It’s a surreal combination: A guitar-wielding Kevin Bacon, a morning-long hike and a rock show atop Pikes Peak.
But there’s a lot more to Saturday afternoon’s concert on one of America’s most visited mountains. The Denver- based Love Hope Strength Foundation organized the Pikes Peak Rocks concert to raise awareness of its national bone- marrow drive. And the Bacon Brothers — Kevin and Michael, plus their backing band — are fully in support of the cause, even if it does involve hitting the trail at 5:30 a.m.
“We’re leaving at the crack of dawn on Saturday morning,” Kevin said last week. “And I think it’s something like 12 miles up? One thing about our involvement with the band is that we’ve been in a lot of unusual situations. But this was a first, and it was an opportunity we didn’t want to pass up.”
The Bacon Brothers will play a free miniconcert atop Pikes Peak at around 1 p.m. with the White Buffalo and Cy Curnin of the Fixx. All of the musicians will play the Hard Rock Cafe in Denver later that night.
We talked with Kevin and Michael about playing benefit shows, their relationship with Colorado and their pop- music career, which is finally starting to bloom.
Q: This isn’t the first time you two have performed a high-profile concert for a charity’s benefit. What do you guys get out of these shows?
Kevin: We love to play, and if we can play and there’s some kind of a charitable component to it, all the better.
Michael: And what’s really amazing about it is that people are so grateful. It’s also something we love to do. We’re not going overseas and helping build houses and living in a hammock for three weeks. This is easy for us, and I love having new experiences.
Q: This show in particular is pretty interesting.
MB: The idea of climbing Pikes Peak at 6 in the morning, playing on top and then going back to Denver seems like a risky thing to do. I’m sure promoters would rather we drove up instead of walking up. I guess there is a scenario that one of us won’t make it up there. But I think we’ll be fine, and it’ll be fun to walk up.
Q: Are either of you guys familiar with Colorado and the hiking terrain out here?
MB: I went to school in Denver, and our sister, Kira, went to Colorado College. I’ve never climbed Pikes Peak, and I don’t know if she did either. But I have done some research about the terrain, and 14,000 feet, that’s really up there.
KB: I know (Pikes Peak) by name, because it’s an iconic name. But if you asked me, I wouldn’t have even known it was in Colorado.
Q: You guys have been playing music together since you were children, but the band wasn’t started until 1994. Even though you’ve been playing for 15 years, it seems like the word about your band is only now starting to spread. Why is that?
MB: Our first couple CDs were on little independent record labels, and then we were on Rounder, which is a big independent label. And the last two or three we’ve put out ourselves.
On this one, we hired an ersatz recording label, Music Allies, and you hire them on a retainer basis. They provide publicity, radio promotion, career guidance and internet dynamics. We hired them to help us book this record, and we were able to get out a lot more and get the word out a lot more. The word is now out, and Kevin and I were never experts about it. We did a lot more viral kind of stuff. Now I’m hearing that we’re all over the place, which is great.
Q: Tell us about the two very different shows you’ll be playing in Colorado on Saturday.
KB: The first one, on the mountain, will only be two or three songs. And then we have a show that night in Denver — and that’s going to be the real challenge. After the climb and the first show, there’s a regular full gig, about 9 or 10 at night at the Hard Rock. It’ll be interesting to get up for that one.
Ricardo Baca: 303-954-1394 or rbaca@denverpost.com
THE BACON BROTHERS
Pop. Pikes Peak summit, Colorado Springs. Saturday. 1 p.m. Free.
Hard Rock Cafe, 500 16th St., Suite 120. Saturday. 8 p.m. $50 donation. .
