The Risk

There's enough memorializing going on this week already; no need to downplay real tragedy by making a big deal about some local band breaking up. Still, the Risk is playing its final show this Saturday, September 11, at the Climax Lounge -- and Denver doesn't even know what it's losing...

By Jason Heller

September 9, 2004

Audio By Carbonatix

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There's enough memorializing going on this week already; no need to downplay real tragedy by making a big deal about some local band breaking up. Still, the Risk is playing its final show this Saturday, September 11, at the Climax Lounge -- and Denver doesn't even know what it's losing. Street Thunder, the group's debut, summons every soulful hook and dick-kicking riff in the rock-and-roll rule book without once lapsing into the cheesy shtick of garage. A scruffy, blue-collar collision of the Replacements, Cheap Trick and even cheaper whiskey, these eleven songs are whipped into a feverish uproar by singer/guitarist Joaquin Liebert, whose Solomon Burke-meets-Bruce Springsteen voice is as choked up on broken hearts as it is on anger, confusion and pure, utter fucking joy. The guys in the band never gave a shit about haircuts, websites or expanding their fan base. They cared about songs. That's it. Denverites would do well to learn a lesson from them -- and get their asses blown away in the process.

Jason Heller is a staff writer at Westword. He's the author of the book Strange Stars: David Bowie, Pop Music, and the Decade Sci-Fi Exploded (Melville House/Penguin Random House), and has contributed to the New Yorker, The Atlantic, Rolling Stone, Pitchfork and NPR.org. His work has won a Hugo Award and a Colorado Press Association Award.

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