Longtime Local Musician Provides Snapshot of the ’90s Denver Music Scene by Reissuing Past Albums

Mike Colin is a one-man music machine.

The longtime local musician, best known for fronting the group Phantasmorgasm, performed with a laundry list of Denver acts throughout the 1990s. Nowadays, he continues to release music, but under several monikers.

First off, there’s Mike Colin the solo artist, who is more “indie rock” (a tag he uses loosely to describe his more alternative leanings). Then there’s DJ “Mile High” Mike Colin, who prefers to dabble in rap and hip-hop. “Milky Way” Mike Colin, meanwhile, creates jazzy, spaced-out instrumentals. And in case that’s not eclectic enough for one person to focus on, Colin also collaborates with his son, Jovian Lucero-Colin (also of Millennial Axiom), in the duo Zhitkur Roswell to make some Frank Zappa-worthy zaniness.

“To me it’s all the same,” Colin says. “Spotify said my average listener is what they call a ‘journey listener’ – not the band, but someone who likes artists with a catalogue.”

His DIY career has unfolded by exploring as many different genres as possible. And Colin says he wouldn’t have it any other way, which is why he’s still doing it, even if he doesn’t perform live or get out much anymore: “Everything I’ve ever done is DIY, man.”

Colin remembers flirting with some record labels during Phantasmorgasm’s heyday in the early ’90s, when the band was putting out an unheard-of blend of funk and punk, but that’s as close as he’s come to attracting major-label support. “I got to use the Island Def Jam name on four singles [in 2010],” he notes, “but it was just some weird distribution deal. Other than that, I’ve never been associated with anything but myself, really.” He turned to releasing music independently under a handful of banners, including Oblio Music and Analog Digitale Recordings.

“I wouldn’t mind having a real record deal someday,” he confesses. “But heck, it hasn’t stopped me. I’ve never even tried to get one since, like, ’93. Nobody’s wanted to sign me. There was a time when a couple labels wanted to sign Phantas, but it don’t mean nothing until you sign on the line. It just didn’t happen.”

So Colin, who also sees himself as a curator and preservationist when it comes to his musical output, decided to reissue four releases from the 1990s that he was heavily involved with, including his 1998 solo debut, Gato Espacio. The other three comprise a 27-song funk-rock collection by Phantasmorgasm (Cactus Marco); the 1999 album by his former hip-hop group, Ratiocination (That’s Right!); and a 25-track, alternative-acoustic record by another one of his past bands, the Acoustifuxx (Malt Liquor Baby). All were made available via streaming platforms on February 2.

“It’s just me trying to put the past in order again,” explains Colin. “It had kind of gotten out of control. I had put some of these songs on haphazardly put-together compilations. I used to be fatalistic, so there was a time I was just pushing stuff out just to make sure it was out. Now it’s out in a better way, in a right way.”

As the keeper of the original mixes, Colin remastered all the tracks himself in an effort to brighten the overall audio quality. But the most time-consuming aspect of the process was pulling down the previously released material online, he adds. After that, it became a matter of properly packaging each batch of songs with their respective bands. “It was just important to me to do that,” he says. “Not that many people care. I just feel compelled. This is my life, man. This stuff has been my life for the past 35 years.

“I’ve always been a good curator of the music, because it just means a lot to me,” he continues. “It just does, so it seemed like the right time to do it.”

While there are no live shows or events planned to promote the reissues, Colin is instead hoping to livestream some solo performances via TikTok in the coming weeks. Nothing official has been announced yet, however: “I can’t be a performer in the classic sense – I’m not reliable,” he admits. “It just has to be a different kind of circumstance.”

But the albums aren’t even meant to be played live at this point, especially since most of the bandmembers have moved on to other projects in the decades since their inception. As Colin sees it, the records serve more as an auditory snapshot of a time in Denver music that could be easily forgotten otherwise.

For example, Phantasmorgasm, which formed in 1989 when the trio of bandmates were still teenagers attending North High School, launched the careers of drummer Kenny Ortiz, who joined Flobots in 2005, and guitarist Dave Martinez, of the now-defunct rap-metal band Chaos Theory. “Kenny Ortiz is one of the best drummers that ever came out of Denver, and Dave is one of the sickest guitarists ever. Everybody was just top-notch,” Colin says of his former bandmates. “I was always proud of how they went on to Chaos Theory and Flobots – bands that are part of the Denver and Colorado pantheon.”

While Phantasmorgasm had a messy ending, which Colin says stemmed from how he destructively dealt with his personal demons, its humble beginnings are something he can look back on fondly at this point. “It was amazing,” he reflects. “We played all over the West. We sold a bunch of cassettes and seven-inch singles. We had a great time. It’s really great to see what happened with those guys.”

He recalls playing to a crowd of 500 in Rapid City, South Dakota, and opening for local power-metallers Angellic Rage at the Broadway in Denver. But the Lion’s Lair was the unofficial home base. “It was a great scene,” he reflects. “That was our Denver peak.”

The songs that make up Cactus Marco, which were all recorded at the former Time Capsule Studio, also include performances by local players Kevin Smith (Joe Bonner Trio), Jerry Benoit, Robert Tiernan (Windowpane), TJ Edwards (Uversa), saxophonist Bret Sexton and multi-instrumentalist Tom Sublett. Similarly, Malt Liquor Baby, also put down at Time Capsule, includes John Ellington (the Legendary Kathouse Pickers), drummer Colin R. Chinsammy (Grass Fed) and Tiernan.

The Acoustifuxx project started as more of a tongue-in-cheek joke, Colin recalls; the name is meant to be a little cheeky. At the time, “people hated acoustic shit,” he says. “Or, for the most part, people hated that. They just wanted to rock. It’s like, ‘Those acoustic fucks.'”

Ratiocination, which included founder MC Chip Brokaw and vocalist Amy Fisher, was taken a little more seriously, with its high-energy sets of hip-hop and free-form jazz. “I’ve always loved hip-hop, Beatles and Stones, Run-DMC and Beastie Boys. To me, there’s not a lot of difference in all of that,” Colin says.

The recent reissues are proof of Colin’s eclecticism, which is also reflective of the 1990s, as he sees it. “For me, it’s like one big year with all the music. I’ve kind of been a recluse for a long time here. Back then I wasn’t, and it was fun to play all those shows. We did a lot of shows,” he reflects.

So far, the streaming numbers have been respectable, but Colin doesn’t really have any expectations for it all. He’s happy with just putting it out there again, no matter who may find and listen to it. “It was just all from a personal level. I’ve been working on my new music for the last few years, but I just wanted to put it right, this old stuff,” he says. “It’s been a process…I just take what comes. It just felt like good timing.”

Colin still talks to his Acoustifuxx comrades, but he hasn’t been in touch with many of his former bandmates recently. He’s “hoping that the people who were involved would be happy.”

When asked what dusting off his old catalogue might mean moving forward, including possibly mending fences or returning to the stage sometime locally, Colin pauses.

“I really don’t know the answer to that question,” he says. “Just that I was there. Just that I’m an option. That’s all anybody really wants, is to be part of the game. We were all just a bunch of crazy kids who wanted to rock, man. And we did.”