The Photo Atlas Hello Hospital EP
Jed Murphy BandWagon Magazine
Colorado dance punk legends The Photo Atlas make a surprising and promising return to the scene with their latest EP, Hello Hospital. This four-track release is a major departure from the blistering slam dance guitar driven punk national audiences were drawn to with their 2007 debut release, No, Not Me, Never. What we have now is contemplative, more heartfelt, but still has that edge fans remember.
It’s been a long time since that 2007 album when a young group of miscreant emo punks, led by frontman Alan Andrews Jr., were playing every venue they could. The intensity and the ‘never play the room’ mentality got mixed reactions over time but it was undeniably fun.
The band eventually split in 2015 and Andrews would then form False Report, a move that would be cathartic for Andrews. False Report saw Andrews exploring less technical song writing, giving up the speed of The Photo Atlas for something more refined but still very emo. During this time, Andrews got sober and took up physical
fitness and this maturity shined through on each False Report release.
False Report called it quits in 2023, but Andrews is not one to stop. Armed with a lifetime of musical knowledge Andrews revived The Photo Atlas (albeit with a different lineup), and delivered Hello Hospital. Gone is the ear crushing Photo Atlas of yore and in it’s place is a band that doesn’t feel jaded or contrived. Lead single “Just Keep Moving On” shows Andrews learned all the right lessons from his time in False Report and title track “Hello Hospital” is just an incredible song. The guitar riffs are thoughtful and locked in and Andrews' voice still has the lament the Denver scene rallied around in the 2000s.
What’s worth noting is the ironic power a name has on a band. When The Photo Atlas originally split in 2015, Andrews originally was going to carry on with the name but the attitude in the Denver scene towards this was not positive at the time. The Photo Atlas Facebook page(when that was the primary place to see what was happening with a local band) was rife with discontent at this decision and Andrews found himself stuck between pride and souring public opinion. Once he formed False Report, this animosity faded and the internet quickly moved on. Fast forward to 2024 and Andrews bringing back the Photo Atlas name feels like a full circle moment that is neither an attention grab or a stubborn hold on nostalgia. It’s just a guy trying to rock and we’re here for it.
Laughing off the chaos with comics Stephen Taylor and Lou Pharis
BY ZACHARY VISCONTI
For most of us, it’s not hard to remember what it was like sitting in the back of a classroom for all those years of grade school. For comics Stephen Taylor and Lou Pharis, as former teachers it’s even easier, and they’ve got plenty of absurd material to share about the experience.
Teaching is a throughline in the stand up routines of Taylor and Pharis, who tour as The Unteachables. It isn’t a comedy show designed specifically for teachers, but rather for anyone who has gone to school or who has a job, highlighting the universal experiences of what it was like to be in classrooms back in the day.
“We have a lot of teacher material, but we’re comedians,” Pharis says. “We consider ourselves comics before teachers.”
“Everyone's been around, everyone went to school, everyone remembers those kids in their class, or those teachers in their class,” he adds. “All the comedy is relatable to everybody. Everyone's had those exact same stories and exact same feelings.”
In addition to being comics, Pharis is currently a teacher, while Taylor left the profession after being fired for posting his jokes on TikTok. For those who aren’t teachers, however, Taylor goes on to say that any person with a job will be able to relate to the group’s jokes, especially if they don’t necessarily love going to work every day.
“I mean, we don't like our jobs,” Taylor says with a laugh. “That's pretty relatable to most people.”
Pharis points out that he does, however, enjoy teaching because it’s different from a regular, “boring” desk job, even if it can be a little bit crazy at times.
“It's chaotic, but I kind of thrive in that chaos,” he says.
The two say they began doing comedy as The Unteachables “on accident” following Taylor’s firing incident, and they kicked it into high gear when Pharis was “soft fired” from another comedy group called Bored Teachers. Since then, they’ve been featured on NBC, The Breakfast Club, The New York Post, and in the Roast Battle League, to name a few appearances. They also recently filmed a comedy special in Denver that’s slated for release next year.
“I don’t really know how it works,” Taylor says of the joke-writing process. “For me, it's always been writing at a mic, taking an idea of, ‘Hey, this is what I think is funny,’ thinking of, ‘What is funny about it,’ and then going on stage and trying to figure it out,” Taylor explains. “I can’t really explain the science behind it, but it’s just being aware and being open to what’s funny.”
“And I think, ultimately, it’s about not taking it too seriously,” he adds.
Pharis likens comedy to a haunted house, noting that it’s one of the few outlets in which
people gather to either experience emotions or take a break from emotions. In either case, Taylor says that comedy is probably “more natural” than it is “important,” though The Unteachables routine is something that seems to offer a unique release.
“When I'm sitting watching Lou do really well at a show, and I'm watching the crowd, the laughs aren't like a normal comedy crowd laugh,” he says. “It seems cathartic. It seems like people are releasing things. So it's been pretty rewarding to go through.”
One instance that came to mind for the pair was a show at The Rialto in Casper, Wyoming, during which a heckler kept talking over Pharis for much of the set. “You just got to keep making jokes, being like, ‘I see why you're sitting alone, you couldn't find any friends to be here, and that's okay, one day you'll get there,’” recalls Pharis.
He says that the crowd quickly turned on the heckler as he kept his cool on stage. Soon thereafter, security came and escorted the heckler out, eliciting an enthusiastic applause from the audience and one final quip from Pharis:
“I made a joke, I was like, ‘I can't believe that I can't even get admin to take a child out of my classroom, but the workers here at this theater got rid of the problem immediately. That's the education system.’”
Pharis adds that it’s taken time to sharpen his skillset for managing hecklers, and that classroom management definitely helps.
“If you attack an audience member too vi olently or too quickly, the audience will turn against you,” Pharis says. “You just gotta realize that the audience is on your side, and they're expecting you to take care of the problem, and so you just kind of go with it, and you have to shut them down.”
“At The Rialto, it was a beautiful kind of mas ter class,” Taylor adds.
So long as they don’t heckle, audience members can expect a unique evening of comedy at one of The Unteachables’ events. First, the two put on a traditional stand-up rou tine for about an hour or a little longer, before opening up the floor to the audience for a live Q&A session—which Taylor says often results in some of the funniest stories of the eve ning.
The two also say that, unlike some teaching-focused routines, The Un teachables is a grittier, more-adultlike routine that even errs on the side of be ing a little raunchy.
“I don't want to call us bad teachers, because I think all of us are actually really good teachers, but I think we're just, we're definitely explicit,” he adds. “I think we just try and have as much fun as we can possibly have. We don't care about the optics of it.”
Catch The Unteachables at The Comedy Fort in Fort Collins on November 13, and at The Moxi Theater on November 30.
You can still hear the echo of boots on boardwalks, but now they’re headed downtown for happy hour.
Today in Cheyenne, murals pop, cocktails clink, and makers turn grit into something downright gorgeous.
STAY AWHILE. WE CLEAN UP NICE.
Royce
Lead Singers of Rock
fect fusion of rap and R&B.
Later, Picasso shifts gears with “BEYBLADE,” a softer R&B-inspired track that highlights his versatility. Many rappers struggle to create depth within the genre, but Picasso executes it effortlessly. On standout songs like “PINTEREST” and “RUMORS” (featuring Dominique Christina), his delivery feels deliberate and precise. Every word carries meaning, and the clarity of his enunciation gives weight to his storytelling and amplifies the emotional impact of his lyr-
DNA PICASSO ALBUM REVIEW “IF NOT ME, THEN WHO?"
As a songwriter, artist, and co-founder of the Colorado Music Industry Alliance, DNA Picasso truly embodies “the calm within the storm.” His lyrics are grounded and vulnerable, while his production choices are energetic and intentional. This combination sets him apart and elevates Colorado’s growing music culture.
Beyond the studio, Picasso continues to strengthen that culture through tangible action. As a co-founder of the Colorado Music Industry Alliance (CMIA), he has become a leading advocate for Colorado’s creative community, working to connect, educate, and empower artists across the state. His leadership and advocacy were recently recognized when he received the Metropolitan State University of Denver New Wave Leadership Award for his impact on arts and culture. In addition, the City of Denver honored him with an official proclamation declaring a Music Advocacy Day, recognizing his work in building unity and infrastructure within the local music ecosystem.
Through these initiatives, Picasso proves that his purpose extends well beyond his own success. His efforts to cultivate opportunity and representation for others mirror the very themes of IF NOT ME, THEN WHO? The record asks artists everywhere to take ownership of their potential and responsibility within their communities. In that sense, the album’s title becomes both a personal mantra and a call to action.
As DNA Picasso continues to evolve, his influence grows not just as an artist but as a visionary shaping the next era of Colorado music. With IF NOT ME, THEN WHO? isn’t just another record. It’s a reflection of DNA Picasso’s growth as an artist and a leader, and a statement about what it means to build something real in your own backyard.
PHOTO: KEESE FROM OTV PRODUCTIONS
PHOTO: VALERIE CHRISTINE ROWE
