David Bash was unfamiliar with Denver’s thriving pop music community — until he met the right people and opened his ears.
“I wasn’t aware of the number of good pop bands in Denver,” said Bash, the founder of the International Pop Overthrow music festival, currently enjoying its first Colorado run. “Denver had never been on my short list.”
By Bash’s own admission, he’s never gotten much closer to Denver than the airport. But now he’s bringing his 12-year-old celebration of catchy melodies, gripping hooks and upbeat rhythms to the Mile High City. In three nights at City Hall — wrapping up tonight and Saturday — the festival will spotlight 20 acts, mostly from Denver, who are keeping pop alive.
International Pop Overthrow began in 1998 as a Los Angeles phenomenon. In 2001, it branched out to New York, then to Chicago in 2002. Since then, Bash — emboldened by the success of these efforts — has spread his pop gospel until it has truly become an international event. IPO’s 2010 cities include San Diego; Phoenix; Detroit; Chicago; Milwaukee; Liverpool, England (at the world famous Cavern Club, where the kind of pop that Bash reveres got its start); Los Angeles; Portland, Ore.; Seattle; Vancouver, British Columbia; Boston; New York; and Toronto. The last International Pop Overthrow of 2010 is right here in Denver — thanks to Doug Bohm.
Bohm is the talent buyer for South of Colfax Nightlife District, which owns and operates City Hall, as well as 2 a.m., Bar Standard, the Church, Funky Buddha, the Living Room, Milk, Mo’s and Vinyl. He stumbled across an article about International Pop Overthrow online, immediately caught the reference to ’90s power pop band Material Issue (“International Pop Overthrow” was the band’s debut album) and, upon reading more, became convinced Denver was the right place for an IPO.
“When I approached David Bash, his first question was, ‘Are there pop bands there?’,” Bohm says. “I immediately sent over a 100-band list of local acts I felt fit the moniker of pop.”
As Bash continued to speak with Bohm and listened to the acts he recommended, he slowly became convinced that it was worth a try.
“Most of the time, talent buyers don’t have an opinion,” says Bash with a chuckle. “But Doug is just absolutely 100 percent confident that this is going to be a big success.”
Even with every band fitting under the broad pop umbrella, the lineup is remarkably diverse and includes acts such as b. sous, Girls Walk By, Cody Crump, Melissa Ivey, Fingers of the Sun, Jim McTurnan and the Kids that Killed the Man, the Don’ts and Be Carefuls, Danielle Ate the Sandwich, the Kissing Party and Dressy Bessy, whom Bash refers to as the “crown jewel” of the festival.
While that might seem like a diverse lineup, Bash sees more similarities than differences.
“The commonality is that sense of melodicism,” Bash said. “To me, ‘pop’ means melodic rock ‘n’ roll.”
And now we’ll see if Denver agrees with Bash.
Eryc Eyl is a columnist at Reverb, The Denver Post’s music website: .
INTERNATIONAL POP OVERTHROW.
Music festival. City Hall, 1144 Broadway, with Dressy Bessy, Jim McTurnan & the Kids That Killed the Man, Joshua Novak, Melissa Ivey and others. Today-Saturday. 7:30 p.m. $5-$10.
