Few people have had a bigger influence on the “Denver Sound” than Slim Cessna. For the past 25 years, he and the band Slim Cessna’s Auto Club have mixed country, soul and rock and roll with an ominous gothic aesthetic. With a new album out and a headlining show this…
The High Elevation Rock Festival at Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre on Saturday, September 10, puts forth quite the smorgasbord of heavy music. Local alt-metal chanteuse Lola Black and hairy Southern metallers the Texas Hippie Coalition sit alongside industrial pioneers Ministry and metal giants Avenged Sevenfold. And somewhere awkwardly in between it…
To hear him tell it, Jason Isbell’s recent musical success after years of relative obscurity is not the result of shifting industry trends or timing, but of his finally learning to be patient and content, and discovering how to treat himself and those around him. “When I was younger, I…
Editor’s Note: The Denver Bootleg is a series chronicling the history of local music venues by longtime Denver cartoonist Karl Christian Krumpholz. Visit Krumpholz’s website to see more of his work…
Proggy pop-rockers Toto were forced to cancel their Denver show at the Paramount Theatre on Sunday night after singer Joseph Williams, son of Star Wars composer John Williams, was taken to a local hospital. Williams said on the official Toto Facebook page that, “Last night in Denver I experienced my…
Prophets of Rage, featuring members of Rage Against the Machine, Cypress Hill and Public Enemy, take over Red Rocks tomorrow night while Bonnie Raitt is at the venue on Thursday. This week’s lineup also includes Blind Pilot at the Ogden Theatre, Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears at the Bluebird…
Musician Lizzy Allen is now based in Seattle, but she spent most of her life in Colorado. As lead singer and multi-instrumentalist for indie-rock band Vitamins, Allen made a mark in the Denver scene as a talented vocalist. In 2010, a random encounter at a Tame Impala show between her…
Throughout the weekend, Westword writers have been sending more in-depth dispatches from the 2016 edition of Riot Fest Denver at the National Western Complex. Sometimes, however, the most useful review is the snap judgment, so here are postcards of the highlights — or lowlights? — from thirteen Riot Fest sets,…
“Let’s put all these words away…” “Let’s put all these words away…” “Let’s put all these words away…” With each repetition of the line, Gregory Alan Isakov’s singing became softer and softer, until finally the words were but a whisper, the last syllables fading without a trace into the windy…
Riot Fest 2016 will be remembered for the fact that, after more than thirty years, the Misfits finally put differences aside and got on stage together. But this is a three-day festival, and a lot happens between each evening’s headliners. Still though, the Misfits! Juliette Lewis & The Licks It’s…
For the last decade, Riot Fest (a three-day festival that takes place each year in Denver and Chicago) has been the place where childhood punk-rock dreams come true. For instance, two years ago outside Mile High Stadium I got to see the Descendents tear through Milo Goes to College, which…
If I’ve said it once I’ve said it a hundred times: Don’t sleep on the first day of Riot Fest. Skip school. Quit your job. Bail on that family vacation. Whatever you have to do, it’s always worth it. The 2016 edition of this annual punk/rock/metal melee was no exception…
The great thing about writing about music for a publication like Westword is you never really know what’s going to land itself on your task list from one day to the next. Never is that more true that right now because, just as we were winding down in preparation for…
While Denver-based band Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats played a “triumphant” homecoming headlining show at Red Rocks last month, many in the audience wondered about the absence of popular trumpet player Wesley Watkins. Watkins has not been touring with the Night Sweats for a couple of months, which the…
American Babies refuse to be typecast. Described by the group’s founder Tom Hamilton as a progressive Americana band, American Babies’ consistent desire is to remain fresh. Whether recording in the studio or performing on stage, Hamilton ensures that the creative process is not forced, allowing the group to settle around…
A slew of bands will perform this weekend at Riot Fest, which starts tonight at the National Western Complex. The lineup includes acts like Jane’s Addiction (performing Ritual De Lo Habitual), Death Cab for Cutie, Deftones, Ween, Sleater-Kinney, the Original Misfits, Nas and many more. Phish returns for its annual three-night Labor…
Last night the town of Morrison, famous for the discovery of dinosaur bones and John Brisben Walker’s vision, hosted another event that the thousands in attendance may come to consider historic: Tame Impala’s first headlining show at Red Rocks Amphitheatre. Tame Impala, the genius project of Australian musician Kevin Parker, played…
It’s been ten years since local indie-folk band Paper Bird formed, and just under that since its celebrated debut album, Anything Nameless and Joymaking, was unleashed. The band has managed to maintain commendable traction since then, and the musicians are about to celebrate their decade in existence by releasing their…
Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe will perform Prince’s Dirty Mind with Fishbone frontman Angelo Moore at the Ogden Theatre on Saturday, October 29. Tickets ($25) go on sale Friday, September 2, at 10 a.m. St. Lucia, who recently played at the RiNo Music Festival, will headline the Ogden Theatre on Friday, October…
Toto is probably most remembered for its string of hits from the late ’70s through the mid-80s; songs like “Hold the Line,” “Rosanna,” and “Africa” are still staples of classic rock radio. But beyond being a talented pop and rock band, the members of Toto were some of the most prolific…
Last night, the forecast of “light rain” left out the bit about two full hours of torrential rain, mild flooding, and seriously limited visibility issues on the roads. Driving through these conditions to get to Red Rocks either inspired a bit of foolhardy bravado or the urge to turn back…
When Jane’s Addiction released its debut studio album, Nothing’s Shocking, in 1988, it was a watershed moment in what came to be called alternative rock, though at the time, there wasn’t such a clumsy genre tag for it. Still, Jane’s Addiction didn’t really fit in with any popular trends of the…
