“Everyone else in my family was an addict, and I was an addict of creativity, and that saved my life,” says rapper Jericho Son of None. He’s been active in the Denver hip-hop community for years, spending time in a group called Educated Figures. He now teaches history and geography…
Photo by Danny Clinch/Sony LegacyNas in 1994.By Ian S. Port One rhyme in particular crystallizes the genius of Nas’ 1994 classic, Illmatic. It comes in the song “One Love,” which takes the form of a letter to a friend in prison: “Congratulations, you know you got a son,” Nas raps…
Courtesy of ATO RecordsBy Roy Kasten Onstage — his hair whipping like a battlefield banner, his piano splintering, his gnarled voice bellowing and his band crushing out something like rock, something like the blues — J. Roddy Walston is surely a force, but not really a force of nature, as…
Iceage (due this Sunday, October 26, at the Hi-Dive) from Copenhagen, Denmark made a splash when it first started playing in the U.S.A. over three years ago. Synthesizing the raw energy of hardcore with the moodiness of post-punk, Iceage was and still is an electrifying live act. Even then, though,…
Oko Tygra is one of the Denver bands representing the Mile High City at this year’s CMJ in New York City. The group is slated to play at Niagra on Wednesday, October 22. For a group that started in March 2014, getting selected for CMJ is certainly an achievement. For…
Every week, we get thousands of notifications on Facebook, and because our lives are privileged and lonely, we pay attention to them. Everyone has commented on everything. It is everybody’s birthday today. Everyone but you has had a baby and is also celebrating their four year anniversary with a decent…
As part of his first ever American arena tour, British singer-songwriter Sam Smith stops at the 1STBANK Center on Monday, January 26. Tickets ($35-$75) go on sale on Friday, October 24 at 10 a.m. A reunited Sleater-Kinney, who just announced its first new album in ten years is due in…
[jump] Editor’s note: Each week, illustrator Noah Van Sciver shares his ongoing story of an 80’s rocker on a road trip through his past with the readers of Backbeat. You can see more of Van Sciver’s work in his new book YOUTH IS WASTED. Last Week’s Episode of Rufus Baxter…
The undisputed heavyweight champion of grunge, Pearl Jam, makes a stop in Denver this week. There will be some pop punk in Colorado Springs and some jazz in Golden. And more! The rest of our picks follow…
This edition of Concrete Mixer found a rare showing and audience at Newman Center for the Performing Arts for the Convocation for the Lamont School of Music at the University of Denver. Past editions of this event featuring live musique concrète have been held at The Walnut Room because of…
When Isaiah “Ikey” Owens passed away last week, the musician and producer left behind a massive legacy. Most recently the Long Beach, California native was on tour playing keyboards and piano with Jack White — but he was also a member and founder of Free Moral Agents and was known…
Saturday was a night of firsts at Hamsterdam. It was the first live show from Hippies Wearing Muzzles, the mostly modular synth project from Lee Evans, better known as the bass player in Kissing Party. It was probably the first cross-country performance art, found sound and lattice poem collaboration show…
The Rock ‘N’ Roll Marathon returns to Denver this weekend with a new route. You can see it in the map above or in much more detail on the marathon’s web site. As usual, there will be a slew of local bands along the course — this year, there are…
The Rock and Roll Marathon will prevent you from driving anywhere in downtown Denver tomorrow, with a roster of athletes stuffed with several hundred extras who couldn’t run the canceled Boulder marathon a few weeks ago. Embrace it and cheer them on near one of the several stages, where bands…
John Stevens Jr started writing songs at age 15 to try and process the death of a friend. He’s been playing music in Indiana for 30 years, but it wasn’t until he sat down at his kitchen table early this year with the intent to make his friends laugh that…
Photo by Helge Øverås via Wikimedia CommonsIf we’re being completely honest, power ballads are responsible for some of the most resonant music-listening experiences in the entire world. They’re a beautiful blend of sentiment and obviousness, a band willfully becoming emotionally available. Everybody makes fun of the power ballad, because sometimes…
Glendale Mayor Mike Dunafon has a story made for viral success: The former rugby player runs an anomaly of a town surrounded on all sides by Denver with his strip-club-owner wife, Debbie Matthews, not so subtly at his side. Now he’s running for governor as an independent candidate on a…
Red Rocks hosted the last concerts of its regular concert series a little over a week ago, signaling the official end of the summer concert season in Colorado. This week on the Backbeat blog, we’re looking back at some of our favorite shows of 2014’s warmest months. Note that we…
Halloween changes as you get older. It starts off with the excitement of candy, which fades into the excitement to get dressed up to get drunk. Once you’re old enough to do that outside someone’s basement, but before you’re old enough to be dressing up kids of your own, Halloween…
The future of the music venue and bar known as The Sidewinder Tavern is currently up in the air. The building housing the establishment is on sale, two years after Sidewinder opened its doors. The hundred-year-old building has been home to numerous bars over the years. Both the business and…
As the sun set over the Denver skyline, a small group gathered at La Raza Park to pay tribute to Isaiah “Ikey” Owens, who passed away in Mexico yesterday while on tour. Though not a Denverite himself, Owens, who has played with the Mars Volta and was on tour with…
Dragondeer is a quickly rising star among Denver bands, playing sets at SXSW and Red Rocks (for Film on the Rocks) earlier this year. But when members Eric Halborg, Cole Rudy, Carl Sorensen and Casey Sidwell stepped into OpenAir’s spacious studio last winter to record a live session, they had…
