It’s that time again, and somehow it sort of snuck up on us this year: Time to whip out the sunscreen, bring beer money and ear plugs and head over to Civic Center park for the 39th annual Capitol Hill People’s Fair. From the looks of the lineup (posted after…
There’s nothing like experiencing the sweat, thump and catharsis of a great show. Trouble is, you live in Denver, the land of embarrassing riches when it comes to music, the land of too many shows and too little time. So which ones are worth checking out? Glad you asked. After…
Tomorrow night at Moe’s BBQ, the Gromet, profiled in this week’s paper, is hosting a release party for its brand new CD, with Casey James Prestwood and the Burning Angels and Calder’s Revolvers. In advance of the show, Backbeat is pleased to present you with an exclusive advance listen of…
Justin Mauriello, head of the I Hate Kate trio, is only in his mid-twenties and already has a seasoned career. At the beginning of the last decade with his first band, Zebrahead, he found respectable success both here in the States and in Japan. In 2004, he put all of…
This is Nigel. Nigel is a dancer. Just ask him, he’ll tell you. In today’s video, Nigel gets his groove on in an audition. And through the magic of green-screen special effects, Nigel’s groove is augmented by blasts of rainbow colored awesome. The video claims to be an outtake from…
With Charlie Sheen’s upcoming jail sentence for domestic abuse getting whittled down by the minute, the Two and a Half Men star may wind up with a slap on the wrist for slapping his wife. The latest report says that Sheen could possibly serve his 30-day sentence for felony menacing,…
Since 2005, Clinging to the Trees of a Forest Fire has been fusing the spiky and hyperkinetic dynamism of grindcore with death metal’s unremitting darkness and sonic heaviness. Never content to settle on a mere sound, this Denver band challenges itself to create new depths in the expression of the…
While we usually get word of mega shows months in advance, that’s not the case with Paul McCartney, who just added a July 15 stop at the Pepsi Center to his upcoming 2010 Tour. McCartney, who made his Colorado debut with the Beatles at Red Rocks in 1964, last played…
There is no short supply of the insane stories surrounding Westboro Baptist Church (due back in Denver supposedly in time for Pride Fest in a few weeks). In fact, it’s nearly impossible to find a story about this organization that sounds like it remotely could be coming from this reality…
Great news for those who got their groove on this past weekend at the Denver Day of Rock and are now jonesin’ to hear more music downtown, particularly with the absence of the annual summer concert series at the Denver Pavilions. The Skyline Park Free Summer concert series, which just…
Speaking of getting back after it: If you haven’t heard yet, DJ Nutmeg — crowned Best DJ by us in 2004, who picked up stakes and moved to Hawaii the following year — is back in town, and duder has wasted no time getting back into the, uh, mix. Tonight…
They’re back. After being a face on a milk carton for the better part of the past year and a half, the Rose Hill Drive boys are getting ready to fire up the old muscle car. And holy cow, get this: During the time off, frontman Jacob Sproul, a wicked…
For whatever reason, Cincinnati-based, über-Christian metalcore band Corpus Christi has chosen Denver as the place to shoot their next video. The scream-for-Jesus quintet will be here from June 6 through 11, filming a video for “Monuments,” the lead track off of its upcoming sophomore full-length, A Feast for Crows. And…
The Westword Music Knowcase, that all-music pub quiz we conned Geeks Who Drink into creating so we could kick some asses, is shaping up awesomely — for us. We’ve got word that some of the best music minds in Denver are coming to play. Too bad for the rest of…
Props to Petals of Spain, who earned a slot to perform at the year’s Westword Music Showcase by turning in a stellar performance last night during our Showcase pre-party at La Rumba, besting fellow Readers Choice contenders, Kosmos, Be the Ant and Saints. While each of those acts played admirable…
In case you didn’t see it yesterday when it premiered, here’s the brand-new video for “My First Kiss” from those white-hot, can’t-be-stopped hitmakers of 3OH!3. No big surprises here: A bunch of posturing from the dynamic duo in front of a giant gold hand sign, followed by some soft-core groping…
First off, I’m not a film critic by any means. I can rarely talk about the effect a movie had on me after I watch it — my thought process is binary and simple: The movie is good or bad. However, there are a few movies I can’t help but…
Shea Boynton’s love of music is all over the map. But as he’ll tell you, that kind of wanderlust is just in his genes. “My grandfather was a touring jazz musician for years,” says Boynton, leader of the upbeat, hard-to-peg Denver outfit the Gromet. “He was a saxophonist. He played…
When Vicky Wagner took over the defunct Trail Dust Steak House at 7101 South Clinton Street in Centennial, she knew that she didn’t want to open another steak joint. “When Trail Dust first started it was a unique concept,” she says, “but it just ran its course.” After a thirty-year…
The Getdown! didn’t channel the ghost of James Brown so much as the would-be love child of frayed garage-rock psychopaths the Sonics and the arch post-punk of the Blackouts. But while superficially this band’s music could be lumped in with garage rock, it goes further into droning atmospheres with its…
For a rootsy duo, the Black Keys have proved themselves far more open to experimentation and collaboration than the tradition would dictate. From opening for Radiohead to being covered by Kelly Clarkson to working with a variety of MCs on the hip-hop project Blakroc, singer-guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick…
Seattle based singer-songwriter Damien Jurado is reluctantly moving into the digital realm after a storied love affair with the analog world. Jurado, who once ran a cassette-only label during the ’90s called Casa Recordings that brought him to the attention of Sub Pop, recently released a track a day from…
