Stay Positive is more than just the title of reggae star Pato Banton’s new album. It’s become something of a life philosophy for the Birmingham, England, native–and that, he believes, has everything to do with his success as a performer. “For me, personally, it means more than anything,” he says…
During his interview with Westword, New Bomb Turks vocalist Eric Davidson interrupts his frenetic monologues only long enough to take quick slurps from what must be his twentieth cup of joe that day. But caffeine isn’t the only explanation for the frantic pace of Davidson’s music. He and his cohorts…
Keeping track of who plays what in the Minders is comparable to following the trysts in a typical episode of Melrose Place. In other words, everyone plays everything. The music made by this Denver-based band results from instrument-swapping and idea-feeding, while the group itself is a product of local-scene inbreeding…
At a time when most music-industry powers view artistic ambition with suspicion, Me’Shell Ndegeocello is among the most mistrusted performers in show business. Her new album, Peace Beyond Passion, is a musically persuasive, lyrically devastating look at love, religion and prejudice that’s guaranteed to offend as many people as it…
R.E.M. New Adventures in Hi-Fi (Warner Bros.) Pearl Jam No Code (Epic) By most standards, these albums have been as highly anticipated as any released this season, and why not? After all, they come from two of the most critically acclaimed, commercially successful acts operating under the rock-and-roll umbrella. But…
Last October, the first annual Westword Music Awards Showcase treated listeners to the most successful local-music festival in recent memory. Over thirty Colorado bands, specializing in music ranging from rockabilly and jazz to country and funk, entertained thousands of people at handful of LoDo venues. The only way to follow…
Dancehall reggae champion Yellowman was first motivated to make music by a couple of admittedly unlikely heroes. “From my growing up, I loved Elvis,” he reveals. “I grew up listening to him and Neil Diamond on the radio from when I was twelve years old, and with those artists, most…
Many folks outside the music scene were startled last week when Al Laughlin, longtime keyboard player for the Samples, was arrested in connection with the burglary of a Boulder apartment building. But fans who closely follow the combo weren’t surprised. It’s been a dirty little secret among Samples aficionados–a secret…
Somewhere in the heartland of this great nation of ours, Coco the Electronic Monkey Wizard, one of the masterminds behind the intergalactic surf-rock foursome called Man or Astro-man?, is doing what he does every night–plotting to take over the world. “We’re aliens,” declares the band’s bassist. “And–as I’m sure you’ve…
“I play keyboards, guitar, harmonica and bass,” mentions Jeffrey Marshall from the balcony of his downtown Denver apartment. This in itself is impressive but hardly unparalleled; many musicians can lay claim to multi-instrumental talents. But it’s unlikely that anyone else is able to duplicate Marshall’s unusual performing approach. After all,…
Early this decade, feminism birthed the riot grrrl, a bastard child whose foster home was the punk-rock stage. This new generation of women fought not only to reintegrate sugar-and-spice girlishness into music, but to give expression to the dirty side of being female, as well–the shrill, pissed-off, bawdy side. These…
Soul Coughing Irresistible Bliss (Slash/Warner Bros.) On Ruby Vroom, Soul Coughing’s bow, bandleader M. Doughty and his compatriots (complemented immeasurably by genius producer Tchad Blake) seemed absolutely fearless, slamming together jazz, hip-hop and beat poetry with an abandon that was utterly refreshing. So the sight of producer David Kahne’s name…
“Recently,” says singer Cosy Sheridan, “I’ve attempted to look at songwriting sort of as a public service.” This comment doesn’t mean that Sheridan’s recordings lack an individual perspective; in fact, she’s one of music’s more distinctive tunesmiths. However, she feels that many of her earliest compositions were little more than…
‘Eighteen years ago, bluesman Otis Taylor, a longtime fixture at the Denver Folklore Center, walked away from his career as a professional musician with hardly a second thought. “I just quit, because I decided I didn’t need that lifestyle,” Taylor reminisces. “I tend to be the type of person that…
A rule governing participants in the second annual Westword Music Awards Showcase, set to take place September 22 at a variety of LoDo venues (see the ballot on page 94 for more details), states that nominated acts can’t be signed to major labels; after all, such folks are not exactly…
At the Lion’s Lair during the waning hours of a Thursday in late August, the hipsters have gathered. Knots of musicians, fans and hangers-on cluster around the venue’s bar, patting backs, exchanging gossip and otherwise epitomizing all that is fresh and modern and now about nightlife in the Nineties. In…
Nearly God Nearly God (Durban Poison/Island) Obviously, Tricky isn’t lacking in confidence; conceding that he’s “nearly” God, as opposed to “better than” God, for instance, doesn’t exactly constitute a gusher of modesty. However, Tricky earns his egotism; while Nearly God can’t top his solo debut, Maxinquaye (which is among the…
In the July 11 edition of this here column, I told you about Area 39, a new club (owned by Johnson frontman Haylar Garcia) that features an on-site recording facility. Obviously, the venue/studio notion is an idea whose time has come–and the Bluebird Theater, at 3317 East Colfax, is trying…
To most of his friends and neighbors in Colorado Springs, the notoriously conservative town where he’s lived for the past thirty years, Stephen Scott is simply a professor of music at Colorado College. But to listeners interested in the development of classical music during the twentieth century, Scott, 52, is…
Gene Simmons’s famous tongue is wagging like Lassie’s tail on breeding day. A publicity vampire, he’s been starved of the press for a long, long while, at least in America. Although his albums sold respectably into the Nineties, even many onetime fans thought of him as a campy figure from…
So its lead singer has long hair, its grabbiest instrumentalist is a female violin player, its CD sports a secret bonus track and its live shows attract dozens of flannel-adorned air guitarists. Does that mean Boulder’s Sponge Kingdom is just another hippie band? Not so fast. Beneath the exterior of…
“My balls are smokin’, my ass is on fire,” sings ex-Throttlemen leader Rex Moser, who’s fronting a new band, Jetredball. “Hot chili, it’s you I desire.” If the first image this lyrical slice from the song “Hot Chili” arouses in you is a smiling portrait of Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler, you’ll…
