Courtesy Hashstronaut
Audio By Carbonatix
Since Colorado passed Amendment 64 in November 2022, the state has become synonymous with a different type of Rocky Mountain high. The economic impact of legalised recreational marijuana has been myriad, with the green rush affecting seemingly every aspect of life in the Centennial State, including the music scene.
While stoner and doom bands have always latched onto the weedian theme, there’s been a boom in the subgenre locally since 2012. On the eve of 4/20, a holiday that’s been celebrated in all its glory in Colorado well before it became legal to do so publicly (looking at you, Boulder), we’ve curated a list of Denver stoner bands to toke up to.
Green Druid
First up, Green Druid. As the name implies, the four-piece leans heavily into the whole dope-smoking metal thing, but its imagery, particularly the cover art for 2020’s At the Maw of Ruin, isn’t psychedelic or flowery. Quite the opposite, actually, so maybe don’t stare at it too long after taking a hit or two.
As the Green Druid dudes put it in the group’s bio, “The cosmic death lingers ever closer, looming in the back of all of our minds, channeled through our amps, drums and guitars. Playing these riffs is a form of life affirmation to us. To remind us that we are still alive and we have the power to wield our pain through the catalyst of our instruments.”
Maybe don’t think too much about that, either.
Hashstronaut
Then there’s Hashtronaut, a Denver band that fucking loves smoking weed. From press pics to the album cover of 2024 debut No Return, the four-piece proudly embraces the sweet leaf. The music backs that up, too. Reminiscent of OG stoner-doom bands like Sleep, Hashtronaut likes to slow things down and blast listeners into an alternate reality. The voice of bassist and lead singer Daniel Smith, also of Alamo Black, is just so damn easy on the ears.
“While Earth has struggled with disease, violence and political upheaval, we have focused on collecting tones from the vastness of the void,” the four-piece shares in its band bio. “It is our hope that these tones will soothe the elevated mind, and help us all just chill the f*ck out, man. We are HASHTRONAUTS. Thank you for joining us on this voyage.”
Lord Velvet
Lord Velvet isn’t your dad’s stoner band, but one that’d have your pops fondly reminiscing about his ’70s heyday after one spin. The Denver four-piece is steeped in that vintage psychedelic sound that started it all, but with a more modern purple haze, especially on 2023 debut EP, Astral Lady, with such songs as “Night Terrors” and “Black Beam of Gemini.” On “Snakebite Fever,” Lord Velvet invites you to “dance with the demon in the dark.”
This is how the group sees itself: “Explorers to the gates of the astral plane, Lord Velvet awoke upon the Denver scene with cosmic riffs bearing the weight of the Rockies with every celestial beat, drawing upon the influences of the awakened before us to send humanity into the next age of electric religion.”
Amen.
Shepherd
Denver power trio Shepherd isn’t as overtly dope smoking, or throning, as its peers here, but the group definitely likes to dabble in stoner sludge and rock, particularly on 2024 self-titled debut.
“Dust” is more of a straightforward Sky Valley strain, more of an Indica, if you will, while “Headless Horse” is a spastic Sativa. “Welcome Stranger” is a hybrid of the two. Shepherd does it all with such a crunchy tone, too. Plus, they’re definitely imbibing in more than just amps and riffs.
“I feel like Shepherd is a metaphysical type of thing. It’s guiding us. We play whatever we feel that we enjoy, and we have the most fun playing,” vocalist-bassist Holden Sims told Westword recently.
Stone Disciple
Sometimes it only takes two people to come up with a good idea, especially when they’re stoned. Denver’s Stone Disciple started as a self-described “two-piece noisy doom outfit” that didn’t let a lack of members hold it back when it comes to creating munchie-inducing metal.
Want to climb a mountain, but you’re too baked to stretch properly and go outside? Throw on Stone Disciple’s “Hollow Mountain,” a seven-plus-minute song that’ll have you peaking in more ways than one. The track is off the band’s 2017 EP of the same name, which also includes “Stoner” and “Groove Odyssey.” Now a three-piece, the 2024 LP The Wanderer includes bangers “The Return Of the Stoned” and “The Wormhole.”
You get the idea.
