have broken up after 20 years of playing together.
The band, known for its extensive charity concerts and countless sold-out shows at Herman’s Hideaway and other area venues, is no more, frontman Jake Schroeder told Reverb on Saturday.
Reverb founder Ricardo Baca’s full interview with Schroeder:
Ricardo Baca: Dude, the end of Opie Gone Bad? After 20 years, what brought this on?
Jake Schroeder: It’s been something I’ve been thinking about for a few years. I’m definitely in a different place at this point than the other guys in terms of playing music as a career, and it’s not really fair to them to cater to my unavailability, no matter how much fun we have playing together. Here’s the example I use to explain it a little better — I had the opportunity to travel to England and Normandy with some WWII vets over D-Day last year and sing the anthem at a bunch of ceremonies honoring them (like the flag-lowering at Omaha Beach). It’s something that I wouldn’t miss, but at the same time, I put those guys out of work in the busy season for three weeks. And I see more opportunities for myself like that arising in the future. They were really cool and flexible about it, but it’s just not fair in the long-term.
Baca: You guys have had some incredibly busy years — and some less crazy years. When do you think was the band’s craziest, busiest year?
Schroeder: I don’t know — I think 1997-2000 were pretty zany. Any of those years were probably our busiest, and that’s the time we were actually hearing from labels, etc.
Baca: A lot of has changed in Denver’s music community in the last 20 years. Would the Jake of 1993 even recognize Denver now, with the addition of countless more rock clubs and a plethora of bands on respected major and indie labels?
Schroeder: 1993 Jake would have moved here from somewhere else just to be in the thick of things. The scene here is unreal right now. So many unbelievably talented people. But something that I think has stayed the same from the time I started playing professionally in Denver in 1987 (!!!) is that the bands are for the most part really, really kind and helpful to each other. It’s a very collaborative environment. We should be really proud of that.
Baca: What are you going to miss the most about Opie Gone Bad, specifically?
Schroeder: Being with the guys in the band onstage. They are so freaking good that it honestly blew me away every single time I stepped onstage with them.
Baca: I always got the impression that you guys always took pride in being a local band, as in, “We’re from Denver, we’ll play almost all of our gigs in Denver, and we’re OK with that.” Can you talk about that a little.
Schroeder: Well, we’re very proud to be from Denver — to be ingrained in people’s memories as being part of the early days of LoDo, and things like the Avalanche victory parties we got to play. But, we traveled as much as we could. I think we would have preferred to be on the road more when it was an option for us, and we always did well, but it’s a very difficult thing to pull off. That’s why I’m so in awe of bands like (Big Head Todd & the Monsters) and Danielle Ate the Sandwich, etc., who bust their asses for years so they can have a solid base elsewhere. But, yes. We are Denver guys, and we’re very proud of our city and its people.
Baca: You guys also took a tremendous amount of pride in the charity work you took park in over the years, most recently with the holiday CDs. Why was that always important for you?
Schroeder: Musicians don’t have a lot of money to throw at people that need some help, but if they can use their talent to help, they’re almost all willing to go through hell and high water to do so. That’s what we did. Shjon Podein instilled that in me back in the day without even trying — just by being who he was, and I foisted it on all the guys in the band over the years, and they were all great about it and just as proud of it as I am. I hope people remember us for that as much as the music.
The Christmas CDs were so much fun, and we raised a lot of money. The collaborations we were able to do were some of my greatest memories in the band. 9News and King Soopers were wonderful in doing all they did these first two years. We are going to continue these in some form, and try to really take it to the next level in terms of raising money for hungry people here in Colorado. Stay tuned …
Baca: Can you catch us up on your other big endeavors over the years, past and present — from Brendan’s Pub to the coffee roasting to the Mountain to …
Schroeder: I’ve always had a bunch of jobs — I was lucky enough to bartend at some great places back in the early days of Opie, and I always had a bunch of other side gigs going. I had a coffee company, tried my hand in a few other ventures, but I’ve been at the Denver Police Activities League since 1999 now, since 2005 working full-time. We provide athletic leagues and other opportunities for mostly inner-city kids here in Denver. I love it, and I’m driven to do more for these kids like I once was for playing music. These kids are all wonderful, and unless we help them along, many won’t have a chance. The minority graduation rate in DPS is around 30 percent. Can you even conceive of how bad that is? And these kids are like anyone else in the world. Bright, happy, wonderful smart kids that need some positive activities to participate in. PAL helps do that, and I want to be there and grow our programs for a long, long time.
Baca: With every other band that breaks up, it’s consistently fair to assume that there will be a reunion of some sort 1-5 years down the line. Have you thought about that? Are you ready to say that, “Yeah, that’ll probably happen.” Or that it definitely won’t happen?
Schroeder: I would tend to doubt it. Part of me would have liked to do a big farewell show, but I’m actually very glad we ended things the way we did. I think the band has a place in our memories and it’s a good place. I’d be surprised if we played any kind of a reunion show, but I’d be equally surprised if in whole or part you didn’t see us working together on different projects over the years. I’ll say it again, the guys in my band are the most talented and best guys I’ve ever met. I’d have been lucky to have been able to sit in with them once, let alone be partners with such talented and wonderful people.
Follow our news and updates on and our relationship status on Or send us a telegram.
Ricardo Baca is the founder and executive editor of , the co-founder of and an award-winning critic and editor at The Denver Post.
