News

The Show(case) Must Go On!

Continued from page 7

NINA STOREY
NOMINATED IN SINGER/SONGWRITER
8 P.M., DAZZLE, WITH WENDY WOO
If local-music aficionados took bets on which area performer would be most likely to get signed by a major label, bluesy, evocative singer/songwriter Nina Storey would definitely be in the chips. Not that her current independence has prevented her from reaching national audiences through other mediums. "I had one of my songs, 'If I Were an Angel,' on the TV show Alias, and I had something in this really great film called The Broken Hearts Club [a 2000 release starring Dean Cain and John Mahoney]," Storey says. "And I've had music in some documentaries, a couple of films that went to cable, some stuff on the Lifetime channel. Obviously, getting stuff placed is awesome."

Touring beyond Colorado has kept Storey hopping as well: "In the past few months, I was on the West Coast for shows in L.A., went to the East Coast to places like New York, did some shows in the Midwest, and I'm doing some festivals, too." Between these dates, she'll try her best to wrap up a new album, her first since a self-titled offering issued in early 2002. She calls the new material "an evolution. It's still the essential me in terms of sound and energy and intensity that I put into my music, but it's probably more revealing in ways, and hopefully even more honest."

Clearly, Storey is taking a proactive approach to her career. "I've never waited around for, like, the magical hand from the sky. I've worked really hard to put out my music, because I feel like I have a musical purpose." Still, she adds, "It's always great to work with people who can take you to other avenues and other levels. I'm open to that in whatever form it comes." -- Roberts

SWITCHPIN
NOMINATED IN HARD ROCK
8 P.M., LA RUMBA
Switchpin's Chris Scott sums up his band's philosophy succinctly.

"We don't play for Satan, we don't play for politics; we play for us," he says. But the members of the hard-rocking Denver act find time to play for fans, too: Their live debut in December 2000 packed 400 people into the Bluebird Theater. A subsequent show the next year won the admiration of -- and a sponsorship from -- Airwalk Shoes.

It was an apt pairing: Good foot support is imperative for a Switchpin live show, where the six players do a lot of jumping, leaping and flailing around. Rooted in solid metal, the band is fond of mixing things up with a mishmash of influences for a result that ain't pretty. Switchpin makes music by "pouring every angry, pissed-off, stepped-on emotion" into its songs.

Last year, the group's self-recorded, self-released CD, Redemption, grabbed the attention of reps from Roadrunner Records; the deal fell through when the label decided it was looking for a softer, more radio-friendly sound. No matter. Switchpin has sold more than 5,000 copies of the disc since its release in July 2002 and landed tracks on KBPI's The Pit program; the band has also spurred a flurry of downloads through MP3.com.

"Everybody is set on going all the way," Scott says of his mates -- vocalist Jon Novak, drummer Pat Anderson, guitarist Tano Archuleta, bassist G-Off Frantz and guitarist Joe Oaks.

Switchpin recently revised Redemption for a 2.0 edition, polishing the rough home recording for a smoother sound, and is gathering tracks for an all-new CD. The band is planning moves into other markets, as well, with an East Coast tour tentatively planned for this summer. Switchpin's commitment to success is tempered with realism; Scott, for one, has a worst-case scenario laid out in his personal mantra: "Please God, do it, or I'm going to end up working in a gas station all my life." -- Soltero

OTIS TAYLOR
NOMINATED IN BLUES
9:30 P.M., ACOMA CENTER
The news just keeps getting better for Otis Taylor. In 2002, he was nominated for four W.C. Handy awards [the Grammys of the blues field] and took home the trophy for Best New Artist -- a designation that doesn't bother him in the slightest, even though he's been part of the Denver music scene for long enough to have played alongside guitar god Tommy Bolin, who died in 1976. The Handy prize, not to mention a pair of 2003 nominations for the brilliant long-player Respect the Dead, undoubtedly helped convince Telarc Records, a large presence among jazz and blues labels, to ink Taylor to a deal that kicks off this month with the appearance of his latest disc, Truth Is Not Fiction. But these glad tidings don't mean that the new CD, produced by Taylor regular Kenny Passarelli, is peppy and upbeat. "It's got the most depressing songs you're going to hear this year," he promises.

An exaggeration? Not as judged by "House of the Crosses," a composition set in St. Petersburg, Russia, that's "real twisted," Taylor acknowledges. "It's about a woman who gets raped, and years later, she takes her son to prison to show him what his father looks like. And the son becomes a prison guard to watch over his father and make sure that he never hurts anyone again. It's the deepest, darkest shit I've ever done."

As this tale demonstrates, Taylor is unafraid to take the blues to places it's never been before -- and thanks to his intelligence and intensity, more and more listeners are willing to follow him on his journey. For him, the traditional conflict between art and commerce isn't a fight at all. "I'm not that concerned about selling records," he says. "That's not me. But maybe by doing what I do, I'll help change the taste in some people and make them hear the blues in different ways." -- Roberts

TEMPA AND THE TANTRUMS
NOMINATED IN BLUES
Tempa Singer is no run-of-the-mill blues diva. That is, unless the blues in question contain a healthy dose of bluegrass. While this chanteuse possesses a set of pipes steeped in the blues, she's not about to be painted into any corners.

Raised by her grandparents until the age of five in a place she refers to as a "West Virginian holler," she garnered an appreciation for the banjo-based genre from her Uncle Harold, who toured with esteemed bluegrass troubadour Ralph Stanley. According to Singer, this time period was pivotal in her musical development.

"When you start with music other than rock or pop, it gives you more of an open mind," she says.

She also credits the time she spent growing up on a school bus in the Florida swamplands -- sans electricity, with her hippie parents -- listening to worn-out cassette tapes of Cat Stevens, Waylon Jennings and the Beatles for providing her with a profound appreciation of "an amazing plethora of anything musical."

After stints as a solo acoustic act and fronting an all-cop band called Night Beat, Singer formed Tempa and the Tantrums and hit the local blues circuit. Augmented by guitarist Joseph Barton, bassist/harp player Steve "Red" Wilcox and drummer Brian "Shmoopi-pie" McClure, the band has two albums under its belt: Its eponymous debut, from 2001, and last year's release, Fooya Live!. The latter was recorded at the Little Bear during a benefit for a friend who was stricken with cancer. According to the singer, the disc captured "everything, warts and all."

Armed with crisp bills from an unnamed private investor and bolstered by a potential knob twister in drum-virtuoso-turned-studio-impresario Kenny James, the band is in pre-production for its forthcoming album. The as-yet-titled disc will reveal Singer's love for reggae, psychobilly and zydeco-inflected Cajun music. Singer's also considering throwing some Bessie Smith covers into the mix. She seems excited and a bit unnerved all at once at the thought of being able to stretch her creative wings and break out of the mold.

"With this new album, everybody is going to freak. I'm hoping blues clubs will still hire me," says Singer. "I'm hoping it's not too big of a shock." -- Herrera

TINKER'S PUNISHMENT
NOMINATED IN POP
Mike Robinson of Tinker's Punishment is reasonably sure that his band will have a record deal soon. He just doesn't know with whom.

"There are a few labels that we've gotten past the point of 'Hey, what's up' with," he says. "They'll actually come to our shows and talk to our manager. He doesn't tell us much about it, though. He doesn't want us to get all freaky on stage and forget how to play."

If the members of Tinker's -- Robinson, bassist Jordan Rivas, drummer Adam Blake and guitarist Kenneth Harris -- did forget how to play, it wouldn't be for lack of practice. Five years after the band formed in Denver, its impossibly catchy guitar pop is as polished as a new set of silver. Since the October release of Zero Summer, its fourth full-length album, TP has been on the road non-stop, playing mostly to college crowds across the Southeast; the band has found a kinship in Georgia's Jump, Little Children, with whom it partners for tours, as well as a robust Southern following.

"Atlanta is our favorite. It's really a rock-and-roll town, and everyone there loves the music," says Robinson. "Denver audiences have seen us grow up; we started when we were really young. But when you're on the road, it's cool to present a finished product to audiences who've never seen us sloppy."

Or freaky. -- Bond

THE TONGUES
NOMINATED IN ROCK
5 P.M., SERENGETI
After spending 2002 in Germany fronting a frenetic multi-national five-piece by the name of Dumbell, former LaDonnas singer-guitarist Ross Kersten returned home to Denver and launched a new project: the Tongues. "I came back and picked the best players I knew," says Kersten of the lineup, something of a local supergroup with roots in the Mile High City's mid-'90s punk scene: Bassist Brad Stanton formerly manned the low end for the LaDonnas, and guitarist Bill Hood and drummer Tony Weissenberg are ex-Boss 302-ers.

Leading three different bands in three years is the latest chapter in a lifelong obsession for Kersten. "I've been playing in bands since I was fourteen," he says. "I can't seem to stop."

More Minneapolis than Seattle, the Tongues reveal a taste for intense guitar riffs and catchy pop structure -- but they don't have as much pop influence as the LaDonnas once claimed. Think of a muscular set of punk licks sheathed by a layer of fuzzy tastebuds, and you're heading in the right direction.

The band recently recorded a four-song demo, which it is shopping to various indie labels. After enjoying a seven-year run with the LaDonnas on Sub Pop affiliate Scooch Pooch, Kersten is optimistic that the Tongues will ink a recording deal soon. "I'd like to do it all over again," he says. "Somebody's going to pick us up." -- Peterson

VAUX
NOMINATED IN PUNK
Some rock bands act like they're punk. Some punk bands act like they're emo. Some emo bands act like they rock. Vaux, however, melts all three down into a gleaming, impenetrable alloy. "We've got six guys bringing in a million different influences," says bassist Ryder Robison, "so many that it would be hard to listen to one of our songs and be like, 'This is exactly where they're getting that from.'"

The formidable sextet of Robison, Greg Daniels, Quentin Smith, Joe McChan, Adam Tymn and Chris Sorensen hammers out massive slabs of texture, melody and power. Formed in 1997 under the name Eiffel, the group quickly shed its emo-pop training wheels and transformed itself into a roaring, gas-guzzling rock juggernaut. More than sheer muscle, though, Vaux wields a deft progressive complexity; its debut full-length, this year's There Must Be Some Way to Stop Them, is an ambitious disc full of heavy, intricate post-hardcore wedged somewhere between the Blood Brothers, Tool and Radiohead.

"We've got a lot of songs that aren't real heavy rock, things that are piano-based and more rhythmically based," Robison points out. "We wanted to make a recording with a lot of depth, the kind that grows on people. That's the type of music you get goose bumps from."

The group is signed to Volcom Entertainment, an indie label distributed by MCA/Universal, and is about to embark on its second consecutive Warped Tour this summer to inflict its brand of brainy aggression on thousands of sunburned kids across the country. "A live show will make it or break it for a band," says Robison of Vaux's vaunted stage performance, a gloriously nauseating assault of lights, noise and gut-pummeling concussion. That's a big part of what we do -- playing for people and feeding off that energy. If you see us on stage, usually we're just running around like chickens with our heads cut off." -- Heller

VOICES UNDERWATER
NOMINATED IN ECLECTIC
6:30 P.M., ACOMA CENTER
"When I first moved here, I saw an ad that said, 'Looking for a bass player with chops,'" says Ben DeVoss, singer and guitarist for Voices Underwater. "I don't really even know what chops are, but I probably don't have them."

A native of Lawrence, Kansas, DeVoss immigrated to Denver and started Vuja Dé in 2001 with bassist/keyboardist Chris White and drummer Bill Menchaca. With the recruitment of guitarist Mackenzie Howard, the group became simply VU, or Voices Underwater.

"Voices Underwater will be ever-evolving," Howard says, and that applies to much more than just the band's name. Though certainly no showoffs in the chops department, the members of VU flaunt a certain conceptual virtuosity. Their songs progress from tender indie rock to brittle textural abstraction, and DeVoss's vocals slip from the real to the surreal with the nerdy grace of Stephen Malkmus's. "It's not like I write a song and I'm like, this is exactly what I want to say, this is exactly how I feel," he explains. "I just take different phrases and ideas and kind of mix and match."

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
Next Page »