The spot was known for spawning American punk and art rock throughout the late 1970s, and closed in 2006 with one final concert and eulogy. But the spirit of those times has reverberated ever since. It will forever be known as the place where the Ramones, Blondie, Patti Smith and Talking Heads all started out. The venue where a violent band from Ohio called Dead Boys blew up punk stateside with unpredictable, and often unhinged, performances.
Denver musician Micah Morris never got to experience that scene firsthand, but he still cites it as one of his biggest inspirations and one of the reasons he started the Ripper fest in 2019.
“We’re trying to keep the same spirit alive here,” he says.
This was taken at the last Ripper fest, but it's certainly reminiscent of 1977.
Courtesy Vera Hernandez
While he’s a huge fan of that classic ’77 raw-rock sound, Morris didn’t tap Dead Boys to close the Ripper for nostalgia’s sake. But he admits it’s crazy to think he’s shared a bill with the band and was able to book it for the festival this year. For all the longhairs and denim demons who were born too late, the Dead Boys appearance is a direct connection to the music's heyday. "The CBGB scene started it all," Morris says, "and here we have a real, actual link to where it started, and we’re just keeping it going.”
On top of Dead Boys and Fast Eddy, the lineup is a mix of local and national acts. Denver groups include Colfax Speed Queen, Love Gang, MF Ruckus, Cleaner, Flight Kamikaze, Morning Oil, Donnie Velez and the Omens. From around the U.S., there will be RMBLR, Scott Yoder, Hell Tüpét, the Upkeeps, Mel Machete, Solid State Radio, Some Hearts, Telephone Lovers, Black Mambas, Bad Sex, Satanic Panic, the Fauxs, Nico Bones, Officer Down, Mean Jeans, Sweet Nothin and Adult Toys. Also on the Sunday ticket are Swedish garage-rockers the Dahmers and Spain’s Doc Burner.
Morris, who has booked shows for years and recently started Crying Tiger Productions, brought eight bands on for the first Ripper. He just wanted to bring rad bands to the Mile High City and showcase some of the local talent, too. He had no plans to expand it so quickly, let alone build a bill with thirty acts.
“I just realized a lot of the national rock-and-roll bands never really play Denver, so I was like, ‘Let’s just do our own festival here,’” Morris explains. “Plus, combine that with local bands and put Denver on the map in that way.”
After the first year, “more and more people kept asking to get added,” he recalls.
“I just got carried away,” he admits. “Sometimes I have a hard time saying no. I’m like, ‘Fuck, yeah, the more the merrier.’”
Morris and Fast Eddy — which also includes guitarist Lisandro Gutierrez, bassist Devon Kane and drummer Arj Narayan — are also pumped to share a new album, To the Stars. Kane calls the record the band’s most mature to date, especially because it covers more “modern-day issues."
“It quickly became a concept record by accident,” he adds. “All the songs ended up having the same theme and message, but it wasn’t intentional.”
“It’s definitely a gloomy message about the nature of humanity and the world falling apart,” Morris concedes. “It’s definitely darker and a little more pessimistic than our older shit.”
But it’s still rock and roll, so it’s hard to be a downer with so much shredding and screaming, especially at the Ripper. “It’s a rock-and-roll party. It’s pretty rowdy. Pretty punk-rock, man,” Kane says, recalling the time Dirty Fences played the hi-dive for the festival and the power was cut before the end of the set, so the NYC band finished with the help of an audience sing-along.
Denver power-punk trio Flight Kamikaze has been a part of every Ripper so far. Lead singer and guitarist Jeff Howell met Morris years ago and eventually became a roadie for Fast Eddy. At the time, Flight Kamikaze was more of a solo acoustic project. It was Morris who urged Howell to make it a more official group.
“I started doing my acoustic shit, and Micah was like, ‘What the fuck, man? You gotta start a band.’ So I did,” Howell recalls, adding that Morris has “a heart about the size of a catcher’s mitt.”
Since then, Flight Kamikaze, which includes bassist Krayön and drummer Duder Dillard, has signed with Clearview Records and released its debut, Moxie, last year. The group was also the other opener for the Dead Boys show.
“We play short, fast, melodic power-pop punk,” Howell says, adding that the name is a reference to the lack of expectations the band has of breaking big. “We know that it’s not going to pay our bills. Basically, it’s like we’re going down. We don’t give a shit.”
He’s appreciative that Morris continues to foster and promote the scene throughout the city, and is looking forward to this year’s Ripper, as always. “It’s going to be pretty rad,” Howell says.
Kim Phat, vocalist for Denver band Cleaner, shares a similar sentiment. “This is a festival for people who love the ’77 punk scene, and reminiscent of ’70s New York glam and rock and roll,” she says, adding that Iggy Pop and the Stooges are some of her biggest influences. She was also at the Oriental to see Dead Boys last year.
Even though Cleaner is a new Denver band, all of the members have been around a while.
Courtesy Christine Makowski
“It’s all just a lot of connection and love of being in the Denver music scene and playing in all of these different bands,” Phat says. “It’s a never-ending story of love and small-town love of Denver.”
Morris believes in keeping the festival independent and promoting venues such as the hi-dive and HQ, both longtime epicenters of alternative music. “I think the whole point of any of these bands and the fest is that it’s raw, real, independent rock and roll,” he says. “All of these bands are still just regular people doing independent rock and roll.” But in doing so, they also “keep rock and roll alive,” he adds.
In Denver, the Ripper isn’t just an homage to rock and roll’s roots and booking legacy acts, but evidence that the genre is still as healthy as ever. Morris points to a band like RMBLR, based in Baltimore and Atlanta, that’s really been making some noise in the rock world recently. Sure, it might sound similar to the originators from the 1970s, but a band starting out now wouldn’t get too far playing such music without a current scene and support network full of fans and like-minded people. Just look around locally, Morris says — specifically to South Broadway.
“These little venues in the rock scene — I think we’re all really connected and keep each other afloat," he says. "Everyone in the scene and the community knows each other."
That’s why it’s "really important to keep an actual music scene,” he continues, adding that the Ripper wouldn’t be possible otherwise.
“When you have a tight-knit community of musicians and bands together," Morris concludes, "new sounds can emerge...or old sounds that sound fucking cool.”
Rocker Mountain Ripper IV, Thursday, April 18, through Sunday, April 20, hi-dive, 7 South Broadway, and HQ, 60 South Broadway. Tickets are $30-$40.
