Two of Colorado's Best Hardcore Bands Are Reuniting for a One-Off Show

You can't throw a rock without hitting a defunct local band that's gotten back together out of a sense of nostalgia, a need for closure or simply an excuse to rock with old comrades. Add to that list two of Denver's greatest hardcore punk groups: Guns n' Rosa Parks and Negative Degree.

The two bands — which share a member, bassist Mark Masters — are reuniting for a stacked hardcore bill on Saturday, December 14, at D3 Arts headlined by Chicago hardcore outfit the Repos. Guns n' Rosa Parks officially broke up in 2011, and Negative Degree faded into history, by guitarist Johnny Seven's own admission, around 2019. Both have been sorely missed ever since. Now, all these years later, the cuts and bruises incurred at their shows have long since scarred and faded.

Time to open some fresh wounds.
"Shaun Mares, local luminary and scene documentarian, wrote to me this last summer saying that he was flying the Repos in from Chicago, and he asked me if Guns n' Rosa Parks or Negative Degree would be down to do sets," Masters says of the dual reunions of his former bands. "It probably seemed like a Hail Mary to him at the time, but everyone in both bands are big fans of the Repos, so I floated the idea to the boys in the bands, and everybody said yes."

To top off Saturday's festivities, both bands are also releasing seven-inch records containing previously unreleased songs from their respective heydays. They'll have the vinyl for sale at the show; don't be surprised if they sell out faster than you can say, "Party like it's 2010."

"The reunion offer was fortuitous timing for me," Masters continues, "because I had been advocating for booking a Guns n' Rosa Parks twenty-year anniversary and seven-inch release show to give our posthumous EP a proper launch."

Twenty-year anniversary? Yikes. The snotty kids that played in Guns n' Rosa Parks back in the day are now old enough to be elder statesmen or something.

"It's crazy how much the world has changed since 2005," says AJ Morocco, the singer of Guns n' Rosa Parks. "I mean, at that time, Mitt Romney was a power-hungry politician who was going to force his religious theocracy and special secret underwear onto us. Now he's the lone dissenting voice of the GOP. We once wrote a song about Dick Cheney called 'Dick Cheney Beyond Thunderdome,' which chronicled the fallout of his hunting accident. We viewed him as the height of warmongering and ignorant swagger in D.C., but now he's like the voice of reason."

Morocco continues, "None of us could have predicted that things were about to take a turn back to the dark ages with Trump. But yeah, going over the old songs is super fun, and it's kind of like a snapshot of that halcyon era. We're all still great friends, and it's a blast for us."

As for Negative Degree, Seven wasn't in any hurry to revisit the past. But when it's time, it's time. "I had been hanging out with [Negative Degree drummer] Alex Dominguez quite a bit since the band fell apart, and we'd talked many times about maybe getting together again," Seven says. "I've always been too critical of myself and usually don't like to revisit the past. But I have to admit, it's been good. I still get excited after all these years."

Whether the weekend's throwback throwdown signals a permanent resurrection of Guns n' Rosa Parks and/or Negative Degree is a prospect still shrouded in the mists of what-if.

"No plans for playing more shows," Seven says. "I figure this is just a one-off. But we did have a bunch of songs in the works for an LP, so you never know."

"We don't have any solid plans, either," Morocco adds. "But when the kids need us, we'll be there to help them circle pit and remember how to party hard."

So is nostalgia, closure or old comrades the main reason to go to Saturday's shindig? All three, of course. But if you've never had the chance to get obliterated by either Guns n' Rosa Parks or Negative Degree before, well, that's really the only reason you need.

Guns n' Rosa Parks and Negative Degree with the Repos, the Consequence and Asbestos, Saturday, December 14, 7 p.m., $25, D3 Arts, 3614 Morrison Road, Denver.