Nathaniel Rateliff on the Sobering Story Behind “S.O.B.”

Last week, Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats begin a lengthy tour that will take the Denver soul sensation from Salt Lake City to Europe, with a stop at Red Rocks over the weekend. “We’ll be gone until about Thanksgiving,” Rateliff said just before leaving for the 40-show run. “All…

The Overnight Success of Kenny Knight’s Long-Forgotten Masterpiece

Kenny Knight is a 62-year-old Parker man who put out a country/psych-rock album called Crossroads in 1980. It was not a success, and disappeared into obscurity until it was discovered by a record collector earlier this year. Now, Crossroads is the subject of glowing reviews in national music publications like…

Meet the Night Sweats: Saxophonist Andy Wild

Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats released their self-titled debut album this Friday on the legendary Stax Records. This week’s Westword cover story details Rateliff’s long history in the Denver music scene. But every member of the band has been a notable contributor to the city’s creative community. Over the…

Meet the Night Sweats: Trumpet Player Wesley Watkins

Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats released their self-titled debut album last Friday on the legendary Stax Records. This week’s Westword cover story details Rateliff’s long history in the Denver music scene. But every member of the band has been a notable contributor to the city’s creative community. Over the…

Meet the Night Sweats: Bassist Joseph Pope III

Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats will release their self-titled debut album this Friday on the legendary Stax Records. Last week’s Westword cover story details Rateliff’s long history in the Denver music scene. But every member of the band has been a notable contributor to the city’s creative community. Over…

Meet the Night Sweats: Drummer Patrick Meese

Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats will release their self-titled debut album this Friday on the legendary Stax Records. This week’s Westword cover story details Rateliff’s long history in the Denver music scene. But every member of the band has been a notable contributor to the city’s creative community. Over…

Meet the Night Sweats: Guitarist Luke Mossman

<<<LUKE MOSSMAN DID NOT HAVE A CURRENT PHOTO>>> Past Denver Bands: Achille Lauro, Hello Kavita, Centennial, Megan Burtt and Blake Brown. Current Denver Bands: Science Partner and Covenhoven Instrument in The Night Sweats: Guitar. Bio: Mossman grew up playing piano from ages 6-10. He had wanted to play guitar and finally…

Former Air Dubai Singer Jon Shockness Debuts Kid Astronaut

Jon Shockness is an ex-member and co-founder of noteworthy Denver-based hip-hop act Air Dubai. He performed with the group for the final time on August 14, a year after he decided to part ways. In August 2014, Air Dubai was part of Warped Tour, something Shockness had, until then, felt…

Meet the Night Sweats: Keyboardist Mark Shusterman

Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats will release their debut, self-titled album this Friday on the legendary Stax Records. This week’s Westword cover story details Rateliff’s long history in the Denver music scene. But every member of the band has been a notable contributor to the city’s creative community. Over…

A Look Back at the First Two Years of Titwrench Fest

The sixth edition of Titwrench Fest will be held at Dryer Plug Studios on October 3 and 4 of this year. 2014 found Titwrench overseas in Sweden rather than Denver, taking the inclusive spirit of the event not just out of Colorado but out of the USA entirely. The festival…

Mutoid Man’s Nick Cageao on Playing With Musical Legends

It would be easy to dismiss Nick Cageao as a hired gun. After all, he didn’t join Mutoid Man, the psych-metal side project-turned-full-time-stunner from guitarist Steve Brodsky and drummer Ben Koller, until after the band released its blistering, ornate debut EP, Helium Head. But even the fact that Cageao is…

Danielle de Picciotto on Gentrification and the Role of Artists

Danielle de Picciotto is a multimedia artist who co-founded Berlin’s long-running and highly influential Love Parade electronic-music festival. Her husband, Alexander Hacke, is the bassist for legendary and foundational industrial band Einstürzende Neubauten. The two are currently touring together, presenting a unique combination of music, film, visual art and literature…

Meet a Few of the Denver Bands We Couldn’t Write About

An inevitable phenomenon in any music community where there are newspapers, weekly magazines and ‘zines with coverage of local music is that of the the writer and musician. Naturally, due to reasons of a conflict of interest, if you do happen to fall into both categories, there’s a great chance…

Damien Rice on Writing Music for Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet

Damien Rice, due tonight at Red Rocks, is a singer songwriter capable of many things. His latest record My Favourite Faded Fantasy is a vast and expansive record that starts with a traditional acoustic structure and then turns into full orchestral symphony with strings and piano bouncing around his fragile and…

The Little Bear Saloon Celebrates Its Fortieth Anniversary

The Little Bear Saloon, which is celebrating its fortieth anniversary this year, is legendary — and not just to folks in Colorado. People around the globe have heard about the Evergreen bar, which was formerly a church, a drugstore, the Red Ram Saloon and the Round Up Dance Hall. “Visitors…

Pianist Matthew Shipp on Letting Music Unfold Like a Play

When Matthew Shipp writes music, he says he thinks about the people he’s playing with, and the innovative jazz pianist tries to get material that works with their personalities. Then he just lets it unfold like a play. “I’m always thinking of Scene One, Scene Two, Scene Three and some…

I’m Going to Write a Haiku About Every Band in Denver

Everybody knows the haiku formula: three lines — five syllables, then seven, then five — and some shit about nature. Boom. Haiku. Of course, there’s a little more to it than that. At its essence, each a haiku is a shifting picture, a series of three images that color each…

Meet Kaji: The Secret R&B Project of Former Metalhead Kevin Gentry

For a year and a half, Kaji was mostly a secret band that singer Kevin Gentry was developing. Kaji’s debut show, on January 30, 2015, at Syntax Physic Opera, unveiled a fully formed project, with guest musicians and backup singers. Without any official promotion, just word of mouth among friends,…