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BandWagon Magazine northern colorado’s arts & entertainment magazine MAY 2014
BandWagon Magazine northern colorado’s arts & entertainment magazine MAY 2014
ALBUM REVIEWS
The Pixies
Indie Candy James Garcia BandWagon Magazine The first Pixies album since 1991 hit the U.S. scene April 29th... kind of. Indie Cindy is a collection of songs that were previously released in 2013 and 2014, across three EPs. It’s been 10 years since the Pixies reunited to begin touring on their old hits and occasionally release a new track here and there, but the biggest happening since their breakup and un-breakup was bassist and backup vocalist Kim Deal leaving the group, taking with her half of the appeal of the Pixies vibe. But if you haven’t heard any post Trompe le Monde Pixies, this new album is classic sounding (maybe too classic sounding), despite the all-too obvious lack of Kim Deal’s vocal contributions. All three of the EPs’ (EP1, EP2, EP3) songs were recorded and produced by Gil Norton, who worked on Doolittle, Bossanova and Trompe le Monde, so there’s a solid feeling of familiarity there. The opening track “What Goes Boom” is probably the best song to jump back into the Pixies universe with. It’s fast, noisy and driving. The track “Greens and Blues” is one of the better tracks on the collection and will spark in many listeners’ minds classics like “Gigantic” and “Where Is My Mind.” A more strange one, which shows the Pixies’ ability to evolve (ever so slightly) is the song “Bagboy.” This song was released digitally just after Deal announced her departure from the band, and one can’t help but feel the loss of her input. If you caught their Coachella 2014 sets, any of their recent tour dates or noticed songs like “Women of War” (a
Record Store Day bonus track), you’ll see/hear a new face/voice in the band in Deal’s position: Paz Lenchantin, who has a solid history playing music with folks like Maynard Keenan and Billy Corgan. She is a welcome sight and sound in the newest iteration of the Pixies. The sad truth, and it may be time to come to terms with it, none of these songs stand out as anything progressive or especially endearing. While they are clearly still fantastic musicians, it appears they’ve lost a lot of their creative edge and drive that initially sold them. Perhaps it is their level of fame, the loss of one of the founding members or egos. It’s most likely it’s all of the above. If you’re a Pixies fanatic, look elsewhere for your fix. But if you casually enjoy their sound, you’ll likely not be able to tell they haven’t gone anywhere but a few steps backward in the 23 years the world has waited for a new album. And they really could have cut at least one or two more songs for an album comprised solely of previously released material. It all seems kind of sleazy, doesn’t it?
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BandWagon Magazine northern colorado’s arts & entertainment magazine MAY 2014
Anchorage
Self-Titled EP Chris Sheridan BandWagon Magazine I don’t envy bands that have the desire to carve out a fresh niche in the music scene. With the industry populated with so many new (and occasionally fresh) acts, introducing a new sound is not easy. Denver rockers Anchorage set out to do just that, advertising broad stylistic backgrounds and genre-bending music to be a unique new player in the rock scene. New six-track EP Anchorage is good enough, but has a ways to go before being quite so memorably fresh. “Gravedigger” is a decent start to the album; it wastes no time showing off the strong guitar work of Scott Kelly, and the opening riff grabs the attention before moving into a satisfying chorus. “Chameleon” is less so, doing little to excite and falling short of being memorable, despite, once again, a strong guitar solo from Kelly in the final moments of the song. It’s the guitar work of both Kelly and bandmate Roy Catlin that most often elevates the album, and their work is consistently exciting even if the song around it lacks excitement, a problem that occurs every once in a while on the EP. For being called “experimental,” Anchorage is often disappointingly formulaic. The hardcore rock genre is by its nature generally a bit unconventional, but Anchorage does little to set itself apart as a unique outfit—most of the time. It does show innovation from time to time, blending a couple of different genres and styles into the songs with wellwritten lyrics, but mostly plays it safe and sticks to safe areas too often. The talent is here, but it feels untapped. Anchorage mostly has the standard genre conventions down pat, so now
it’s time to push the envelope further. No rock album is complete without a ballad, and standout “Truth” fits the bill perfectly. One of the best songs on the release, it’s a good fit for some softer riffs and great vocalization from Catlin. This track is both catchy and memorable, and delivers emotion through its strong vocals and memorable opening riff. It’s simply a good song, and a bar for quality that speaks volumes for what the guys are capable of. Part of what Anchorage appears to be trying to do to set itself apart is keep a semi-complicated riff going underneath the vocals, rather than a simplistic, repetitive chord. This is a double-edged sword, as in some songs it works well, and in others it’s distracting. The latter feels like two songs getting smashed together, and the resultant incongruous feel is somewhat jarring. It’s not for lack of actual songwriting proficiency on the part of Anchorage’s members, but the group is fighting an uphill battle by manufacturing elements that work against each other. The musicianship of Anchorage is solid. The EP is wellproduced and feels very clean and refined. Anchorage is on its way to being a strong entry in Colorado’s hardcore rock scene, but the sound isn’t quite there yet. The focus on bringing diversity to the track lineup is absolutely admirable and even welcome in the repetitive market, and with one more push Anchorage will achieve it. It’s a satisfying album for fans, but newcomers may dismiss this as “just another contestant.” With Anchorage already being an improvement over the debut album, the future will be even better. Keep an eye on Anchorage.
BandWagon Magazine northern colorado’s arts & entertainment magazine MAY 2014 Afgan Whigs
Do to the Beast
Chris Sheridan BandWagon Magazine It’s been 16 years since Greg Dulli released an album under his outfit The Afghan Whigs. It’s almost baffling to consider peripherally that the last album dropped in the late ‘90s. Dulli has remained active under his other groups, The Twilight Singers and The Gutter Twins, but with the former starting to blur stylistic lines with his original group, Dulli felt it was time to come full circle and return to his roots with Do to the Beast, which mostly delivers exactly what Dulli followers are looking for—more dynamic, elaborate instrumentation and smoky. Fans of The Afghan Whigs will be right at home with opener “Parked Outside,” which maintains the wicked, satisfying grunge of 1996’s Black Love, an aggressive opener that hits like
a sledgehammer. The subsequent “Matamoros” completes Do to the Beast’s transformation from a 90’s Whigs album into a contemporary Dulli product. For that reason, Do to the Beast will be received in one of a couple of ways depending on the preferences of listeners. In line with Dulli’s creative trajectory, this album has very definite Twilight Singers vibes here and there, and certainly departs from the more rock-oriented Whigs mainstays here and there. On the other hand, it’s mostly not worse for it. The most Twilight Singers-esque track, “It Kills,” is by far one of the best songs on the album. The last couple of songs at the end of the album, however, are lackluster and feel like Dulli ran out of energy by the time he got to these. Despite a strong percussive influence, “I Am Fire” is downright boring and “These Sticks” is simply decent. That said, the rest of the album is stellar. While it’s true that there are overt similarities to past Dulli work, it’s more accurate to examine the piece as a supplement to his experience and a rich cumulative work. “Lost in the Woods” is a fine marriage of all of Dulli’s influences and sounds, a bleak, insomniac cut that simply melts away before exploding into the energetic “The Lottery.” Music takes center stage in Do to the Beast, as Dulli saved the actual lyricism for last, opting
to slot the words into the music rather than vice versa. The lyrics don’t necessarily suffer, though they’re hardly straightforward in a way that will be satisfying to connoisseurs of Dulli’s mystique, and frustrating for listeners that want something to easily digest and sing along to. Also interesting is the absence of Whigs co-founder Rock McCollum, who departed the band shortly before the recording of Do to the Beast and prompted Dulli to call in an army of guitarists ranging from Usher’s
musical director Johnny Najera and multiple Twilight Singers members to fill in the gaps from track to track. It gives the album a much more dynamic feel, with each song getting its own vibe. One difference is felt most palpably on “Algiers,” an awesome Western-flavored track with a wicked, grinding solo nestled in the second half. Do to the Beast gets significantly better with headphones. It’s richly layered in a way that cannot be completely picked up through standard
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speakers. This has been mixed and mastered with expert precision, and makes the complexity of the tracks even more noticeable. Like most of Dulli’s work, Do to the Beast will be an acquired taste for some. Drawing unapologetically from R&B influences and featuring Dulli once again performing with bizarre and occasionally offkilter vocalization, the album is unmistakably his product, and despite not really sounding like a true Afghan Whigs reunion, it’s no less dynamic and exciting.
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BandWagon Magazine northern colorado’s arts & entertainment magazine MAY 2014
FILM REVIEWS
The Raid 2 2014 - 148 Minutes – Rated R Jay Wallace BandWagon Magazine Unlike last year, which seemed to be the year of disappointing sequels for me, (I’m looking at you, Iron Man 3 and Star Trek Into Darkness) I was enthralled in April with follow-ups to two of my favorite movies: Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and The Raid 2. Both were films I was looking forward to, and I walked away with a level of satisfaction I haven’t really experienced with a sequel since 2012’s Skyfall. Both Winter Soldier and The Raid 2 are currently contenders for Best Action Film of 2014, and I’m willing to stick my neck out for Gareth Evans’ Indonesian Martial Arts epic and say it’s the winner. The Captain may be the first superhero in the Marvel universe, but he’s not Rama. (Spoilers for The Redemption ahead.)
Raid:
The Raid 2 starts off where the first film ended. Iko Uwais’ Rama, the hero, is one of the three police officers left after a botched attempt to take down crime lord Tama. The other two are the injured Bowo (Tegar Satrya) and the corrupt Lt.
Wahyu (Pierre Gruno). Wahyu left in handcuffs at the end of the first movie and Rama got his hands on a collection of tapes implicating other corrupt cops in Jakarta. On the advice of Tama’s numbers man Andi (Donny Alamsyah), Rama tracks down the supposedly trustworthy cop Bunawar (Cok Simbara). Bunawar tells Rama that the tapes won’t do much good and will only draw out bigger baddies looking to not only off him, but also his family. So he gives Rama an offer: He’ll protect Rama’s family if he agrees to be part of an anticorruption sting. The goal: go undercover in the criminal world by going to prison, earn the loyalty of Uco (Arifin Putra) and infiltrate his father’s organization, with the hope to implicate crooked police commissioner Reza. (Roy Marten) Unfortunately, things don’t go as Rama initially hoped. He finds that Uco is hungry for power, and is willing to undermine his father Bangun (Tio Pakusadewo) and start a war with a rival Japanese mob to get that power. And Uco finds an ally with Bejo, (Alex Abbad) a rising gangster who wishes to profit from the chaos
that would follow such a war. Rama is in deep shit. Like the first film, The Raid 2 is a showcase for Pencak Silat, which is a broad description of Indonesian martial arts. Unlike Japanese or Chinese-based martial arts, Silat is rough, raw and fast, seemingly chaotic but surprisingly graceful and purposeful. On screen, it’s amazing to watch, and like everything in The Raid 2, it’s amped up to the max. The Raid: Redemption was kind of like the original Die Hard, in that it took place in a single building. Evans’ followup widens its view, taking place all over Jakarta. The cinematography is beautiful and stunning at times, with each location giving off it’s own unique vibe for the scene at hand. The writing and characters of the film are also impressive. Yayan Ruhian, who played Mad Dog in the previous film, plays homeless assassin Prakoso, an associate of Bangun and Uco. His character, aside from Rama, is actually one of the most sympathetic characters in the film even though he’s a psychopath, and he’s only on screen for around 10 minutes. There’s also the brother-sister duo of Baseball Bat Man (Very Tri Yulisman) and Hammer Girl, (Julie Estelle) whose backstory isn’t elaborated on, but they’re among the two new characters who stand out. Hammer Girl’s introductory fight scene is amazing. And gory. Uwais’ Rama is still awesome; his mastery of silat and his acting skills have clearly grown since the first film. Arifin Putra’s Uco is also an excellent baddie, a guy who’s daddy issues give him both a bit of depth and make him all the more scarier. Abbad’s Bejo, however, is the real hardcore villain of the bunch. His presence is terrifying. There are a couple other things that stood out from me: The car chase is really impressive, far more so than what I witnessed in Need For Speed months ago. Furthermore, the gore in the film is genuinely shocking. I was cringing during Hammer Girl’s introductory fight scene aboard a subway, and I’m not the type who gets squeamish watching horror movies. Overall, The Raid 2 delivers the goods and so much more. This is the sequel The Raid deserves, and it’s the type of sequel all filmmakers should strive to make. See it in theaters while you can.
BandWagon Magazine northern colorado’s arts & entertainment magazine MAY 2014
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The Quiet Ones 2014 - 98 Minutes – Rated PG-13 Chris Sheridan BandWagon Magazine What happened to horror films? What started with slow terror and the cruel exploitation of products of the mind and unsettling imagery has given way to either nasty torture porn or neutered, boring horror that can barely be classified as such. It’s almost ironic then, that what may well be this year’s worst horror film has been released by none other than Hammer Films, a pioneer in the genre’s heyday in the ‘50s (Dracula, The Curse of Frankenstein) before falling into bankruptcy and getting revived only to start off on a cold streak with Let Me In and The Woman in Black. Now, we have The Quiet Ones, a well-intentioned yet utterly inept entry in the watered-down PG-13 horror subgenre. The Quiet Ones loosely follows an experiment in the ‘70s in which a handful of curious students attempted to actually create a ghost by harnessing negative energy,
thus proving that supernatural experiences are nothing more than manifestations of the human mind. For the film, this is changed slightly; Professor Joseph Coupland (Jared Harris) his students, and a cameraman named Brian (Sam Claflin) attempting to rip a perceived mental illness from a young patient named Jane (Olivia Cooke). By removing this evil personality, dubbed Evie, the team will pioneer a new era of psychological care. Things continue to go bump in the night as it becomes more apparent that Jane might just be possessed, but the film’s characters catch on about a half hour later than the audience. That might be the first problem; these characters are all some combination of stupid, horny, naïve or deluded, with each taking his or her turn in nearly all of them. Joseph fails at every single turn to come down from a high horse of revolutionizing his field, and becomes nearly villainous as a result. His two students are simply stupid, and for no good reason, part of a
plot-padding love triangle. None of these characters are remotely likeable, and if there’s anything to hope for in the film, it’s that they will meet a violent end. Hammer’s history is relevant here due to how egregiously The Quiet Ones disregards its ancestors. In a film that borrows the aesthetic and production design from classic ‘70s horror, the film is unmistakably a product of modern horror garbage. The film is utterly devoid of any tension or horror whatsoever, and seems aware of it, as it fills its running time with countless attempts at jump scares. Some jump scares can be earned, like the majority of those in last year’s excellent Sinister: earned because not only did they have genuine buildup, but were also interspersed with genuine creepiness and tension. The Quiet Ones has none of any of that, throwing endless busts of sound and loud noises while remaining irritatingly boring at every other moment. Only one jump scare was genuinely surprising; the rest can be seen from a mile away and are laughably flaccid.
Positive marks towards The Quiet Ones are frustratingly sparse. Jared Harris could exude charisma in his sleep, though appears bored here. Olivia Cooke is actually quite good as Jane, and gives a bit of depth to the tortured Jane. There’s almost a River Tam-flavored mystique to the character. The sequences shot through Brian’s camera have a nice, weathered quality to them. A lot of love clearly went into the film’s aesthetic, but the film around it is undeserving. “Shitty” is not a word I use often to describe a film, but The Quiet Ones fits the bill. This is a shitty movie with very few redeeming ideas that end up drowning in the deluge of elements that are misguided, unfulfilled, or outright bad. It’s nothing like the horror classics that line Hammer’s robust chronology, trading genuine scares for cheap jolts. All sound with no fury, The Quiet Ones raises hell and begs to be heard. We can hear the film just fine; there’s just nothing of note to listen to.
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BandWagon Magazine northern colorado’s arts & entertainment magazine MAY 2014
Local Mural Shows That It’s More Than Just Coffee at Zoe’s in Downtown Greeley Rose Hedberg BandWagon Magazine A cup of coffee from Zoe’s is not only freshly pressed, but the beans travel 4,000 miles from Peru to their café. Zoe’s directly trades their coffee from the Quispe family in Villa Rica Peru where Benjamin, Anita and their three daughters, Valeria, Anna Marie and Linsi manage a small coffee farm. The small Christian family in Peru offered Zoe’s direct trade after the chance meeting from a mission trip to Lima in 2009. Anita and her family believed that destiny was pointing the family towards business with Zoe’s not only to expand their welfare as a family but to extend their faith across the Atlantic. Recently, twenty-eight-yearold artist Wes Bruce from Northern California, joined creative minds with Zoe’s to initiate a connection between their customers and the Qusipe family. The solution was a mural, one that would enrich, empower and inspire change in the viewer. A vision that began in Peru before Zoe’s even opened and now transcends through art for the everyday public to engage with. Bruce has been a part of the artistic community in Greeley creating such work as the deconstructed piano at Atlas
Church, and breaking restrictive artistic stereotypes with his 3D projects. His art aims at “significant and vulnerable human connection,” which explains why his interest in what Zoe’s wished to achieve fit with his “freedom and responsibility to be inspired.” With Bruce’s attention to the seemingly miniscule details of life, the project to connect the Quispe family with the public was done by giving the process of buying a cup of coffee more meaning. “When you stop something like this and you spread it out, adding story and color, taking it out of this millisecond time frame, then you can give it this slow deep breath,” says Bruce. The breath of the piece edges toward challenging a faceless capitalist machine. Zoe’s has chosen direct trade with the Quispe farm in an effort to build relationships not an enterprise. They take pride in their ethical business practices. It’s no longer just a product, but a production of people and passion that creates the coffee they choose to serve. They’re building a family, not finances. The mural represents the bond between the two parties and the life behind every bag of coffee served. The outlines of North and South America are mounted evenly around the coffee tree, the material product in the middle is what
allowed the two to work together. The expansion of color and recreated motifs spread outward from the center to capture how the relationship between Zoe’s and the Quispe family has manifested. “It’s not just the coffee coming one way and the relationship stops there,” says Bruce explaining the balance of the piece. “It’s like this mutual empowerment that happens on both sides.” When viewed from afar, the outline of the countries seem to stand as the only significance, but Bruce’s participatory art style uses suspended 3D objects drawing the viewer in closer to notice the finite details of the handmade wallpaper. This wallpaper features tiled photos of the Quispe family and zigzagging triangles to echo the original journey to Villa Rica, which took hours through the Peruvian mountains. So how does this project of artistic creativity further change what Zoe’s has already begun? It creates an interaction Bruce says. Art gives the story of the Quispe family an identity that all their customers can engage with no matter their creative knowledge. Bruce, a graduate in art education from Point Loma Nazarene University believes that contemporary art has the potential to redefine what and who is an artist. He sees everyone in their
own right as an artist, even in the mundane activities of the everyday, which grants everyone access to the basis of understanding art. It’s about perspective, engaging inspiration to do things creatively, causing interaction between the individual and their own medium. Successful art, according to Bruce, is something that gives life to the spectator and enriches the individual’s view as they continue on their day with a new insight. “Art in society is a reminder of your own potential. It acts as this cue to take my creativity and my intuition and use that in a way that is imaginative and even virtuous, if I can use that word with it. You can be anyone you want to be and in a really positive way… it offers a challenge, not only to the status quo, but for people to find how their specific vocation can be a vessel for something else.” That something else cycles the conversations that Zoe’s began when they invested in the Quispe family four years ago. With a fresh cup of roasted coffee and an open mind to opportunity, art offers a new lens to material society. After all “art isn’t art unless it questions the nature of art,” especially in a coffee shop.
Follow Wes Bruce on Instagram @wesleysambruce
BandWagon Magazine northern colorado’s arts & entertainment magazine MAY 2014
BandWagon Magazine northern colorado’s arts & entertainment magazine MAY 2014
Simon Joyner Simon Joyner Kyle Eustice BandWagon Magazine
Before he could even play an instrument, young Simon Joyner used to walk back and forth from Spring Lake Elementary in Omaha, Nebraska humming the melodies of the songs he would write. His father played guitar and sang to Joyner and his siblings as kids so falling in love with music was something that just naturally happened. The Omaha-based folk artist has been putting out albums since 1992 and is often credited as the “forefather of Omaha’s music scene.” It might not have happened had his father not given him his first guitar. “I’ve never been a particularly good guitar player, honestly, but I’ve got a few tricks, I guess,” Joyner humbly says. “Songwriting on the other hand was something I worked on a lot late in high school and then got more serious about in college. I realized in my early 20’s that my love of words and my ability to tell a story made my songs interesting. I got my first guitar in grade school from my father as a Christmas present and learned ‘As Tears Go By’ by the Rolling Stones straight away.” As Joyner’s interest in music grew, his drive to create intensified. He put out his first album in 1992 called Umbilical Chords then followed up with 1993’s Iffy. Old D-I-Y venues such as Kilgore’s, which eventually became the Shelterbelt, were the independent music hubs and many Omaha musicians got their start in those small hole-in-thewall spots. Now with 19 albums under his belt, Joyner’s goals haven’t changed too much since that time. “I didn’t really have goals back when I was first cutting my teeth on songs, I just wanted to write a better song,” he says. “I was playing so much at Kilgore’s and in friendly competition with other songwriters I admired a lot so my goal was to write a better song between this Thursday and next Thursday so I could show it off and maybe win the unspoken contest with Bill Hoover and Alex McManus for who would write the better song by the next show.”
One of those musicians was a prepubescent Oberst, who would eventually be referred to as “the Bob Dylan of our generation” by Rolling Stone. However, it was Joyner’s influence that stuck with him and it’s a relationship they still cultivate today. “Conor was a kid coming to my shows at Kilgore’s and I’m proud to have had an influence on his songwriting,” he says. “I put out a couple of his early tapes on my Sing, Eunuchs! Records label and we’ve shared music with one another ever since. He and I always swap demos before we make our records to get thoughts and suggestions on our songs. So, it’s definitely reciprocal these days.” However great Joyner’s reach (Beck even listed one of his albums among his Top 10 favorites in a Rolling Stone interview), he still flies below the radar and prefers it that way. “I get a lot of love in Omaha, I definitely feel appreciated,” he says. “I don’t do a lot of selfpromotion and I don’t play out all that often. I approach my music
as my artistic outlet, something I’m compelled to do, but I don’t think of it as a career or a job. Because of that, I don’t really feel a need to constantly be promoting my music. It happens when it happens. I make a record every couple of years and do some touring in the U.S. and Europe and then get back to work writing. At home, in Omaha, I concentrate on living my life for the most part.” Omaha has spit out some incredible acts over the years, including Cursive, The Faint, The Good Life, and Bright Eyes, to name a few. Saddle Creek Records played an integral role in putting Omaha on the musical map. “Omaha has a great music scene,” he says. “It’s very diverse, actually, and I enjoy it, whether I’m taking in a house show or seeing a band perform in a small bar or at one of the bigger
rock clubs. Omaha is a sprawling place and so there are a lot of neighborhood based music scenes. And now there are venues all over town to accommodate everyone, thanks to some recognition for some of the artists and bands and labels who have made names for themselves and the city.” Joyner is gearing up to hit the road with his live band, The Ghosts, which came about after touring on his last record, Ghost, with musicians who would eventually be called “the Ghosts” throughout the tour. It stuck. On this run, Megan Siebe takes on viola, keyboard and bass duties while Kevin Donahue takes on percussion, drums and bass, as well. Kentucky singer-songwriter Wooden Wand is also on the bill. “We’ll be doing songs from my whole catalog as well as a bunch of new songs, which I’ll be recording this summer for a new album,” he says. “Because all the shows on this tour take place in
living rooms or art spaces, they are really intimate, so this is a great chance to see us perform in an ‘up close and personal’ space, rather than at a rock club which often feels cold and disconnected. These shows also have a meet and greet vibe, which is a really nice way to meet the people who appreciate my music. “My music is a way of exploring themes I’m preoccupied with,” he adds. “Some times songs are exploring personal topics, but generally I’m concerned with characters who are going through difficult tests of their humanity and that crisis. How the characters handle it is what interests me, as a mirror, as a way of nurturing empathy. People are complicated and not always in a good way.” Simon Joyner and the Ghosts with Wooden Wand, May 15, Living Room Show, Fort Collins. Tickets are only available in advance online at undertowtickets.com
BandWagon Magazine northern colorado’s arts & entertainment magazine MAY 2014
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BandWagon Magazine northern colorado’s arts & entertainment magazine MAY 2014
atmosphere Kyle Eustice BandWagon Magazine By the sound of the new single, “Bitter,” on Atmosphere’s eighth official studio album, Southsiders, you’d never guess it almost didn’t make the record. In fact, it started off as a gag between Minneapolisnatives Sean Daley (Slug) and DJ/ producer Anthony Davis (Ant). “The first song we wrote was ‘Bitter’ and it was written as a joke,” Slug says. “I was just getting the gears moving and he sent me this beat that was almost funny to me. I think I even told him it kind of reminded me of some mid-2000 era Eminem kind of shit. I don’t know how to rap like Eminem. If I did I would [laughs]. I was still like, ‘Ok, let me do something funny on here’ so I wrote the first verse and the hook, which was just intended to make Ant laugh. He hit me back and was like, ‘I love this. It makes me smile.’ I was like, ‘Oh shit. Does it make you smile for the right reasons or the wrong reasons?’ I couldn’t believe he loved it, not that it was horrible, but I wasn’t taking it very seriously. “So he told me to finish it so I finished it,” he continues. “And I didn’t necessarily want it to make the record. I didn’t want it to come out, but he called me out on it, man. I love
this dude. He’s so real with me. He’s so beautiful. He said, ‘Look, the reason you don’t want people to hear this is because you’re insecure about it and that’s the main reason you should put it out.’ And I thought about it and was like, ‘You know what, he’s right. What am I insecure about?’ I was insecure about the hook. It’s pretty fucking awkward. Then I realized that’s the risk. The risk is, ‘Can I let people hear me do something like that?’ Even though I wasn’t being super serious when I did it, I still did it. I made this postcard; I made this painting so if I’m afraid to show it to people, the only way I can approach this challenge is to say ‘fuck it’ and let people hear it.” Atmosphere has helped put Minneapolis on the musical map thanks to the monumental success of Rhymesayers Entertainment. Home to indie hip-hop artists like P.O.S. of Doomtree, MF Doom, DJ Abilities, Aesop Rock, and, of course, Atmosphere, the label was co-founded by both Davis and Daley in 1995. As the business has evolved into the reputable label it is today, it has also documented Atmosphere’s evolution as not only musicians, but as people. Beginning with 1997’s Overcast! and culminating with Southsiders, Atmosphere’s catalog brilliantly showcases Daley’s transition into adulthood, fatherhood, marriage, business owner, and emcee. At 41,
he’s finally comfortable juggling them all. Southsiders is a commemoration of the group’s longevity; it’s also a deeply introspective, and sometimes conflicted, work. It’s a natural progression from the last record, The Family Sign, and a very detailed look at his life as a father of three. From the melancholy album opener “Camera Thief ” to the uplifting closer, “Let Me Know That You Know What You Want Now,” Daley spills his guts out on the page as Davis delivers his impenetrable beats. “For me, a big part of where I am right now and what I’m trying to impress upon or communicate, is that it’s ok to be all of it,” he says. “I’m a dad, I’m a husband, I’m a rapper, I’m a business owner, I’m a fan, I’m a lot of different things; and I don’t have to pick and choose which mask to put on any time. I can be all of them, all the time. I can be on stage and be a dad, I can be off stage and be a rapper. To me, that is one of the biggest things we need to press upon this movement. The movement itself has been so lost in its identity crisis for so long. There are so many powerful voices in here that still don’t represent who they really are. And I feel like that’s hurting the children. I don’t want to overdramatize it, but I feel it’s a disservice to the movement, these kids and ourselves if we don’t start being a lot more honest with them. So
why aren’t we trying to keep things as real as possible?” Daley keeps it real on “Kanye West,” the tenth track on the 15-track album. It has started a lot of online controversy, which wasn’t intentional. Anyone who has followed Atmosphere’s career knows they often names songs after other artists or celebrities. This track, however, had people thinking the duo had “sold-out,” which was a blatant misinterpretation of the title. “I don’t really feel like I should push back against any of it,” he says. “The funny thing is, the amount of people that came that criticized the name of it, the majority of those people were people that wouldn’t have mentioned us or thought of us if I had named it something else. In a way, I have to accept all the criticism as kind of a positive thing. It’s just another energy for me to eat and consume.” While Daley admits to holding on to moderate amounts of insecurity, he continues to rhyme with confidence and an undeniable fluidity just like the cocky rapper people often assume he is. However, underneath it all Daley is as insecure and self-critical as the next person. He just happens to make dope music. Southsiders drops May 6, 2014 on Rhymesayers Entertainment.
BandWagon Magazine northern colorado’s arts & entertainment magazine MAY 2014
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BandWagon Magazine northern colorado’s arts & entertainment magazine MAY 2014
Ben Pu
BandWagon Magazine
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t took twelve acts, two months, and seven rounds before the four finalists of Jager’s Got Talent competition were named and fought for the Grand Prize and the all the glory that comes with it. These four acts battled week after week and beat multiple eliminations to become the best of best.
This duo comprising of “Sabrum” (Chandler Darby) on guitar/vocals and “Keef ” (David San Miguel) piano/vocals is the grand prize winner. Thirsty Pigeons utilize amazing vocal harmonies with catchy guitar and piano riffs to create a band that gives something unique to Greeley. Their songs are humorous and the banter in between is quite the comedy show in itself. Thirsty Pigeons’ act harkens to the comedy duo Flight of the Conchords where their persona is just as important as their music and hilariously written songs (being from Wales, meeting as neighbor boys, running away at age six and returning home, at age...six; actually meeting at UNC as freshmen and began writing songs together within this last year from improvising in front of people). Crowds listen for more details as songs like “I Kissed My Sister On The Lips”, “$500 reward; lost pigeon-cat (CatPaul)” and “A Note To Daddy’s Mustache” unfold.
The Box Office Boys are a trio made up of Evan Schmalz (Guitar and Vocals), Joshua Moran (Guitar) and Ryan Zeidler (Drums). Evan and Josh met freshman year at UNC and started jamming, only to add Ryan a month ago. Their dual guitars lace together echoing rhythm and lead lines that are strongly held down by intricate drum patterns and breaks. Airy vocals with well written lyrics and songs all come together in the Box Office Boys’ ambience. Their show and sound are reminiscent of bands like Death Cab for Cutie and The Neighborhood. They uniquely make their own sound filling up space without a bass player in the mix. Their influences range between the members, adding to their eclectic alternative sound.
They are a duo who promotes the “Good” in life and entertained the crowd with energetic bluegrass picking. Nathan Wehrheim and Scott Hartman have been cranking out jam band influenced, acoustic bluegrass for 4 years. They explain that they not only want to entertain people with music but spread the word of being good to each other and enjoying the natural things in life. Strongly influenced by the sounds of String Cheese Incident they play their own original music and covers ranging from Grateful Dead to traditional bluegrass standards. The Common Good’s energy on stage mixes with their guitar and mandolin solos that get the audiences feet stomping. Watching them you can see the joy music brings them.
Doc Dee (aka David Long) was the only solo act out of many in the competition to make it as a finalist. He was also the only hip hop artist in the mix. From the beginning of the competition he was unsure a solo Hip Hop act would be in his favor or backfire, but ending up a finalist has confirmed his true talent. Watching Doc Dee perform you see and hear a tasty mix of lyrical flowing, rapping, and slick rhythm & blues beats that he writes himself. Listening close you’ll hear his clever lyrics and hooks, sensing his attention to his craft on each song. Although rapping since 2005, Doc Dee has only started performing hip hop since October of the past year. His styles reflect his influences of east coast style sounds of Roc Marciano, Busta Rhymes, Sean Price, J Dilla and Dilated Peoples.
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Love And Theft
M
ike Ring has a surprisingly energetic aura. Even after a long night shift at work, Ring agreed to sit down and discuss the new EP from Mike Ring and the Connection, To Your Sisters and Brothers, which releases May 10th. The man radiates passion, and that passion feeds directly into the music of The Connection. With influences ranging from Fun’s Aim & Ignite to River City Extension, Ring’s music is diverse and sprawling, and not short on intensity. The name “The Connection” originated with one of the band’s founding members, bassist Carter Jackson Sheppard: “The Connection was something that was not for me, but to bring out my voice. When I first started it was just Mike Ring Band. [We] talked for a while on the name. I told him I wanted to be more than just a band. I want to be a movement. I want to be a community. I want to be a style. I want to be everything that surrounds being a band and not just a band. So Jack came up with ‘The Connection’ because we’re all connected through the music.” This idea resonates with the band’s malleable lineup. In addition to Ring, the
members currently consist of Pie Lombardi on percussion, Ryan Black on bass, Desmond “Motown” Washington on drums, Noel Billups on keys, Jordan Lobato on guitar, Claire Rumery on backup vocals, and Jesse O’Brien on MIDI. The band has, in its couple of years of operation, gone through multiple exchanges on every position, and each one that comes and goes, as Ring puts it, has given a new feel to the band. One song that the band will occasionally play during a concert is a cover of the Miley Cyrus hit “Wrecking Ball,” which has amusingly been mistaken for an original composition by more than one person, no doubt due to the intense passion with which Mike Ring and the Connection delivers the song. “We don’t do covers. It’s just not us. ‘Wrecking Ball’ is Miley’s ‘coming out’ song, and you either love it or hate it. We covered it to get a response…if people booed at the end of that song it would be awesome. But usually people are laughing at the beginning, and singing along by the end,” says Ring. The Connection’s original songs are easy to sing along to as well, with a clean stadium feel tempered with subtler MIDI tones. The
band’s songs let all of these elements breathe of their own accord when they’re not being satisfyingly blended together. Whether it’s one of O’Brien’s MIDI bits jumping in between lines, a keyboard interlude from Billups, or the excellent vocal interplay between Ring and Rumery, the group exemplifies its frontman’s mentality of his band being a community. Speaking on To Your Sisters and Brothers, Ring once again sought a very personal core for the EP. His family adopts children with physical and mental disabilities, and not too long ago Ring lost two of these younger sisters in the same year. “You know the feeling when you lose someone,” he asked me, “and the next morning you have to get up and just be normal? I remember my mom and I were sitting in the kitchen…we told little jokes. We were worn the hell out and were just trying to get back into the world of the living.” The core theme of the album is vulnerability, too: tearing down the walls and preconceived notions built into us since birth. “The second you pull down those walls, you can start learning and living.” After we were done talking, Mike finally showed me To
Your Sisters and Brothers all the way through. Fans of Mike Ring and the Connection have much to look forward to; the EP, which draws from some gospel elements and occasional hints of R&B, is a very strong release that showcases a huge sound, and if there is one thing that disappoints, it’s that the album is over before you’ll want it to be. “I wish I could personally show this to everyone,” he said. “That’s how personal this album is.” Indeed, the music, particularly album closer “When My Mind’s Made Up” is intensely emotional and feels like it comes straight from Ring’s core. What’s next for the band? Ring sips his tea for a moment as he thinks. “The pipe dream of The Connection is becoming larger than Mike Ring. Never have I seen music that grows larger than the band. But this music is more than just one lineup.” Whatever Ring is cooking up with that cryptic comment, followers of Mike Ring and the Connection should be handsomely rewarded for their dedication when that pipe dream is fulfilled. In the meantime, don’t miss To Your Sisters and Brothers, which drops May 10. It’s worth the wait.
Chris Sheridan BandWagon Magazine
photos by Kendra hamman
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BandWagon Magazine northern colorado’s arts & entertainment magazine MAY 2014
No More Pinching AN EDITORIAL ON BAR ETIQUETTE Rose Hedberg BandWagon Magazine Bar Etiquette is something that I assumed was unanimously understood and followed by anyone who expects to be drinking in public. The unspoken rules of drinking at a bar, as I like to call it, common sense, is something that apparently is not so common or sensible since I started working in the service industry. So there are some basic ideas I wanted to put out to those of you who may be guilty of engaging in one of these bar inadequacies. It may be that you don’t know what it’s like being on the other side of the bar, but I want to break down what you should not be doing in a bar if you expect to get good service or any service at all really. I call it the PINCH. Nobody likes to get pinched, the quick and annoying pain of your skin being squeezed together as your body fights the urge to burst is not enjoyable. It’s involuntary, and it’s initiated by someone else hurting you against your insistence that they don’t. Some people’s behavior in the bar is relatively the same–painful, annoying and childish.
Pouting–Children who pout are somewhat adorable and it’s a tolerable trait children use to express their disapproval of a situation. But when a grown man with hairy arms and sweat stains throws his hands up and says, “Can I get some service over here?” it’s definitely not cute or tolerable. Is this a literal question? Can you get service? I don’t really know if I want to help you with whatever it is that you need service for. I would say no, you are not getting service obviously because I have my hands full and I’m helping the patient and tolerable person next to you. Believe it or not part of my job is to categorize the order in which people show up to the bar and after three years of practice, I’ve managed to keep a good order to things. Yelling and pouting does not get my attention any quicker.
Ignorance–Imagine your bartenders as real people outside the apron and alcohol splash-back. I do have a life beyond my job, I have a degree, a car, a home, I like to eat food just like you. So talking to your bartender, person to person is appropriate. I respond well to pleasantries, greetings of “hello,” and “how are you,” go over well when we’re engaging and about to make a trade. I understand when it gets busy these might get cut short, but I don’t recall please and thank you’s ever taking more than two breaths. Another step to breaking the worker-to-customer barrier is getting to know one another. I congratulate those of you who take the time to know your bar attendants name, but you can’t abuse the privilege. Yelling my name from across the room doesn’t mean I’m going to rush
over like Wonder Woman to tend to your demands. Names are used for recognition and attention yes, but not for short-cuts and insignificant demands.
Neediness–Often times there will be a heard of people at the bar waiting for their turn to order. When it’s your turn, don’t be needy. Neediness meaning that you ask what is in every signature based cocktail, asking me what’s on tap when I kid you not, it’s two feet in front of them, or worst of all, not knowing and trying to order for a group of three or four people behind you. I’m open to answering questions, it’s my job to help you decide on something to drink, but be conscious of how much time and space you’re taking up in a fast paced and crowded environment.
Cheapness–Which brings us to the great category of being cheap when going out to eat or drink. Food is essential. We need it to survive so the budget for food in your life is mandatory. Going out to eat isn’t mandatory and you are paying for the convenience as well as prompt and entertaining service, thus the tip should be based on the service, food and convenience. Drinking however is not mandatory. It is not essential to life. It is a luxury and an expensive one sometimes. So if you have money to go out and spend on booze, then you have a dollar to tip your bartender who is making $4.80 an hour. Yes, I’m sure this argument has happened over and over but it’s just part of American culture that you tip your service providers. In free enterprise America everybody is trying to make money. The cycle continues in every aspect of business including bars that have to make money to pay for their liquor and employees. Tipping isn’t going to just disappear in America, and if you’re one of those people that refuse to tip at bars or restaurants, you’re not making a statement or being progressive, you’re just being an asshole. Who wants to be an asshole? Handsy–Something I didn’t think I would have to address in working at a bar would be to not grab your bartender while she’s making drinks. Ridiculous I know, but it’s happened on several occasions where someone reached over the counter and grabbed me in order to get my attention and order a drink. Think of the counter as having a sneeze guard like Subway. There is an invisible barrier between you and the bartender. You don’t reach across and poke the food at Subway, similarly you don’t grab people for attention. It’s like reaching in to the lion’s cage at the zoo and poking him to try and get a good picture. You’ll just piss off the lion and you’re most likely still not going to get the results you want. Another area of over stimulated handsy action at the bar is extended handshakes. You know, the ones
where someone, in my case mostly men, ask your name and then shake your hand but don’t let go for a minute. I know this can happen anywhere, and it bugs me in any regards of life, but at a bar it’s an attempt to keep you in one spot for longer- to delay you helping the next customer. I should consider it a form of flattery, but I’m at work and my main goal is not maintaining a flirtatious relationship with extended-handshake-guy. So be mindful of how long you hold on, especially because my hands are probably sticky or wet. Gross, I know.
The cycle of the service industry is a delicate ecosystem, complete with random strangers, loyal regulars and kickass waiters/bartenders. So in respecting the balance of the market that allows people to enjoy an atmosphere outside of their domestic quarters, we must avoid the pinching one another and throwing off the system that’s been in place since before dial-up-internet. Most importantly, drink like a responsible adult and be safe.
Let me write that down rosE hedburg Thoughts of an Author in Training http://letmewritethatdown.wordpress.com
BandWagon Magazine northern colorado’s arts & entertainment magazine MAY 2014
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BandWagon Magazine northern colorado’s arts & entertainment magazine MAY 2014
FROM COWBOY HATS TO ANTIQUES AND APPLIANCES TO GROCERIES, EVEN CAR PARTS AND FARM SUPPLIES! GARDEN CITY HAS A DEAL FOR YOU.
A.F. Ray ( founder of Garden City)
It has been rumored that during the prohibition of alcohol, A.F. Ray supplied the residents of Weld County with bootlegged booze hidden in watermelons from his own patch.
BandWagon Magazine northern colorado’s arts & entertainment magazine MAY 2014
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COLORaDO CONCERT CALENDAR
Thursday May 1st Thirsty Pigeons @ The Moxi Greeley – 8pm
Ben Pu Solo @ Cranford Cove Tea House Greeley – 7pm
Through the Roots @ Hodi’s Half Note Ft. Collins – 8pm w/ Tatanka, The Steppas Zoogma @ The Aggie Theater Ft. Collins – 7pm w/ Yamn Mostly Joe @ Pourhouse Loveland – 8pm
Mickey Avalon @ Bluebird Theater Denver – 8pm w/ Spencer Foreman Grass For That Ass ft. Kitchen Dwellers and Sam Holt Band @ Cervantes’ Other Side Denver – 8pm w/ Lil’ Smokies
Sarah Slaton and Coles Whalen @ Hi-Dive Denver – 7pm w/ Tah Tah’s and Mesha Reynlds Lucida Tela @ Larimer Lounge Denver – 7pm w/ New Leverage, Harvestmen, Shibuya Terminal
friday May 2nd
Pandas & People @ The Moxi Greeley – 8pm w/ Box Office Boys, Continuum, The Common Good
Denny Driscoll @ Cranford Cove Tea Tavern Greeley – 7pm YuYu ft. Omega and Cualli @ Hodi’s Half Note Ft. Collins – 8pm
Devin the Dude and Berner @ The Aggie Theater Ft. Collins – 7pm w/ Potluck, Cool Nutz, and J Hornay
Devin the Dude @ The Aggie Theater in Ft. Collins on 5/2 The Nadas @ Bluebird Theater Denver – 9pm
The Unified Field ft. Opiuo & Random Rab @ Cervantes’ Other Side Denver – 8pm w/ ill-esha, Janover & reSUNator, Whitebear, Nominus, Defunk, Templo, Filibusta
Native Daughters @ Hi-Dive Denver – 8pm w/ Allout Helter, the Mountain and the Hound, Muscle Beach The Dodos @ Larimer Lounge Denver – 8pm w/ A Band In Pictures
Beyond Influence Album Release and Scavenger @ The Gothic Theatre Englewood – 8pm w/ Kongtoss, Number 9, No More Excuses
saturday May 3rd The Gift of Gab Greeley – 8pm w/ Rooke5, Wake Self, Dock Type, THC, and DJ Dabble Ben Pu & Crew @ 357 Greeley - 8pm w/ Primary People, Burrito Soup
Ashley Rose @ Cranford Cove Tea Tavern Greeley – 7pm
Doctor Roberts- A Beatles Tribute @ Hodi’s Half Note Ft. Collins – 8pm w/ Bill Smith Atomic Pablo @ Pourhouse Loveland – 8:30pm
Dragondeer, Chimney Choir, and Safe Boating Is No Accident @ Bluebird Theater Denver – 4pm w/ The Other Black, Amanda Hawkins, Teller Advanced Band, Teller Beginning Band, Claymore Disco, Teller Choir, Teller Violins Youngblood Brass Band @ Cervantes’ Other Side Denver – 8pm The Unified Field ft. Zoogma @ Cervantes’ Other Side Denver – 8pm w/ Paul Basic, Dynohunter, Youngblood Brass Band, DeFunk, YuYu, Easy Company Native Daughters @ Hi-Dive Denver – 8pm w/ Cultt of the Lost Cause, Low Gravity, Marsupious
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BandWagon Magazine northern colorado’s arts & entertainment magazine MAY 2014
Little Hurricane @ Larimer Lounge Denver – 8pm w/ Ark Life
Decibel Battle of the Bands @ Summit Music Hall Denver – 5:30
Quantum Force @ The Gothic Theatre Englewood – 8pm w/ Mike Ring & The Connection, Terra Legato, Surviving April, Centersphere
sunday May 4th
The Denver Battle of the Band ft. Deff Mob, Twenty Year Push, Soul Being, Judge Brother and Pantego, King Ace N R.O.E. @ Cervantes’ Masterpiece Ballroom Denver – 3:30pm Hed PE @ Summit Music Hall Denver – 7pm w/ Soil, Sunflower Dead, Pull The Alarm
monday May 5th
Hodi’s Funk Jam: RADIOHEAD @ Hodi’s Half Note - 9pm
Mastodon @ The Ogden Theatre Denver – 7:30pm w/ Gojira, Kvelertak
Cinco De Mayhem! @ Cervantes’ Other Side Denver – 5pm Holly Golightly @ Hi-Dive Denver – 8:30pm w/ Finger of the Sun, The Jekylls
tuesday May 6th The Stubby Shillelaghs @ Patrick’s Irish Pub Greeley - 9pm
Open Jazz Jam with Pourhouse Jazz Trio @ Pourhouse Loveland – 7:30pm First Tuesday Fiyah @ Hodi’s Half Note Ft. Collins – 8pm
Night Beats @ Larimer Lounge Denver – 8pm w/ Thee Dang Dangs, Prism Waves
Blessthefall @ Summit Music Hall Denver – 6pm w/ Silverstein, The Amity Affliction, Secrets, Heartist
Afrolicious @ Moxi Theater in Greeley on 5/14
wednesday May 7th Electric Stair Child @ Moxi Theater Greeley - 10pm Open Mic Night @ Patrick’s Irish Pub Greeley - 9pm
Augustana @ Bluebird Theater Denver – 8pm w/ Twin Forks
Steel Panther @ The Ogden Theatre Denver – 8pm w/ Future Villains Karmin @ Summit Music Hall Denver – 8pm w/ Bonnie McKee
Eric Hutchinson @ The Gothhic Theatre Englewood – 8pm w/ Saints of Valory
Thursday May 8th The Photo Atlas EP Release @ Hodi’s Half Note Ft. Collins – 8pm
Danny Shafer @ Pourhouse Loveland – 8pm
Primal Fear @ Bluebird Theater Denver – 8pm
Project Aspect and Love and Light @ Cervantes’ Masterpiece Ballroom Denver – 8pm w/ Mikey Thunder, Psymbionic, TNERTLE
Grass For That Ass ft. Uptown Toodeloo String Band @ Cervantes’ Other Side Denver – 8pm w/ Drity River Ramblers, Mile High Express, Caribou Mountain Collective Brody Stevens @ Hi-Dive Denver – 8pm w/ Howard Kremer, Adam CaytonHolland Moosh & Twist: OCD @ Larimer Lounge Denver – 8pm w/ Jared Evan, BMBC, Jules
friday May 9th
Ying Yang Twins @ The Moxi Theater Greeley – 8pm
Treena B @ Cranford Cove Tea Tavern Greeley – 7pm Hip Hop Showcase @ 357 Greeley - 8pm w/ Live Hip Hop All Night
Bill Smith @ Road 34 Ft. Collins – 9pm w/ Red Room Rendezvous
O-Neb formally Octapus Nebula and Love & Light @ Hodi’s Half Note Ft. Collins – 8pm w/ Psymbionic Dead Floyd @ The Aggie Theater Ft. Collins – 7pm w/ Von Stomper, Electric Stair Child Steve Manshel @ Pourhouse Loveland – 9pm
You Me & Apollo @ Bluebird Theater Denver – 9pm w/ Desert Noises, Patrick Dethlefs Arise Music Festival @ Cervantes’ Masterpiece Ballroom Denver – 8pm
Astro @ Cervantes’ Other Side Denver – 8pm w/ Lost Optical
Zebroids @ Hi-Dive Denver – 9pm w/ Party Hard, Cobraconda, Jermain and the Sex Party
Dirty/ Clean Showcase @ Larimer Lounge Denver – 8pm w/ Bedrockk, Mosis, Snubluck, Dawn Safari, Lemon Future Feralux Album Release @ Summit Music Hall Denver – 7pm w/ Caramel Carmela, Live Like Glass, The Portrait, DeDoz 100 Shots @ The Gothic Theatre Englewood – 8pm w/ Sheer Thrill, Charlie Milo Trio, Rockin’ Pharoahs, Fujita Scale
saturday May 10th Antonio A. Lopez @ Cranford Cove Tea Tavern Greeley – 7pm Lil’ Moco and FTC Records @ Hodi’s Half Note Ft. Collins – 8pm
Halden Wofford and the Hi Beams @ Road 34 Ft. Collins – 9pm Bell Jar @ Pourhouse Loveland – 8:30pm
The Cave Singers @ Bluebird THeater Denver – 9pm w/ Blue Rider
Slayer @ The Fillmore Auditorium Denver – 7pm
Sound Remedy @ The Gothic Theatre Englewood – 9pm
sunday May 11th
Glitta Kings @ Bluebird Theater Denver – 7pm w/ The OUtsiders, Clutch Time, W1K1D, Big Grizz, Crxxk
monday May 12th Hodi’s Funk Jam: RADIOHEAD @ Hodi’s Half Note - 9pm
James Blunt @ The Ogden Theatre Denver – 8pm w/ Oh Honey Vinyl Mondays @ Hi-Dive Denver – 9pm w/ Tyler Breuer
tuesday May 13th The Stubby Shillelaghs @ Patrick’s Irish Pub Greeley - 9pm
Open Jazz Jam with Pourhouse Jazz Trio @ Pourhouse Loveland – 7:30pm
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart @ Larimer Lounge Denver – 8pm w/ Fear of Men, Ablebody
wednesday May 14th
Grieves @ The Ogden Theatre Denver – 9pm w/ Son Real, Fearce VIll
Afrolcicious @ Moxi Theater Greeley - 8pm w/ Low End Theory, Atomga
Whiskey Blanket @ Cervantes’ Other Side Denver – 8pm w/ Abstract Collective, Van-Ness, Folklorist, Fresh Breath Committee
Acid Mother Temple @ Hi-Dive Denver – 8:30pm w/ Tjutjuna, Perhaps
Arise Music Festival @ Cervantes’ Masterpiece Ballroom Denver – 8pm
Casey James Prestwood @ Hi-Dive Denver – 8:30pm w/ Andy Hamilton & The Whiskey Hitchers, High Plains Honky
Filthy T Album Release @ Larimer Lounge Denver – 8pm w/ Brodie Kinder, Potcheen, Moonlighter
Open Mic Night @ Patrick’s Irish Pub Greeley - 9pm
Frontier Ruckus @ Larimer Lounge Denver – 8pm Needtobreathe @ The Fillmore Auditorium Denver – 7pm
Iced Earth @ Summit Music Hall Denver – 6pm w/ Sabaton, Revamp, Blackguard, Moth
BandWagon Magazine northern colorado’s arts & entertainment magazine MAY 2014
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BandWagon Magazine northern colorado’s arts & entertainment magazine MAY 2014 Mogwai @ The Ogden Theatre Denver – 8pm w/ Majeure
Ash Ganley @ Pourhouse Loveland – 8pm
¡Mayday! @ Moxi Theater Greeley - 8pm w/ Stevie Stone, Flawless, Rabid
Blood Red Shoes @ Larimer Lounge Denver – 8pm
wednesday May 21st Riff Raff @ Bluebird Theater Denver – 9pm w/ Spencer Foreman Open Mic Night @ Patrick’s Irish Pub Greeley - 9pm
HAIM @ The Odgen Theatre Denver – 8pm w/ Tennis
The Wheeland Bros @ Cervantes’ Other Side Denver – 8pm ¡Mayday! w/ Stevie Stone, Flawless @The Moxi Theater on 5/21
Chiodos @ The Gothic Theatre Englewood – 6:30pm w/ Emarosa, Hands Like Houses, Our Last Night, 68
thursday May 15th Shoeless Joe @ Pourhouse Loveland – 8pm
Grass For That Ass ft. New Country Rehab @ Cervantes’ Other Side Denver – 8pm w/ Br’er Rabbit, Red Iron Push Charles Arthur @ Larimer Lounge Denver – 7:30pm w/ Joey Genetti, Lazer Wolf, Paul Edelman
Paganfest 2014 @ Summit Music Hall Denver – 6pm w/ Korpiklaani, turisas, VARG, Chthonic, Winterhymn
friday May 16th
Stumble Monkey @ Moxi Theater Greeley - 7pm
Tim Gauthier and John Johnson Jazz Duo @ Cranford Cove Tea Tavern Greeley – 7pm
Free Range Pickens and Lineage Music Project @ Hodi’s Half Note Ft. Collins – 8pm The Movement @ Bluebird Theater Denver – 9pm twenty one pilots @ The Ogden Theatre Denver – 8pm w/ NONONO, Hunter Hunted
The Chris Robinson Brotherhood @ Cervantes’ Masterpiece Ballroom Denver – 8pm
Roosevelt Collier’s Colorado Get Down @ Cervantes’ Other Side Denver – 8pm w/ Garret Sayers Trio Against the Grain @ Hi-Dive Denver – 9pm w/ Insomniaxe, Holley 750
Band of Skulls @ The Gothic Theatre Englewood – 9pm w/ SACCO
saturday May 17th Mars @ Moxi Theater Greeley - 7pm
The BiPolar Bear and Friends @ 357 Greeley - 8pm HOSS and New Creature @ Hodi’s Half Note Ft. Collins – 8pm
Escape Goats @ Pourhouse Loveland – 8:30pm
Cage the Elephant and Foals @ The Ogden Theatre Denver – 7:30pm w/ J Roddy Walston and the Business The Chris Robinson Brotherhood @ Cervantes’ Masterpiece Ballroom Denver – 8pm
Roosevelt Collier’s Colorado Get Down @ Cervantes’ Other Side Denver – 8pm w/ The Drunken Hearts Bud Bronson & The Good TImers and Kinky Fingers @ Hi-Dive Denver – 8:30pm w/ The Knew, Dirty Few
DevilDriver @ Summit Music Hall Denver – 5pm w/ Whitechapel, Carnifex, Revocation, Rivers of Nihil, Fit For An Autopsy
sunday May 18th
Murder Death Kill @ Moxi Theater Greeley - 8pm w/ Leaders, Reformers
Afton Showcase ft. End System, Image Of, Particle Apparitions, SLEEPWALKER, Tales of This Town, GATO GATO @ Cervantes’ Masterpiece Ballroom Denver – 6pm the Wild Wild Wets @ Hi-Dive Denver – 8:30pm w/ Milk Machine, postal holiday
monday May 19th Hodi’s Funk Jam: RADIOHEAD @ Hodi’s Half Note - 9pm
Potty Mouth and Perfect Pussy @ Hi-Dive Denver – 8pm w/ Colfax Speed Queen,
STU Larsen @ Larimer Lounge Denver – 8pm
tuesday May 20th Swollen Members @ The Aggie Theater Ft. Collins – 7pm w/ Madchild, Slain, EQ, Vicious Cycle The Stubby Shillelaghs @ Patrick’s Irish Pub Greeley - 9pm
Open Jazz Jam with Pourhouse Jazz Trio @ Pourhouse Loveland – 7:30pm
Little Green Cars @ Larimer Lounge Denver – 8pm
Missing Persons @ Summit Music Hall Denver – 7pm w/ Bow Wow WOW, Gene Loves Jezebel, DJ Paul Italiano EELS @ The Gothic Theatre Englewood – 8pm w/ Chelsea Wolfe
thursday May 22nd The Deed of Martyrs, Genocide Method, Dysorder, Earth Burnt Black @ Hodi’s Half Note Ft. Collins – 8pm
Jimmy Eat World @ The Aggie Theater Ft. Collins – 7pm
The Bronze @ Hi-Dive Denver – 8:30pm w/ Cougar Gold
friday May 23rd
Carolyn Lauttenbach and Joe Haines @ Cranford Cove Tea Tavern Greeley – 7pm Punch Drunk, Munky Funk @ Hodi’s Half Note Ft. Collins – 8pm The Absolute @ Pourhouse Loveland – 9pm
Hoodie Allen @ Bluebird Theater Denver – 7pm Pharoahe Monch @ Cervantes’ Masterpiece Ballroom Denver – 8pm
The Mother Hips @ Cervantes’ Other Side Denver – 8pm w/ Scott Law, The Robby Wicks Band Bonnie and the Beard @ Hi-Dive Denver – 8:30pm w/ Rossonian
No Fair Fights @ Summit Music Hall Denver – 7pm w/ Chasing Addiction, The Violet Showcase, The Fulfillment, Tonight We Rise
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BandWagon Magazine northern colorado’s arts & entertainment magazine MAY 2014
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BandWagon Magazine northern colorado’s arts & entertainment magazine MAY 2014
Juno What!? @ The Moxi Theater on 5/30 in Greeley
Saturday May 24th Trill Clinton @ 357 Greeley - 8pm
The Drive By Tour @ Hodi’s Half Note Ft. Collins – 7:30pm w/ BLAZE YA DEAD HOMIE, Anybody Killa
Pharoahe Monch @ The Aggie Theater w/ THC, Qbala & Dominic Deadbeat, Kind Dub, Main Course, Mossburg Pimpin’, More! Ft. Collins – 7pm Backline @ Pourhouse Loveland – 8:30pm
Metronomy @ Bluebird Theater Denver – 9pm w/ Twinsmith
Tory Lanez @ Cervantes’ Other Side Denver – 8pm w/ MDG, J-Krupt, Jack Flash Hudson Falcons @ Hi-Dive Denver – 8:30pm
Local H @ Larimer Lounge Denver – 8pm w/ Von Stomper
Kishi Bashi @ The Gothic Theatre Englewood – 9pm w/ Tall Tall Trees Sunday May 25th
The Denver Battle of the Bands Finals @ Cervantes’ Masterpiece Ballroom Denver – 3:30pm Robotic Pirate Monkey @ Cervantes’ Masterpiece Ballroom Denver – 8pm w/ Buku & Freddy Todd JUDGE @ Summit Music Hall Denver – 6:30pm w/ Cro-Mags, H2O, Make Way
Cashmere Cat and XXYYXX @ The Gothic Theatre Englewood – 9pm
sunday May 25th
Dillard & Mikey Fisher @ Cervantes’ Other Side Denver – 8pm w/ Shiba, B2B, el Jeffe, Yukona, Ether, Umble
tuesday May 27th The Stubby Shillelaghs @ Patrick’s Irish Pub Greeley - 9pm
Blueprint, Count Bass D, DJ Rare Groove @ Hodi’s Half Note
Ft. Collins – 8pm w/ Rooke5, Broken, Qbala, Thin Air Crew, Type One1, HNTR
Grasstafari For That Asstafari ft. Policulture & Sol Seed @ Cervantes’ Other Side Denver – 8pm
Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger @ Bluebird Theater Denver – 8pm w/ Syd Arthur
Buffalo Killers @ Larimer Lounge Denver – 8pm w/ Space In Time
Open Jazz Jam with Pourhouse Jazz Trio @ Pourhouse Pourhouse – 7:30pm
Early Man @ Hi-Dive Denver – 8:30pm w/ Speedwolf, Abrams
Margot & The Nuclear So And So’s @ Larimer Lounge Denver – 7pm w/ Jake Bellows, Kate Myers
wednesday May 28th Open Mic Night @ Patrick’s Irish Pub Greeley - 9pm
Structures and Counterparts @ The Aggie Theater w/ Betrayal, Villains Ft. Collins – 7pm
Blitzen Trapper @ Bluebird Theater Denver – 8pm w/ The Parkington Sisters MS MR @ The Ogden Theatre Denver – 8pm
JJ Evanoff @ Cervantes’ Other Side Denver – 8pm w/ Lucid Vision, Nick Vann
Mr Elevator and The Brain Hotel @ Hi-Dive Denver – 8:30pm w/ Sour Boy Bitter Girl, Pizza Time Pop Evil and Escape the Fate @ Summit Music Hall Denver – 6:30pm w/ Avatar, Glamour Of The Kill
Cher- D2K Tour @ The Pepsi Center Denver – 7:30pm
Thursday May 29th The Epilogues @ Moxi Theater Greeley - 8pm w/ Night Riots
Carleton Pride & Mighty Zion @ Hodi’s Half Note Ft. Collins – 8pm Taylor Radio @ Pourhouse Loveland – 8pm
Vetta Star @ Bluebird Theater Denver – 8pm w/ Foxfield Four, Anthony Ruptak
4H Royalty @ Hi-Dive Denver – 8:30pm
friday May 30th
Juno What?! @ The Moxi Theater Greeley – 8pm w/ Bill Smith, Electric Stair Child Dan Lovett with Bill Varn @ Cranford Cove Tea Tavern Greeley – 7pm
NIGHT RIOTS, The Epilogues, Post Paradise @ Hodi’s Half Note Ft. Collins – 8pm
Two Cow Garage @ The Aggie Theater w/ Chad Price, The Billy Goats, and Drunken Cuddle Ft. Collins – 7pm Sixgun Drifters @ Pourhouse Loveland – 9pm
Anders Osborne @ Bluebird Theater Denver – 9pm Fruition @ Cervantes’ Other Side Denver – 8pm
SXSW Cares Benefit Show @ Hi-Dive Denver – 7pm All That Remains @ The Fillmore Auditorium Denver – 7pm
Juan Gabriel @ The Pepsi Center Denver – 9pm
Potato Pirate and The A-Oks @ The Gothic Theatre Englewood – 8pm
saturday May 31st Ben Pu @ 357 Greeley - 8pm
Stumble Monkey @ Key Largo Greeley - 8pm
Hog MaGundy, Afternoon Moon @ Hodi’s Half Note Ft. Collins – 8pm Dust: Orbiter CD Release Party @ Road 34 Ft. Collins – 9pm w/ Accordion Crimes Jack Hadley @ Pourhouse Loveland – 8:30 pm
BandWagon Magazine northern colorado’s arts & entertainment magazine MAY 2014
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BandWagon Magazine northern colorado’s arts & entertainment magazine MAY 2014
GAMES
SUDOKU © 2013 Knight Features. Reprinted with permission of Universal Uclick. All rights reserved. WORD ROUNDUP by David L. Hoyt and Jeff Knurek © 2012 Reprinted with permission of Universal Uclick. All rights reserved. ROCK AND ROLL CROSSWORD © 2013 Todd Santos. Reprinted with Permission of UNIVERSAL UCLICK. All rights reserved.
BandWagon Magazine northern colorado’s arts & entertainment magazine MAY 2014
rock and roll crossword If I Leave Here Tomorrow by Todd Santos
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“Call Your Girlfriend” singer “Volatile” Metalcore band Quarterflash “___ Another Fool” Throwing Muses “Heel ___” Dixie Chicks spin-off “Court ___ Hounds” What pros play without Clark of Def Leppard Mogwai song about guitar helper? “Sweet Love” R&B singer Pre-Badfinger band name, with “The” Judas Priest “You’ve ___ Another Thing Comin’” Goes with John Mellencamp’s “Uh” Studios, at times ’82 experimental Neil Young album ’09 Sick Puppies album “___-Polar” ’96 King’s X album “___ Candy” “Peanuts” song “___ Lucy” Stevie Nicks “I ___ Wait” “Freedom” singer/rapper Jeff Healey “___ I Love You Too Much” What security does to fencehopper N.J. hardcore punk/rappers ___ Concrete Like old records Night Ranger “Love is Standing ___” U2 “___ Want is You” ___ the Radio Green Jelly “___ the Cowgod” ___ Inch Nails Who took the Ramones’ “Baby Away” Paternal Goldfinger song?
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PREVIOUS PUZZLE ANSWER
PUZZLE ANSWER
Across 1 What “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” is 5 Reunion rockers might show signs of this 10 Shins “We Built a ___ and We Floated” 14 Neil Young “___ in the Road” 15 Model for album cover 16 “Love Rollercoaster” The ___ Players 17 Queensryche song about explaining yourself? 18 Shock rocker Cooper 19 “Stand by Me” ___ King 20 “Freebird” band 23 Blink-182 “First ___” 24 “Here Come the Warm Jets” Brian 25 Van Gogh painting in Don McLean’s “Vincent” 31 It fills festival slot 34 Anja Garbarek “Stay ___” 35 ABBA “Voulez-___” 36 Carole King “So ___ Away” 37 Symphonic ’70s rockers, with “The” 38 Lady Gaga song about choppers? 40 Molten B-52’s song? 41 Longtime performer (Abbr.) 42 “Smoking Gun” bluesman Robert 43 American Idol Clay 44 Memorable time in music 45 Might get it on the tour plane 48 “Live From Mars” Harper 50 “O Brother, Where Art ___?” soundtrack 51 “Come on get higher, loosen my lips” singer 57 Goldfrapp song about a gorilla? 58 Living Colour “___ is Dead” 59 What one places at rocker auction 61 “Portrait (He ___)” by Kansas 62 Solo Judas Priest song? 63 “99 Red Balloons” band 64 “Freak on a Leash” band 65 Where roller skaters heard ’80s songs 66 Circa Survive “___ in the Wool” Down 1 “Sing the Sorrow” band 2 Brian McKnight is “Reaching for” his 3 Street team? 4 “Nobody” Metal/reggae band 5 “Having ___, everybody’s swinging” 6 America “Sister ___ Hair” 7 Goddess-inspired sludge band? 8 Part of a guitar 9 Elton John “___ Seal”
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© 2013 Universal Uclick www.upuzzles.com
If I Leave Here Tomorrow
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BandWagon Magazine northern colorado’s arts & entertainment magazine MAY 2014
BANDWAGON Pix
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