“We do a different kind of blues,” says Ben Stevens, guitarist and vocalist for Boulder’s Bleecker St. “We want to keep the Delta-blues tradition alive but mix a new, original sound with the old. We like to call it the new Delta house-rockin’ blues.” That’s as good a definition as…
Kat Bjelland, the leader of the post-punk threesome Babes in Toyland, is paying for her good times. The previous weekend, at the end of a two-week tour of Australia, Bjelland, Babes bassist Maureen Herman and the Toyland crew had thrown a surprise birthday party in honor of drummer Lori Barbero…
Henry Rollins, Saturday, December 2, at the Ogden Theatre, takes pride in selling out, so long as he does it his way. Whereas most old-school punks eschew any public activity that might cast aspersions on their credibility, Rollins endorses computers, poses for fashion layouts and acts in films (he’s just…
Ellyn Rucker, with Laura Newman, Thursday, November 30, at the Mall Exchange, deserves her reputation as the area’s premier female jazz pianist. She’s at ease and in superb form in virtually any musical setting, as the Colorado International Women’s Forum just acknowledged by accepting Rucker into its organization. Rucker is…
Boss Hog leader Cristina Martinez has no intention of exploiting her sexuality to make a living. After all, she’s already done enough of that. “I used to do phone sex back in the Eighties,” she volunteers. “I didn’t start out doing it–I was the receptionist taking credit-card numbers at this…
Drummer Colby Mancasola and his mates in the band Knapsack discovered a surefire way to pick a record company. “Basically,” he says, “we just looked at our record collections and said, `Okay, we own these four or five albums on Alias.’ And then we looked at label B and went,…
There’s no shortage of sweet-voiced, guitar-wielding women in Boulder these days. Toss a quarter on Pearl Street and it’ll more than likely land in a female singer-songwriter’s guitar case. Audiences, however, are harder to come by, and renown more difficult to achieve than that. So it’s fortunate that Wendy Woo…
Windowpane, with Benjamina Ficus Exotica, Saturday, November 25, at the Lion’s Lair, has a new drummer: Kenny Ortiz, the man with the sticks in both D-Town Brown and Tribhanga. This addition is certain to enhance what is already one of the more innovative bands in town–a collection of awesome instrumentalists…
Avoiding any mention of alcohol during a chat with Shane MacGowan would be as stupid as neglecting to ask Elizabeth Taylor about marriage, perfume, Michael Jackson or cholesterol. MacGowan–onetime leader of the Pogues, current frontman for Shane MacGowan & the Popes–has a reputation as one of popular music’s most aggressive…
Reggae original Eek-A-Mouse began wearing costumes long before anyone knew his nom de plume. “I started doing that stuff back in Jamaica,” he says of his often outlandish attire. “I’d just walk around town in that kind of stuff and people would think I was crazy, you know? Then I…
With a new album, a new label and a national tour, Los Angeles punk-rock legends the Lazy Cowgirls seem to be making a major comeback. But there’s something wrong with this picture–because the band never really left. “We keep reading about how we broke up,” says Cowgirls vocalist/ frontman Pat…
Take heart, garage-rock fans: In this age of platinum-selling punks, Denver’s Sissy Fuzz is keeping the do-it-yourself ethos alive. “When we started, we’d just been saying, `Wouldn’t it be fun if we were in a band?'” recounts drummer Cincy Woods. “And Andy was the only one who knew how to…
Once Blue, with Lisa Loeb, Friday, November 24, at the Bluebird Theater, is a New York-based duo making its first Colorado appearance. But the approach taken by vocalist Rebecca Martin and guitarist Jesse Harris on their recent EMI debut recording isn’t particularly new: It suggests a preppy updating of the…
Green Day Insomniac (Reprise) In the press biography sent to reviewers with this CD, flack Ben Weasel (a nom de plume, perhaps?) claims that Insomniac “ISN’T a progression, and that’s exactly WHY it’s so fucking good. I mean, Christ, if the Ramones coulda just put out a couple more Leave…
Plenty of people have fantasized about the young, virile, mid-Fifties Elvis Presley. But Wanda Jackson, who can make a persuasive claim for being the first female rockabilly singer, is one of the few who actually dated him. “I know that you’ve read that he was a true gentlemen, and he…
The bar crawlers gathered at Herman’s Hideaway this brisk Friday night in October know exactly what they want: accessible funk grooves, catchy melodies, good-time lyrics and the steady thump-thump-thump-thump associated with the evening’s headliner, Furious George and the Monster Groove. But when the members of the opening act, Fort Collins-based…
Since the mid-Seventies, hardcore British music has been linked to messages of rebellion. But if you think the multiracial quartet Skunk Anansie is upholding traditions established by the Sex Pistols and the Clash, lead singer Skin suggests you think again. “We don’t do any of that bollocks, to be quite…
If Joan Armatrading had the power to do so, she would change one thing about her fans: their number. “They’re very hardcore, and they don’t give up on me. It’s fantastic,” she notes. “But I would like, as an artist, for more people to know about what I do and…
Brutal Juice, with Neurosis and GWAR, Sunday, November 19, at the Ogden Theatre, is not what you’d call a good date band: The name of the quintet’s debut for the Interscope imprint–Mutilation Makes Identification Difficult–provides a fairly accurate indication of their not-so-tender sensibilities. The disc is filled with secretion-spattered lyrics…
Slim Cessna’s Auto Club and Smokin’ Uncle Rumley and the Pork-Boilin’ Po’ Boys, Thursday, November 16, at the Bluebird Theater, are a one-two punch aimed straight at people who love country music but fear that admitting it puts them just below Pat Buchanan on the hipness scale. The members of…
The changing nature of rock and roll is mirrored by shifts in its lexicon, and no term associated with the genre exemplifies this characteristic better than “rock and roll” itself. Blacklisted disc jockey Alan Freed is credited with concocting the slogan, but variations on it can be heard in blues…
The ‘Vengers, Boulder’s premier ska group, don’t do much soul searching when it comes to their music. “I think the bottom line is, it’s not an attitude thing,” says bassist/vocalist Chris “Limey” Welsh. “You get a lot of musicians who stand there and say, `Right, we’re technically brilliant. Look at…
