This is the first in a series of previews showcasing bands you can catch at the 2016 Underground Music Showcase, presented by The Denver Post Community Foundation. We’ll be running one a week until this year’s UMS, which takes place on South Broadway on July 28-31.
During the last few weeks of their sophomore year in college, bassist Josh Kaplan and guitarist/vocalist Adam Dankowski were glued to their phones, texting and e-mailing each other constantly.
The guys, who are members of up-and-coming local psychedelic and shoegaze band The Baltic, had big plans for this summer, like embarking on their first-ever tour in California and cutting a new EP. Technology helped close the 1,000-mile gap between Kaplan’s Fort Collins home and Dankowski, who moved to Los Angeles, when they needed to share demos.
Now, on the heels of a record deal with Misra Records — a label that represents other Denver bands like Land Lines and deCollage — The Baltic is starting to delve into the dreaded business side of music. With four shows under its belt already, the band has booked itself a mini-tour this month in California, where it will play Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego.
A week before that, the band kicked its summer off with a few shows in the Denver area, including one at Red Rocks last Monday for the popular Film on the Rocks series.
The band members’ eyes lit up when talking about their summer plans. It did sound idyllic: a few weeks at home playing for familiar crowds (there were even The Baltic groupies at their Red Rocks show), chugging root beer and scarfing down Chipotle burritos before shows (a must); running through parking lots before a rehearsal yelling and pumping their fists as they pretend to be the crowd at their next show; and their first tour in sunny California right around the corner. Those semesters spent trolling through rejection e-mails for show bookings and sending each other clips of songs and snippets of lyrics through their iPhones were worth it.
“At this point, itap all our work. We sent the e-mails and made the phone calls scheduling these shows,” Dankowski said. “Getting signed, releasing our latest EP, putting together this small tour — itap the first time we’ve put together a project like this as adults. That makes it really cool.”
In the age of homemade juices, Etsy crafting and general creativity explosions, it almost seems that if you didn’t do it yourself, itap not legitimate.
This logic applies to bands, too. For The Baltic, it’s to success. The band released its first EP in two years, “Archipelago,” on June 20.
Kaplan, Dankowski, drummer/vocalist Graham Epstein and guitarist/vocalist Ari Kononov piled onto the couch in their dressing room at Red Rocks after the show, excitedly analyzing the crowd’s response. It wasn’t such a long time ago that the guys were on the other side of the curtain.
“My first show was Green Day at Fiddler’s Green,” Dankowski said, shaking his head a little sheepishly. “I cried, too, during ‘21 Guns.’ ”
This confession was met with chuckles and elbow jabs, but the rest of the band all cite Green Day as an influence. Other bands they draw inspiration from include Sigur Ros, Tame Impala and Explosions in the Sky. The Baltic’s music is boosted in equal parts by wistful vocals and assertive guitar riffs that pop, full of the kind of bravado that goes with the territory of being a twenty-something.
Even though The Baltic is young — its members got together in 2010 as high school freshmen — it is no stranger to change. Kononov has only been playing with the band for about a month, replacing a member who left the band last year after a dispute over commitment to the project.
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After The Baltic’s West Coast jaunt, it will return to Colorado for its fourth performance at the Underground Music Showcase.
“The UMS is the most supportive festival of local bands,” Epstein said. “Our first year, we were asked to play Moe’s BBQ. I swear, the only people who came were our parents and five of our friends. But the next year, they called and asked if we wanted to play again.”
Running a band (and running it well) with thousands of miles between its members is nothing short of a challenge that would intimidate most musicians. But if there’s one thing that most people have no shortage of, itap idealism. And itap clear that The Baltic is learning that while long distance relationships are hard, the payoff can be something special with the help of some grit, patience and FaceTime.
Catch The Baltic’s set at the UMS. Buy tickets at .
