This Explosive Denver Post-Punk Band Is Reuniting With a New EP

"I was without a band for a few years," says Alan Andrews, singer/guitarist of the newly reunited Denver post-punk band the Photo Atlas. "I didn't really know what to do. So a couple years ago, I just started writing some songs without any expectations, just to see what would come out. I started showing them to some friends and potential bandmembers, and everybody was like, 'Dude, these are Photo Atlas songs.' And I was like, 'They are?'"

The comeback of the Photo Atlas is a welcome surprise to local music fans, especially those who used to catch the group live during its original run from 2004 to 2015. Inspired by incendiary bands such as Gang of Four, Fugazi and At the Drive-In, Andrews and company exploded on stage and released a string of records that culminated in numerous national tours and attention. But the Photo Atlas wound down after a decade of hard work, leaving Andrews to form the much more melodic, emo-inflected outfit False Report.

False Report broke up in 2023, leaving Andrews musically adrift. "As soon as people pointed out to me how my new songs had this different edginess to them, this angular kind of thing, I was like, 'Can I do this? It's been ten years. Can I do a new Photo Atlas EP and start the band again?"

The Photo Atlas's reunion show on Saturday, December 7, at the hi-dive answers that question  — as does the band's new EP, So Far Out of Control. Recorded with Andrews playing most of the instruments as well as singing, it's every bit as driving and danceable as the group's original output.

The Photo Atlas will play its new EP at Saturday's show, but only after rocking the band's 2007 album, No, Not Me, Never, in its entirety. The record boasts the track "Red Orange Yellow," which has racked up more than a million plays on Spotify over the years, thanks in part to its inclusion on the video games Burnout Paradise, Burnout Dominator and MLB 07: The Show. For local fans, however, "Red Orange Yellow" and the rest of No, Not Me, Never will bring back memories of many frantic, euphoric Photo Atlas shows back in the day.

"There's something about that kind of post-punk energy," Andrews says. "I just really love that sound, the rawness of it. I missed it a lot. When I was coming out of my kind of emo phase with False Report, I was like, I miss that. So hey, we're just going to go for it."



The Photo Atlas with Church Fire, Night Fishing, Post/War and Gifter at hi-dive, 7 South Broadway, 8 p.m. Saturday, December 7. Tickets are $18.85. For more information, go to hi-dive.com and the Photo Atlas's Spotify page.