Meet the Denver Indie Pop-Punkers of Oh, Drifter

The seeds of what eventually blossomed into Denver indie pop-punk band Oh, Drifter were sowed nearly a decade ago, when guitarists Matt Hanson and Casey Sanchez met and started making music together.

After the addition of bassist Blair Hicks, who joined the duo five years ago, the band began as a folk-rock outfit called the Color of Sound, which played locally and worked on new music. But it wasn’t until the three recently rebranded as Oh, Drifter that the band leaned into a more pop punk-influenced sound, mixing it with its past sonics to create something new.

“Some of the songs we have now started in [the Color of Sound]. Things kind of fizzled out a year before COVID. We were all doing our own thing, staying in touch and still friends. Blair and I started messing with this old demo we had from that old band, and kept working on it and really liked it,” explains Hanson, who is wearing a Blink-182 tee with the smiley face artwork from the seminal pop-punk band's 2003 self-titled album.

The initial idea was a “temporary reunion" of the Color of Sound, he adds, before March 2020 turned everything on its head. But the extended break gave Hanson, Sanchez and Hicks more time with their music, and they emerged from the lockdown era as a band in full bloom.

“We were going to record two songs and maybe play a show. We go to the studio in March right before COVID. Well, studio closed. We can’t finish the songs. We keep working on stuff. It turns into a whole album. We decide on a new band name and brand,” Hanson adds matter-of-factly.

The album, which is being recorded with Nick Nodurft at Rusty Sun Audio, will be released later this year and will include the title track, “The Color of Sound,” an homage to the group’s previous incarnation. Until then, Oh, Drifter is busy releasing singles, including three different versions of the song “Fire.” The band will drop another new tune at its upcoming concert on Saturday, April 8, at the Skylark Lounge, where Dylan French will join Oh, Drifter on drums. The Patient Zeros, The Study Abroad and The Mssng are also on the bill.

Given their acoustic and folk backgrounds, Hanson and Sanchez are almost always writing unique riffs and melodies to bring to the others, which is when the fun starts.

“This all started out [when] Matt or I would come up with a song by ourselves at home. We would write something on an acoustic guitar, and then we would bring it over to one of our houses and say, ‘Hey, I got this,’” Sanchez explains, adding that Hicks has a knack for composing tracks in a way that highlights each member’s individual skill set. “Everything just really blends together after that point, but it usually begins with one of us creating something.”

Hicks, who also serves as the band’s unofficial vocal coach, uses his ear to assign certain parts of a song to a particular player, as all three handle singing in Oh, Drifter.

“I really like leveraging the three different voices and three different ranges to create these harmonies,” he says. “Sometimes it’ll purely be melodic three-part harmonies, sometimes they’ll scream. It’s cool having three different singers with different backgrounds and styles.”

Hicks is quick to add, however, that Hanson and Sanchez are still the primary singer-songwriters behind the band, particularly when it comes to lyrics. He likens their style to early pop-punk and emo acts.

“Almost from on outsider’s perspective, to me it evokes a feeling that I got listening to Fall Out Boy or Taking Back Sunday when I was younger. It’s exciting. It’s fun. There is also some wry humor and authentic relatability, like wearing your heart on your sleeve, which I really appreciate,” Hick says.

While clearly influenced and fans of pop punk, a genre that’s been experiencing a renaissance recently, the Oh, Drifter dudes shrug when asked about falling into such a scene, especially as an indie band. To them, it just kind of happened, so they’re rolling with it.

“We’re all into a lot of genres of music, and it blends into our sound. The kind of singles we’re putting out next are more in that pop-punk realm. It might have started as an acoustic folk song, but we built this thing around it,” Hanson says. “That was just kind of the vibe when we played as a folk-rock band. People would be like, ‘You sound like this emo band I like from high school.’ We’re like, ‘We like them, too. We’re not trying to, but cool.’ That’s kind of the scene we fell into.”

He recalls that Oh, Drifter's debut concert specifically showcased other local pop-punk bands in an effort to “create that atmosphere.” This weekend’s show is more of the “indie show,” as Hanson dubs it. Whatever you want to call it, he’s just glad people are picking up what they’re putting down.

“It’s fun. I feel like people are really receptive to the music. Even some of our older recordings — we play them live and people get it more. They get the vibe. They get the energy that we’re capturing on this new record,” Hanson says. “We’re not trying to be rock stars or anything or have any kind of delusions. We’d love to, but it’s fun, ultimately, when people respond to the music. It’s not just a gig. We’re not playing covers for money. People actually respond to the music. It makes it worth it.”

Oh, Drifter, 7 p.m. Saturday, April 8, Skylark Lounge, 140 South Broadway. Tickets are $10-$12.