addressed the crowd rather coyly on Thursday night: “The good thing is that now we know this piece.”
Watt was referring to “Hyphenated-man,” a 45 minute grab bag of short, jerky tunes strung together under a theme that combines the artist Heironymous Bosch with the film “The Wizard of Oz.” His quip referred to the fact that the trio — Watt, guitarist Tom Watson and drummer Raul Morales — was touring the opera for the fourth time, and this was the second time that the group had played it in Denver.
“Hyphenated-man” bolted off the Larimer stage through a mid-sized crowd with its thumping, asynchronous bass lines, jangling guitar and free jazz rhythms — and everyone in the room stood mesmerized. More like a drawn-out shotgun blast than a setlist, the opera reached back to the music of Wattap breakout band, Minutemen, famous during the early-‘80s as part of the endlessly touring DIY/Black Flag scene.
Watt and his backing musicians proved that they know the whole piece well, almost in muscle memory. Off-kilter breaks and starts, rhythms that seemed to make no sense and Wattap guttural, meandering voice formed a unique, brilliant whole.
Japanese band Lite opened the show with a 30 minute set of brilliant prog-math rock that quickly roused a small crowd. Watt chose the band to join the tour from a small scene he’s promoting in Japan, and this is its fourth U.S. tour alongside Watt’s trio.
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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 .
Michael McGrath is a Denver area photographer. His work is available at . Visit .
