A block of local reviews that’s totally solid. The Damn Shambles, recently profiled in these pages (“Bar Bands of the World, Unite,” February 19), have a lengthy pedigree: Kurt Jones was in the Tremblers, former drummer Jerry Lee hails from Wanker, and the bassist currently known as Pete was part…
Singer-songwriter Jim White’s life has a made-up quality about it. Among the reasons is his colorful way with descriptions; his anecdotes are sprinkled with metaphors and literary allusions softened by self-deprecating humor that suggests William Faulkner after his first joint. And then there are the tales themselves: admirably curious sketches…
Though the guitar is exceedingly common, Denverite Neil Haverstick’s approach to it is anything but. Rather than using the 12-tones-per-octave scale that links Western music from Beethoven to the Beatles, Haverstick regularly lays his skillful hands upon a custom-built 19-tones-per-octave guitar. The result of efforts like those found on his…
For years, Lord of Word and the Disciples of Bass has been considered one of the local bands most likely to sign with a major label and burst into national prominence–but it’s not going to happen. After shows at Denver’s Bluebird Theater and Boulder’s Fox Theatre on Friday, April 10,…
Singer-songwriter Ben Harper is very serious about his job, and he expects others to feel the same way. Which means that when it comes to dealing with the media, he’s frequently disappointed. “I have two more interviews today, and I’m dreading them,” he says from a hotel room in the…
On the surface, Silver Scooter, an obscure band from Austin, Texas, is little more than a trio of geeky Caucasians squeezing punk pop from a guitar-bass-drums lineup. But although such groups are as easy to slag as generic cigarettes, the archetype obviously has a deep-seated appeal: After all, the roster…
Saxophonist Wayne Shorter has been quoted as saying, “I do what I am, but I am not what I do.” Trumpeter/flugelhornist Roy Hargrove is not as good as Shorter at compartmentalizing. “It’s the music, mainly,” he explains. “The music keeps me going. If it wasn’t for the music, I’d be…
Denver’s garage-music scene owes much of its vitality to guitarist/vocalist Michael Daboll. As a member of the defunct trio Element 79 and a onetime part of 360 Twist! Records, a locally based label that’s issued a series of excellent recordings by worthy international acts such as Billy Childish and Thee…
Colorado has produced more nationally known dance-music figures than many observers inside or outside the state realize. An example is David Winsett, known to the world at large as DJ Swingsett. This former local boy, now a resident of New York City, is a prime mover in the field of…
Mary Lou Lord has a lot of heroes, including Elliott Smith and Shawn Colvin. But the act whose career she would most like to emulate is more unlikely: the Kelly Family. Anyone who has seen the Kellys, a prefab combo of willowy siblings who make the Hanson brothers seem like…
Cappadonna The Pillage (Razor Sharp Records/Epic) Killah Priest Heavy Mental (Geffen) As an experiment, I decided to try analyzing these Wu-Tang Clan spinoffs without paying the slightest attention to the lyrics, and it was a revelation. Suddenly, the voices of Cappadonna, who became part of the family with a cameo…
Each week, record companies of all shapes and sizes release an avalanche of product, and doing so isn’t cheap. The cost of servicing hundreds or even thousands of retailers, writers, Web-page entrepreneurs and the like with promotional items is a staggering cash drain that’s caused firms to look for less…
Red Aunts guitarist Kerry Davis yawns into the phone, then promptly offers a polite apology. “I’m sorry,” she says. “I’m really tired today, and I just can’t wake up. I’m a waitress, and I just started working nights recently, getting home at like four in the morning. People think that…
The mere sight of Denver blues violinist Lionel Young on stage generates a jolt of energy, whether he’s fronting a trio or an ensemble complete with horns, guitars and electric bass. Smiling, always smiling, he creates a sound that’s sensual and strong, delicate and precise, technically impeccable and emotionally pure…
The members of San Diego’s Deadbolt have labeled their group “The World’s Scariest Band,” and their latest disc, Tijuana Hit Squad, shows why. On it, guitarist Harley Davidson, drummer Les Vegas and a shifting series of accomplices portray a team of greasers who kill for hire, and they do so…
When it comes to the South by Southwest Music Conference, bigger isn’t necessarily better. This year’s model, which ran from Wed-nesday, March 18, to Saturday, March 22, in Austin, was the William Conrad of confabs. Thanks to an expanded lineup on the event’s first day, over 1,000 acts shopped their…
Zeke Kicked in the Teeth (Epitaph) You know rock and roll is in sad shape when Smashing Pumpkins takes home a Grammy for Best Hard Rock Album. After all, the hardest thing about that pack of whiners is Billy Corgan’s bald, pointy noggin. But fear not, heathens: Seattle’s Zeke is…
Jimmy Hoffa seems like a more plausible candidate for a comeback than Vanilla Ice. The once and former Robert Van Winkle briefly ruled the pop-music galaxy thanks to the across-the-board success of the 1990 smash “Ice Ice Baby,” but the vicious backlash that struck him shortly thereafter was of the…
In the first year of its existence, Denver-based Synergy Music has issued nine albums–an impressive number by any standard. But Michael Fitts, who’s both the president of Synergy and the CEO of Indiego Promotions, isn’t satisfied; he wants to double that total in 1998. “I think it’s important, with a…
Ever since the 1992 birth of Rorschach Test, a onetime Denver band now situated in Seattle, James Baker–initially known by the memorable moniker Jimmy Utah–has been working tirelessly toward the goal of signing a major-label contract and earning the mass popularity he sees as his due. And now, at last,…
Ani DiFranco Little Plastic Castle (Righteous Babe) One of my colleagues suggested that DiFranco is better than most of her Lilith Fair peers because she says “fuck” a lot more frequently than they do–and after a moment’s reflection, I realized that there’s something to that. A great many of today’s…
Electronica has evolved faster than fruit flies multiply, but its hybrids are no longer raising eyebrows: If a synthesized sonic bouillabaisse pops up in ads for television or corporately owned radio, it can no longer be considered the coveted province of elitist club-crawlers. One of the main reasons that this…
