Murder Ranks is no more. The band, which gave the Denver music scene a unique, high-energy mixture of old school dancehall, hard dub and straight-up punk rock, told Reverb of their break-up over the weekend.
Reverb was already in talks with the band to interview them about their new record when the news came from drummer Nate Weaver: “It was a hard decision,” Weaver wrote in an email. “Ben (Williams, the Ranks bassman also of the long lost Ghost Buffalo) and Mike (Buckley, the guitarist who also plays in Nightshark) are like my brothers, and Scratch was somebody I always looked up to, and I am stoked that I finally got to work with him in this capacity.”
Added the band’s frontman and founder, Dan Wanush, A.K.A. King Scratchie of the recently reanimated Warlock Pinchers: “Yeah, Murder Ranks is officially done. Things just kind of spiraled out of control after the accident. It always seemed like one step forward, two steps back for us.”
Wanush was referring to a near-fatal car accident involving Buckley and Williams earlier this year when the two were driving to Aspen.
The loss of Murder Ranks might seem like a minor blow to Denver music, since they’d only been playing out regularly to moderate crowds for the past 18 months or so and had only released one album. But the band’s implosion spells the end to something great — a catalog of music that will be missed, regardless of its youth.
Murder Ranks was the only band in Colorado that had successfully created a working blend of dancehall, dub and punk rock and began to attract fans with its high energy, in-your-face live aesthetic, which was grounded well in Wanush’s seemingly endless supply of wry wit and sexy one-liners. Murder Ranks couldn’t help but remind me of the Clash — think “(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais” or “One More Time” or “Junco Partner.” Murder Ranks, though, brought a much more contemporary, hardcore punk feel to the mix — one that was exciting, provocative and resilient. Or so it seemed.
As far as the future, all of the members have multiple projects going on and plan to take some time to reorganize and focus. Wanush, for one, reportedly has projects in the works with Dressy Bessy singer Tammy Ealom — as well as something called Scenecrusher, which has been bantered about. These and the upcoming Warlock Pinchers “final reunion,” taking place at the Gothic Theatre on New Years’ Eve, would seem enough to keep him occupied for a bit.
“When we started this band,” said Williams, “we all made an agreement that the point of Murder Ranks was solely for us to have fun, and that as soon as anyone is not having fun anymore, it is time to stop it.”
In the name of a good time, we say goodbye to Murder Ranks.
Follow our news and updates on , our whereabouts on and everything else on . Or send us a telegram.
Billy Thieme is a Denver-based writer, an old-school punk and a huge follower of Denver’s vibrant local music scene. Follow Billy’s explorations at , and his giglist at .
