s Court. Turds in a urinal. Outta place, outta time. I asked a man in parachute pants at the bar to watch my guitar while I used the bathroom. When I got back, my guitar was gone. I asked the bartender, “Did you see someone leave with a guitar?” He said, “Yeah, that dude in parachute pants.” I tried to track the guy down, but he was nowhere to be found.
“I asked around if anybody had a guitar I could borrow, but everyone was rocking synths and drum machines. Then, like the Lady of the Lake bestowing Excalibur, Danny of the Glowsticks offered me his keytar. I had tried to keep my virtuosic keytar skills under wraps; I was embarrassed by them, but the pieces were in place. I knew it was time to show the world my true talent. I went on stage, plugged in, and filled that room with the sonic tsunami of the keytar.”
Montropo plays Syntax Physic Opera on Friday, July 6, and the Magic Rat in Fort Collins on Thursday, July 12.
Editor's Note: The Denver Bootleg is a series chronicling the history of local music venues by longtime Denver cartoonist Karl Christian Krumpholz. Visit Krumpholz's website to see more of his work.