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Oakland L. Childers

Oakland Childers has been a music journalist since he was sixteen.

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Five Great Books About Music – Some Obvious, Some Less So

By Oakland L. Childers
Nov 10, 2015

Music is a tough subject for writers of fiction. Because unless an author has actually lived the life of a musician or someone in the music business, writing with anything approaching legitimacy is nearly impossible. Even people who know the subject inside and out face myriad problems, the first of...
Tommie Phillips Creates Album Art From the Heart for The Syn

By Oakland L. Childers
Nov 3, 2015

Tommie Phillips has one foot in the past and the other securely in the future. Having lived through the psychedelic sounds of the ’60s, the progressive rock of the ’70s, the revival of both in the ’90s and the death of numerous music formats and their subsequent resurrections, he’s seen...
Denver Musicians Say Goodbye to Low-Cost Practice Spaces at 2200 Larimer

By Oakland L. Childers
Nov 2, 2015

There are a lot of places where you can hear live music in Denver, but there was only one spot where you could hear everything from soul to funk to death metal at just about any hour, day and night: the practice space at 2200 Larimer Street. Built in 1904,...
Lowjob Heading Into the Blasting Room With Jason Livermore

By Oakland L. Childers
Oct 27, 2015

For a band that’s been together a little more than a year, Denver’s Lowjob has an awful lot of ambition. With its first recording session scheduled for next month, the band is already looking forward to releasing its first EP sometime next year. And then another one. And another. And...
Denver's Flobots Want You to Help Make Their New Video — and More

By Oakland L. Childers
Oct 26, 2015

The Flobots have always tried to break down the line between the band members and their audience, but now they are actively seeking to get fans involved in their new album, No Enemies. And while crowdfunding for a new album is hardly a unique idea these days, the level of...
The Six Worst "Essential" Metal Albums of All Time

By Oakland L. Childers
Oct 22, 2015

Why is it that people are so eager to tell you about all the “must have” albums missing from your collection? A real friend would help you avoid the pitfall of spending hours upon hours trying to appreciate albums that supposedly are indispensable but are, in reality, just okay —...
AMZY Hosts Fundraiser For Injured Musician, Producer Joe Richmond

By Oakland L. Childers
Oct 22, 2015

The Gofundme campaign to help Denver musician Joe Richmond is about to get a big boost thanks to the band AMZY. Richmond, who has produced and recorded a number of local musicians over the years, was involved in a motorcycle accident in early October, seriously injuring his foot. It was...
Accident Leaves Denver Musician Joe Richmond With Mounting Medical Bills

By Oakland L. Childers
Oct 15, 2015

The Denver music scene has always been good at taking care of its own. Now, friends of Joe Richmond are asking people in the scene to help the musician and producer cover some massive medical bills following a motorcycle accident. "He's kind of the ultimate Denver music guy," says Nate...
Six Must-Read Books Written by Musicians

By Oakland L. Childers
Oct 14, 2015

For most musicians, making music is a way of venting their inner frustrations and putting their feelings out into the world in a relatively positive way. Sometimes, though, it’s just not enough. For these overflowing creatives, there’s a story they feel needs telling without being shrouded in the cryptic poetics...
Scenes From a Denver Punk Reunion at Mutiny Information Cafe

By Oakland L. Childers
Oct 13, 2015

Saturday's release party for Bob Rob Medina's illustrated memoir chronicling the '80s Denver punk scene packed Mutiny Information Cafe — and that was before most attendees found out The Frantix were going to play. The Frantic, who played their last show in 1983, said they got in a mere two...
Denver Musician Amanda Capper, Who Is Fighting Cancer, Needs Our Help

By Oakland L. Childers
Oct 9, 2015

Denver musician Amanda Capper has played with artists as diverse as Ryan Chrys and the Rough Cuts, Angie Stevens and Something Underground and at venues ranging from Herman's Hideaway to Red Rocks. It's safe to say she's helped bring a little happiness into a lot of local people's lives. Now...
Hip-Hop Crew The Janes Empowers Women Through Dance

By Oakland L. Childers
Oct 7, 2015

Although dance is considered a feminine pursuit by many people, it's surprising to see how much of a boy’s club dance can be. Even hip-hop, one of the freest and expressive channels of the art form, seems to have a disproportionate number of men at the helm. But the Janes,...
Colorado Record Store Named One of America's 21 Best

By Oakland L. Childers
Oct 1, 2015

If you're still laboring under the misconception that digital is the future of music, open your eyes. Physical formats – cassettes and records especially – are everywhere, and record stores, once predicted to be the ill-fated Neanderthal of the music-buying world, are thriving and even spawning in some places. Hell,...
Despite Growing Momentum, Is This the End of Goldrush Music Festival?

By Oakland L. Childers
Oct 1, 2015

After five years of providing Denver with a well-curated, post-festival season throwdown, the Goldrush Music Festival’s creator says this could very well be the end of the line “The future of Goldrush is definitely up for debate, considering how much time and effort it takes and the fact that I’m no...
Pink Hawks Reinvent Their Sound, Again

By Oakland L. Childers
Sep 30, 2015

Blending sounds from around the globe is nothing new for Pink Hawks, the Denver world-music powerhouse led by saxman and singer Yuzo Nieto. The band has pulled funky rhythmic influences from West Africa and South America, but the latest addition to its sound comes from much closer to home. That...
Mister Freedom Is a Breath of Fresh Air for Colorado Hip-Hop

By Oakland L. Childers
Sep 30, 2015

Despite being from Denver, producer and DJ Alex Warzel (who goes by Neon Brown and is now based in Oakland), says he never thought much of the city’s hip-hop scene. “I’ve never been into rappers from Denver at all,” he says. “I didn’t think hip-hop existed here.” But whenever he...
New Colorado Company Ticket-Pulse Offers Discount Same-Day Tickets

By Oakland L. Childers
Sep 24, 2015

Waiting to get tickets for a show until the last minute can be a dicey proposition but Denver-based Ticket-Pulse hopes to make day-of ticket purchases not only easy but cheap as well. Ticket-Pulse, which has been up and running since mid-May, offers tickets to shows at area venues for up...
Denver Black Sky III Lineup Includes Hardcore Legend Ringworm

By Oakland L. Childers
Sep 24, 2015

The 2015 iteration of Denver Black Sky festival looks to be a monster, with the announcement that Cleveland hardcore legends Ringworm will play the annual event alongside metal heavyweights Pig Destroyer and Skinless. The December 5 show at Englewood’s Gothic Theater will also feature some heavy hitters Havok, In The...
Why Crown Larks Drove Thirty Hours for One Set at Goldrush Music Festival

By Oakland L. Childers
Sep 21, 2015

The Goldrush Music Festival is a great place for bands, new and old, to get publicity and make connections. But lat’s face it: Denver is a long way from most other big cities. It’s fifteen hours by van, for example, from Chicago, the home town of Crown Larks. The band...
Tara Jane O'Neil on Rodan, the Limits of Albums and Louisville Punk

By Oakland L. Childers
Sep 18, 2015

The last two decades have been a time of extreme change for Tara Jane O’Neil, a singer/songwriter who is performing at Denver’s Goldrush Festival. In the ‘90s she cut her teeth in the Louisville, Kentucky, punk scene — one of the most active and vibrant in the country. Years later,...
American Culture's New Album Got Some Help From Post-Punk Royalty

By Oakland L. Childers
Sep 18, 2015

Glancing at the lineup for this year’s Goldrush Music Festival it doesn’t take a music scholar to notice that one of the acts doesn’t quite fit in. Among the slew of acoustic and atmospheric artists sits Denver’s American Culture sticking out like a reverb-soaked soar thumb. It’s an observation the...
Modern Goon Took the Long Road to a Truly Unique Sound

By Oakland L. Childers
Sep 16, 2015

Categorizing music is inevitable, even necessary in some cases, but the desire to describe a band using predetermined genres sometimes has the effect of creating more questions than answers. Such is the case with Modern Goon, a three-piece Denver band that includes two high-school English teachers and members of now-defunct...