L7 will play Riot Fest on Sunday, August 30 at 6:30 p.m. on the Rock Stage. Though often lumped in with the grunge and riot grrrl movements, L7 really predated both. Donita Sparks met Suzi Gardner while part of the L.A. punk scene in the early ’80s. Gardner even sang…
The first time I heard about Burning Man, I was eighteen years old and my best friend from high school had just returned from a four-month trip trekking across India. I told her what I’d been up to — discovering the rave scene in the Midwest, basically — and she…
“You’ve got to know when to leave,” says Wesley Eisold, the singer for the semi-legendary Boston hardcore band American Nightmare. It’s a statement few of the band’s fans most likely would have agreed with in the summer of 2004 when American Nightmare abruptly cancelled a tour and then, the following…
As Straight Outta Compton sparks a new interest in hip-hop around the country, plenty of artists have long been working to embody what NWA did in its time, creating independent, unapologetic art. Denver is full of such artists. You can routinely find hip-hop in venues across the city, including the Roxy and…
Riot Fest runs this weekend, starting Friday, August 28 and going through Sunday, August 30, at the National Western Complex. The eclectic line-up includes respected and legendary bands like the Pixies, Run-DMC, System of a Down, the Prodigy and Snoop Dogg. But the early part of each day is filled…
Singer-songwriter Megan Burtt has always been a gifted musician with a rich and vibrant voice. But her career hasn’t always gone smoothly. After graduating from Boston’s Berklee College of Music in 2008, singer-songwriter Megan Burtt moved to Cleveland, Mississippi, about hour south of Clarksdale, which is hailed by many as…
Mother Earth Sound System is not a typical promotional entity. MESS, as it is referred to, puts on one of the longest-running Colorado music festivals devoted entirely to dance music: Full Moon Festival. What started in April 1993 at a Berkeley Marina in San Francisco, with Scott Everett and Whitsitt…
Nederland’s Elephant Revival is a band beginning a new chapter. Coming off the release of a live album and DVD called Sands of Time, the band is working on a new studio album in Maine with sound engineer (and longtime Josh Ritter collaborator) Sam Kassirer. According to violinist Bridget Law,…
The Prodigy will headline Riot Fest on Sunday, August 30. Even before the 1996 hit “Firestarter” broke the band to U.S. audiences through heavy MTV rotation, the Prodigy was one of the biggest electronic acts of the decade. Though associated in the press with the big-beat movement, the group predated…
Two fans were climbing in a restricted area at Red Rocks Park after last Friday’s Yonder Mountain String Band when they fell. One, 29-year-old Spencer Cooke, died of his injuries, according to the Jefferson County Coroner’s Office. The Denver Post reported the man’s name yesterday. The other fan, who has…
The hi-dive and Nathaniel Rateliff are both a little rough around the edges, so it’s fitting that, last night, he and the Night Sweats played an instantly sold-out show there. The crowd felt like a family as it welcomed the Night Sweats to the packed stage. Fans and lifelong friends clapped along…
The name Jake Smith may not ring any bells, but a lot of people are familiar with his music. For seven seasons, Smith, who performs as part of a trio under the moniker the White Buffalo, provided stark music for the FX original series Sons of Anarchy, which followed the…
The organizers of Goldrush Music Festival just announced the lineup for the 2015 installment of the event, which will be held at the Savoy Event Center on September 18 and 19. The annual festival — focused on experimental and forward-thinking artists — is in its fifth year, and will bring…
Even if he or she is in peak form — like country rocker Steve Earle surely is, as evidenced by his new blues album, Terraplane — a true musical legend always ends up putting on a show that’s about more than the music. That was a bad thing when egomaniac Bono…
The sound of thunderous rolling double bass drums, distorted guitars and guttural vocals roared though Red Rocks Amphitheater last night for a widely chaotic circus with Slipknot as the ringleader. Dubbed the “Summer last Stand Tour,” Slipknot, Lamb of God, Bullet for My Valentine and Motionless In White have been…
Summer Cannibals from Portland, Oregon returns to Denver for two dates this coming weekend. Saturday, August 22nd at Hi-Dive and Sunday, August 23rd at Dryer Plug Studios. Both shows have more than the average significance for Summer Cannibals, because the band’s drummer, Devon Shirley, cut his musical teeth in the…
For Jen Korte, getting an offer to play at Red Rocks Amphitheatre for an installment of Film on the Rocks sparked a chain reaction. “I get an offer to do a show like this, and in my head I’m already working on eight different other projects to go with it,”…
The ranch at Planet Bluegrass in Lyons is a unique place — something nearly every performer who takes its stage notes. This year’s Rocky Mountain Folks Festival (the second of two major events held at Planet Bluegrass each year) brought headliners Jason Isbell, Sufjan Stevens and Gillian Welch to the…
Nathaniel Rateliff has been living in the same house in Denver’s Baker neighborhood since 2003. “I wish we had decided to buy it a long time ago,” he says as he strolls through on his way to the back yard. “Now there’s no way we could afford it.” It was…
The Fillmore Auditorium played host to Chicago punk band Rise Against over the weekend. The group’s activist stance has made it particularly relevant in recent years, and fans packed the biggest theater in town. Check out a few highlights from photographer Aaron Thackeray — view the full slideshow here. …
This weekend brought one of the hottest days of the year, coupled with heavy evening rains. That seemed an apt environment for Synesthesia 2015 — the contrast in weather reflected much of the music on offer. The strange energy was compounded by an effort to shut down or curb the…
In 1999, I was working at a toy store in the mall called the Learningsmith. As it went in “education”-oriented mall retailers of the time, we sold “For Dummies” books, yo-yos, Hoberman Spheres, telescopes, Thomas the Tank Engine swag and basically anything that could be even mildly classified as a…
