Pink Fuzz: The Family That Rocks Together Stays Together

Starting a band with your sibling can be pretty brutal. Just ask Chris and Rich Robinson, the brothers behind the Black Crowes, or Brit-pop bros Liam and Noel Gallagher of Oasis.

But John Demitro hasn’t had any second thoughts — let alone feuds — with his sister Lulu since he asked her to help him formally form the rock group Pink Fuzz in 2017.

“I twisted her arm to be the keyboardist in my high school band because she was so good,” explains the vocalist/guitarist, adding that they both grew up playing piano. “When we finally got to the teenage years, I started to appreciate that and thought it was cool. From there, I just told her I wanted her to help me start a band,. We write and work well together and can be honest with each other. We can be brutally honest with each other.”

He laughs thinking about just how “honest” they tend to be with each other sometimes, especially since their songwriting partnership has “evolved quite a bit” since those high school days back in Boulder.

“We’ll go off and come up with five songs each and bring them in,” John explains. “Sometimes nobody likes the songs, or we’ll build on it and it’ll take off.”

Pink Fuzz has taken off more than anything and is the perfect vehicle to showcase the Demitros' dual vocal attack, as both John and Lulu, who also plays bass, don’t mind grabbing the mic. Longtime family friend Forrest Raup mans the drums. The three went to grade school together, John notes.

“He was just in the Boulder music scene as a drummer, and I thought he was one of the best drummers around," he adds, "so I asked him to step in, and we all just worked really well together and have a good time going out on tour and writing."

After a 2018 debut, Speed Demon, the desert-rock trio has continued to released music via several singles and two EPs, including the latest, Fading Away, in 2022. The bandmates are big fans of genre giants such as Queens of the Stone Age and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, and in turn, Pink Fuzz created its own blend of psych-infused stoner rock, something that was unique to Boulder's local scene when the band formed.

“We all grew up going through high school listening to that genre of music, but where we grew up in Boulder, there wasn’t really a band that was doing that kind of sound," John recalls, adding that fellow Boulder group Rose Hill Drive came closest to embracing that biker-rock sound. "Even in Denver back in the day, there weren’t a lot of bands doing a lot of speed, heavy, tuned-down, fuzzed-out rock that has good vocals to it, too, that are melodic.”

Lulu’s pipes lend Pink Fuzz an added edge, more along the lines of early heavy metal — think occult rockers Coven, or just listen to the trio's recent single, “Decline.” That song, along with the latest  single,“Ain’t No Friend,” will be featured at the band's upcoming release show at the Bluebird Theater on Saturday, January 13. Ritmo Cascabel and Horse Bitch are also on the bill, and Mothpowder Light Show is providing the visuals.

“The show’s going to be a rip-roaring rock show,” John says. “We have a really good set in store that we’re really stoked about. It’s just nonstop, fast, fuzzed-out rock. It’s going to be a lot of energy.”

Beyond the two new tracks, which the band has played live before but recorded independently at the end of last year, Pink Fuzz is sitting on an album’s worth of fresh tunes that the trio cut while hanging out in Austin in February 2023. “Five of the songs we had completely locked in for a long time,” John explains. “The other five were just demos or a riff going into the studio. Those songs were really fun to work on in the studio because we were on the spot to figure out what they were going to be. I think those five are our favorites, to be honest.”

While there’s no timeline to drop an album or more singles from that batch, audiences might get a sneak peek at the unreleased material live and some extra jamming.

“It’s fun to be spontaneous sometimes and see what happens naturally and what everybody brings to the table in the moment,” John adds.

“For the most part, we don’t improvise a ton, but there are certain parts in the set that are completely open,” he continues. “Even when we’re practicing going through the set, we don’t even go through all of it because we don’t want to ruin the spontaneity of it in the live moment.”

As far as 2024 plans, Pink Fuzz is heading back down to Austin, fertile grounds for everything psych-rock, for a run of shows to be followed by more touring throughout the year, including two Western Slope stops.

“We’re trying to go pretty much everywhere and get out and play as much as possible,” John concludes.

Pink Fuzz, 8 p.m. Saturday, January 13, Bluebird Theater, 3317 East Colfax Avenue. Tickets are $20.