Before Bright Channel took to the stage at Sunday night’s fifth annual Denver Post Best Underground Bands Showcase, bassist Shannon Stein took off her shoes in favor of boots with a heely lift. And when her band kicked into its set via the bold drone of “Final Stretch,” the audience of more than 300 stood in awe.
The band’s intense glare leaves an impression, from the underage Radio 1190 kids in the balcony to the countless bands throughout the audience – including The Omens, The Symptoms, Porlolo, D. Biddle and Matson Jones, the winner in this year’s poll.
Overheard in the pit in those first few minutes of Bright Channel: Born in the Flood bassist Joseph Pope III shouting, “That’s the coolest bass sound ever.”
A few seconds later, Matt Fecher, the man behind the annual South Park Music Festival in the Colorado mountains, asked, “Are these guys from here?” When confirmed that, yes, Bright Channel is from here, he said, “Wow, I’ve been hanging around the wrong places.”
The concert is part of an annual celebration of local music, and it’s an example of the blooming and booming music scene fostered in Colorado. When The Post first started its annual survey of the local music scene, Denver’s popsphere was landscaped quite differently. A limited number of bands played limited venues with limited attention and coverage to limited success.
When The Post threw its first top-10 live showcase four years ago, promoters warned that an all-locals bill wasn’t going to sell or draw. The result: Some of the bands on the bill, including video game rock band Mr. Pacman, made more money than ever before because nearly 300 people came to show support.
“There are new kids every year going to see shows, and they’re getting excited because everything’s new to them,” said Jim Compton, who plays the Commodore 64 for Mr. Pacman as the superhero Silver Ghost. “And it’s that constant influx of new blood that keeps the scene fresh.”
The sea change was underway, and it has since created a potent tidal wave. Denver was already known for its powerful gothic folk and God- fearing country via 16 Horsepower and Slim Cessna’s Auto Club and its bright indie rock à la The Apples in Stereo and Dressy Bessy. But suddenly the Mile High City changed. Bands signed with respected labels, and others toured relentlessly. Denver became known for the sharp-edged hard-core of Planes Mistaken for Stars and the lush, genre-bending orchestral pop of bands as varied as DeVotchKa and Matson Jones.
Matson Jones stole this year’s survey, but the Fort Collins quartet shares something with each of the past four winners. It matches DeVotchKa’s orchestral bombast and Dressy Bessy’s accessibility but at the same time equals 16 Horsepower’s forceful, plaintive delivery and Planes Mistaken for Stars’ intense, torn-from-the-diary lyricism.
As these and other musicians have grown and matured and evolved, so has the scene. The 15th St. Tavern, Herman’s Hideaway, the Cricket on the Hill and the Lion’s Lair are still around, but the boom came in the past three years when the Larimer Lounge opened – followed by the Hi-Dive, Bender’s Tavern, the Walnut Room and others.
More bands. More diversity. More venues. And more support. And it was all evident at the Bluebird show, which went from the candied pop stylings of Hot IQs to the distorted neo-psych landscapes of Bright Channel to the dark, afflicted folk of Woven Hand. Matt and Allison Labarge own one of the hottest clubs in town with the Hi-Dive, and even their two toddler sons were feeling the undeniable music.
But the show opened with Born in the Flood singer Nathaniel Rateliff taking on the band’s unreleased “Cut It Off” solo while bent over an organ. The band placed No. 6 this year after coming in at No. 132 last year, and listening to Rateliff, it’s no wonder.
Pop music critic Ricardo Baca can be reached at 303-820-1394 or rbaca@denverpost.com.
The Denver sound
Winners of The Denver Post’s annual survey of local music, including Planes Mistaken for Stars, above, in 2003, are proof of the state’s deep and varied talent pool:
2005 | Matson Jones
Fort Collins quartet’s tuneful punk rock features intense songwriting and a unique lead instrument: the cello.
2004 | Dressy Bessy
Call it shiny, happy, bright – or all three. But Tammy Ealom’s indie rock is more than big smiles and vintage fashions.
2003 | Planes
Mistaken for Stars
It sounds violent, but Planes’ music is all about the collective understanding of individual experiences: love, pain, hardship. And hard-core rock ‘n’ roll.
2002 | DeVotchKa
Gypsy-flavored pop never tasted so good. Just add accordion, sousaphone and an epic soul, and the music will break you.
2001 |
16 Horsepower
David Eugene Edwards battles demons in his gothic folk music.
