From the movers and shakers behind the scenes to alternative performance groups and a power trio that’s not about to let the boys have all the fun, we give you the most metal women in Denver:
Amanda Menard, the do-it-all founder of 4130 Management, is making an impact within Denver's underground-music scene.
Courtesy Amanda Menard
Amanda Menard (4130 Management)
Amanda Menard might as well have been raised in a mosh pit. The lifelong local grew up mixing it up at hardcore and punk shows, and never thought twice about standing up for herself in the male-dominated subculture, even if that meant starting a scuffle.
“There are plenty of shows where I would get in fights with guys for grabbing me the wrong way and giving me a shove. I’m not going to stand for it,” she told us last year.
Outside of the pit, Menard has approached her work the same way, handling street team and marketing work for AEG and other promoters, as well as regularly booking shows for HQ and Lost Lake Lounge over the years.
Her no-nonsense attitude and respect within the city’s scene, particularly her willingness to share advice with musician friends and bands that are trying to make it, ultimately led Menard to form 4130 Management in 2022. Her roster has grown to 23 bands this year and now showcases a variety of alternative music — everything from old-school Denver bands Clusterfux and King Rat to newer metal groups such as Leveler and Suicide Cages.
No matter the music, “Mama Bear” Menard just wants everyone in the 4130 family to succeed, even if that means she has to put a stingy promoter or club owner in their place from time to time.
Blood of LilithAmanda Menard might as well have been raised in a mosh pit. The lifelong local grew up mixing it up at hardcore and punk shows, and never thought twice about standing up for herself in the male-dominated subculture, even if that meant starting a scuffle.
“There are plenty of shows where I would get in fights with guys for grabbing me the wrong way and giving me a shove. I’m not going to stand for it,” she told us last year.
Outside of the pit, Menard has approached her work the same way, handling street team and marketing work for AEG and other promoters, as well as regularly booking shows for HQ and Lost Lake Lounge over the years.
Her no-nonsense attitude and respect within the city’s scene, particularly her willingness to share advice with musician friends and bands that are trying to make it, ultimately led Menard to form 4130 Management in 2022. Her roster has grown to 23 bands this year and now showcases a variety of alternative music — everything from old-school Denver bands Clusterfux and King Rat to newer metal groups such as Leveler and Suicide Cages.
No matter the music, “Mama Bear” Menard just wants everyone in the 4130 family to succeed, even if that means she has to put a stingy promoter or club owner in their place from time to time.
Lulu Demitro, the bass player and vocalist of Pink Fuzz, is so cool she makes it look easy.
Courtesy Pink Fuzz
Badass Bassists
There are many talented women making music of all kinds in Denver nowadays, but when it comes to the most metal ones, there are few like the trio of bassists listed here. Spanning genres from brutal death metal to crunchy psych rock, Addison Herron-Wheeler of Cronos Compulsion, Jenn McCrorey of Messiahvore and Lulu Demitro of Pink Fuzz all bring a little something different to their respective bands.
Herron-Wheeler, a former Westword contributor, initially joined Cronos Compulsion as a fill-in, with no plans to play full-time with her husband, guitarist and vocalist Wil Wilson. The two have always made time to jam together but had never been bandmates. That changed with Cronos Compulsion, where each member must hold down their own instrument — which Herron-Wheeler does with fervor — in order for the trio to spew its Neanderthal-crushing style of death metal.
Like Cronos Compulsion, Messiahvore includes a husband-and-wife duo: Bart and Jenn McCrorey. Messiahvore isn’t the first group the McCroreys have played in together, but it’s definitely the loudest, both agree. With an attack of scathing sludge, the band only benefits from Jenn’s low-and-slow bass playing, which pairs nicely with Bart and Kevin Disney’s down-tuned guitars. It’s a sound that Messiahvore likes to call “powersludge.” We just call it badass.
Lulu Demitro wasn’t really looking to be a bassist in a rock band before Pink Fuzz. Yes, she’d grown up playing piano and handled keys in a high school group with her brother, John, back in Boulder. But then in 2017, at John’s request, they officially formed Pink Fuzz. That’s when Lulu picked up the bass and started handling vocals half the time. Along with her tight bass skills, her voice is perfect for the type of tripped-out biker rock that Pink Fuzz has become known for. Sometimes things just work out.
There are many talented women making music of all kinds in Denver nowadays, but when it comes to the most metal ones, there are few like the trio of bassists listed here. Spanning genres from brutal death metal to crunchy psych rock, Addison Herron-Wheeler of Cronos Compulsion, Jenn McCrorey of Messiahvore and Lulu Demitro of Pink Fuzz all bring a little something different to their respective bands.
Herron-Wheeler, a former Westword contributor, initially joined Cronos Compulsion as a fill-in, with no plans to play full-time with her husband, guitarist and vocalist Wil Wilson. The two have always made time to jam together but had never been bandmates. That changed with Cronos Compulsion, where each member must hold down their own instrument — which Herron-Wheeler does with fervor — in order for the trio to spew its Neanderthal-crushing style of death metal.
Like Cronos Compulsion, Messiahvore includes a husband-and-wife duo: Bart and Jenn McCrorey. Messiahvore isn’t the first group the McCroreys have played in together, but it’s definitely the loudest, both agree. With an attack of scathing sludge, the band only benefits from Jenn’s low-and-slow bass playing, which pairs nicely with Bart and Kevin Disney’s down-tuned guitars. It’s a sound that Messiahvore likes to call “powersludge.” We just call it badass.
Lulu Demitro wasn’t really looking to be a bassist in a rock band before Pink Fuzz. Yes, she’d grown up playing piano and handled keys in a high school group with her brother, John, back in Boulder. But then in 2017, at John’s request, they officially formed Pink Fuzz. That’s when Lulu picked up the bass and started handling vocals half the time. Along with her tight bass skills, her voice is perfect for the type of tripped-out biker rock that Pink Fuzz has become known for. Sometimes things just work out.
Denver trio Blood of Lilith hit the grounding running in 2020, after friends Amber Chance and Lisa Ogden grew tired of seeing dudes dominate their hometown metal scene and decided to put together a band of their own to break things up a bit. Since then, a steady stream of singles leading up to their 2023 debut album, ORIGINS, have proved Blood of Lilith's cred as a full-on face-melter. Songs such as “Pussy Power” and “Josie and Her Pussy Cats” are fist-pumping feminist bangers, while “Dic Pic” and “Bytch Inside” flip metal’s longstanding hyper-masculinity on its head.
Now joined by bassist Maggie Alex, Chance (drums) and Ogden (vocals and guitar) are the preeminent women metal musicians in Denver. Last year, they even organized Femme Fest, an all-woman festival that included Hygeia, Chemical Violet, Burning Silence and Hel Hath Fury — all local groups featuring women who are also worth checking out.
Named after the mythological figure Lilith, who was kicked out of the Garden of Eden for declining to play second fiddle to Adam, Blood of Lilith pounds out groovy Viking metal that's catchy and energetic. The trio’s recent cover of Wyndreth Berginsdottir’s “Savage Daughter” checks all those boxes and then some.
The group caught the attention of international bands Otep and Infected Rain, both of which tapped Blood of Lilith as an opener during their latest Denver stops. Now the trio is hoping to catch the eye of Kittie, the influential all-woman nu-metal band from Canada that recently reunited.
Cloe Madonna (Cherished and Destiny Bond)
Fronting a hardcore band can be exhausting. Cloe Madonna, a trans woman, knows that firsthand as the spin-kicking vocalist for Denver’s Destiny Bond.
The hard-hitting hardcore group is a local favorite, especially after releasing its debut album, Be My Vengeance, last year on the Denver DIY label Convulse Records (label founder Adam Croft is also the band’s drummer). Madonna’s rage-filled lyrics give Destiny Bond the bark and bite necessary for this type of music.
It also helps that Madonna is no stranger to the stage. Growing up in Wyoming, she became more involved with Denver hardcore happenings and regularly came down for shows before she began taking those stages herself while touring with her early bands. She also lived in Colorado Springs for six years prior to moving to Denver.
In addition to her position behind the mic for Destiny Bond, Madonna sings for another project, Cherished. The indie-pop rock group originally known as Lowfaith started back in 2015, before Destiny Bond began blowing up, and is still lesser known. A new EP, other bodies, will most likely change that, however. On the four-song collection, Madonna shows off her vocal range, which is much more than the screaming and shouting Destiny Bond requires of her. It’s serene and vulnerable — Madonna’s softer side.
Her siren singing aside, Madonna is also a graphic artist and regularly makes posters for shows around town.
Amy Asche is the original Metal Maiden, unofficially forming the local group in 2000.
Courtesy Metal Maidens
Then there are the local groups Metal Maidens and Broken Babes Burlesque, which are providing inclusive and accessible options for alternative models and performers.
Metal Maidens has been around for 24 years at this point, but it was originally more of a supporters' club for local and touring bands, spearheaded by Loveland native Amy Asche. “We really started out as just a street team, and it turned into so much more,” Asche, who is also a professional photographer, told us this year.
Now Metal Maidens has morphed into a nationwide community of alternative models, complete with its own website; quarterly music magazine, Resident Rock Star; and radio show, Metal Mondays With the Metal Maidens, on Third Ear Radio. The annual Metal Maidens calendar and Resident Rock Star issue-release party has become a marquee event, but the Maidens still regularly promote shows, too. This year, the group has also taken on managing bands Human Paint and Goat Hill Massacre.
Similar to the Metal Maidens, Broken Babes Burlesque offers aspiring performers a chance to take the stage, which they don't always find elsewhere. Broken Babes co-producers Allie Soreass, Eliza Rex and Bella Brujita made it a mission to bring burlesque to those who are often overlooked when they started the troupe in 2021. Since then, the group has become known for its annual Valentine’s Day show, Rip Your Heart Out, and recently hosted a drag brunch at Western Sky Bar & Taproom.
Both Metal Maidens and Broken Babes also support and promote the LGBTQ+ and BIPOC communities, so this type of art really is for everyone.
