Outlook’s bright for Bad Weather California|
A man slept through the Iraq war. He was happy with the timing of his extended slumber, even though there’s smoke in the sky when he wakes up – and everyone’s gone.
That’s the gist of a song that Chris Adolf recently wrote. And the sweet- spirited 29-year-old Denver musician, who performs under the name Bad Weather California, is trying to nail it down as either a love song or a political rant.
“Everyone is worried about the direction the country is headed in, and so am I,” said Adolf, sitting in a booth at City, O’ City clasping his hands around a miniature glass of Pabst Blue Ribbon. “I guess the song is political, but it’s also about love.”
Adolf is a singer-songwriter who would rather play a loud bar than a quiet coffee shop. He likes naming things, which is why he’s known locally as Bad Weather California, but outside of Colorado he’s better known as the Love Letter Band, a moniker he used to play under and still occasionally releases records as.
“I’ve always been shy and awkward,” said Adolf, who brings his Bad Weather California to the Hi-Dive tonight. “I don’t know why I keep doing it.”
Adolf plays a lot around town, and any given show might be an impassioned solo outing or a collaboration involving other musicians, friends of
Adolf’s such as Joe Sampson, Roger Green or Nathaniel Rateliff. Sometimes he plays early and to an almost empty room. Other times he plays to a packed bar, with fans sitting down on grimy rock-club floors to take it all in.
But no matter the size of the crowd, Adolf always creates an intense connection with his audience.
“Chris is a pretty insane dude, in a good way,” said Matt Labarge, owner of the Hi-Dive. “That guy’s got more energy and passion for what he’s doing than probably anyone else in the scene.”
It’s not uncommon for Adolf to play twice or three times in a week. He dreams of a day when he can play in a band with Sampson and Rateliff, “playing each other’s songs, like the Beatles,” he said. But now there’s just no time.
“A lot of my songs are about death,” he said. “My mom hates that, although they’re not always about death in a bad, macabre way. They’re about the afterlife too – or they’re weird life-is- death stuff, the kind of thing you talk about with your friends all night.”
Adolf grew up in Grand Junction, eventually playing in punk and indie bands in high school. He was inspired by indie heroes such as Sebadoh and Sonic Youth “because I realized they weren’t rock stars. The were just normal dudes.” But outside of playing music with his friends, it took Adolf a while to fully realize his own potential.
“I never had the idea I could be my own entity, that I could do my own thing,” he said.
But after a move to San Diego that acquainted him with Gabe Saucedo of Red Pony Clock, Adolf quickly learned from that collective of musicians that he could be his own entity.
Adolf did a few do-it-yourself releases, before releasing his most recent full-length CD, “Fear Not My Brothers, Fear Not My Sisters,” on Happy Happy Birthday to Me, a popular indie pop label out of Athens, Ga.
“That’s the only one I’m proud of,” Adolf said quietly of his last release. “I guess it just takes you a while to know where your voice is. And it wasn’t until this last record that I knew where my voice was.”
Adolf has been making music in Denver for four years, and the evolution of his music, his voice has been something followers can actually document.
“People started noticing my lyrics when I stopped writing about myself,” Adolf said. “When I wrote about others – instead of saying, ‘I climbed the mountain,’ maybe I’ll ask, ‘Did you climb the mountain?’ – people were more responsive.”
But while Adolf is respected in Denver’s insular indie rock scene, he’s not one to limit himself.
“It’s easy to exist in this indie scene and preach to the choir, but if you could turn another crowd of people who aren’t used to weird stuff on to your music, then that’s even better.
“I hate esoteric pretentiousness. I don’t just want to make music for hipsters. I want moms to like my music, too.”
Pop music critic Ricardo Baca can be reached at 303-954-1394 or rbaca@denverpost.com.
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Bad Weather California
INDIE POP|Hi-Dive, 7 S. Broadway; 9 tonight with the Breezy Porticos, Action
Packed Thrill Ride and DJ Big Al |$6|More: hi-dive.com,
