Punk Rock Saves Lives Festival Raises Mental Health Awareness With Punk Bands

Denverite Rob Rushing is a 53-year-old punk who just likes “throwing shows,” as he puts it. For the past eight years, he’s organized several late-night gigs for the annual festival Punk Rock Bowling in downtown Las Vegas. “It started with one band, one night, and this past year was five [bands] for four nights straight,” he says.

And he's been bringing that punk-inspired growth to Denver, as well. At the tail end of the pandemic, Rushing started an outdoor concert series called Positive Mental Attitude at EastFax Tap on East Colfax Avenue through his nonprofit, Punk Rock Saves Lives, which he’d recently co-founded with his wife, Tina. The success of those shows gave him and the Punk Rock Saves Lives crew the idea to host a new punk-rock festival linked to the nonprofit’s mission and work, which includes providing mental health and harm-reduction resources as well as bone marrow registry information for concert and festival attendees. The Punk Rock Saves Lives Festival debuted at Ratio Beerworks in 2022, and the second gathering is set to take place Friday, July 21, and Saturday, July 22, at Ratio's Overland location.

“We went to Ratio, and I was like, ‘I got this idea for a festival.' They were like, ‘Yes,’” Rushing recalls, adding that his nonprofit also held its second-anniversary party at the brewery last year.

“We just wanted to party, and it went over really, really well. We took that two-year anniversary party and said let’s go forward with the first festival we did last year,” he continues. “From what everybody tells me with big festivals, it takes three to four years to not be losing money. You have to stick with it — and we didn’t lose money on the first one.”

That's because Rushing knows how to put on a show. This year's lineup includes Smoking Popes, Flatfoot 56, The Dollyrots, Egoista, Some Kind of Nightmare, Hospital Socks, Bad Cop/Bad Cop, Potato Pirates, Plasma Canvas, Antagonizers ATL, Nuns of Brixton, Boss’ Daughter, Dryer Fire and All Waffle Trick. There’s also a day-after party at EastFax on Sunday, July 23, with Jokers Republic, Bad Year, Swashbuckling Doctors, It Gets Worse, Indecisive, Liam Cahill and more bands to be announced. It's been a tradition for Punk Rock Saves Lives to release a compilation album, too, and festival-goers will be able to pick up Punk Rock Saves Lives The Album: Vol. 3 via IM Records...if they’re pressed and shipped in time. The record is only available on vinyl and includes songs from Bowling for Soup’s Jaret Reddick and Rob Felicetti, Anti-Flag’s Justin Sane, and Urethane with H2O’s Toby Morse. All proceeds go directly to supporting the nonprofit and its ongoing work.

The Dollyrots also donated a song, “Still Holding On,” for the album. Guitarist and vocalist Kelly Ogden is excited to play the fest for the first time, especially since “we have a lot of friends in common with the organization.

“We’ve known Rob for a number of years. It’s something that we’ve always wanted to be a part of, so we’re really glad that it worked out this year,” she adds. “Punk Rock Saves Lives has had a presence at just about every other festival I’ve ever gone to or we’ve ever played at. I’ve listened to their releases in the past. They always put out really cool music, and our friends’ bands are usually on them, so it was cool to be a part of that, too.”

Looking over the bill, she points out local trio Egoista and Some Kind of Nightmare as two of the bands that she’s looking forward to seeing live. That said, “I’m excited for the whole thing,” she laughs.

Other than the stacked lineup, the Punk Rock Saves Lives Festival is about much more than just bringing big bands to Denver. The musicians understand that, Rushing says, and are willing to work with the young nonprofit to support its mission. Some acts even offered to play the fest for free, but as a musician himself for such bands as These Roving Years, Rushing firmly believes that “artists should be paid for their art,” so he’s willing to cover gas or hotel expenses, if nothing else.

“Punks on the whole want to be good each other. That’s why we shaped it into this. … Luckily, the bands don’t rake us over. Everybody’s always been great,” he adds. “That gave us a chance to have some really cool bands without spending a ton of money up front. Then the amazing people at Ratio covered the production.”

Punk Rock Saves Lives was born after the Rushings left the Love Hope Strength cancer foundation, which sets up booths at music festivals to promote its “Get on the List” bone marrow registry campaign. The couple would travel the country, stopping at festivals like Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo to help spread the message and collect signatures. Punk Rock Saves Lives was started in the same vein. The co-founders, along with an ever-growing team of volunteers, will be at twenty music festivals across the country, as well as five national tours, this year. In the past three months, the Rushings drove a combined 31,000 miles to fests and concerts, during which they signed up 1,403 individuals for the bone marrow registry, handed out 1,500 doses of Narcan (an opiate-overdose antidote), 800 fentanyl tests, 300 GHB/ketamine test coasters and 1,100 pairs of earplugs. Rob was driving the Punk Rock Saves Lives RV back to Colorado when its engine died in the middle of Kansas. With such a busy schedule remaining, the organization launched a crowdfunding effort; as of July 11, $6,400 of the $15,000 goal had been raised.

Rushing isn’t necessarily surprised that Punk Rock Saves Lives has done so well so soon, because he’s experienced what the DIY scene can do ever since discovering punk music while growing up in Georgia in the 1980s. But the warm reception is also proof that there’s a demand for the resources that the organization offers.

“'Surprised' is a weird word. It’s pleasantly surprising because I believe in our community, but I will say this: Everybody who volunteers for us notices people thanking us for being there more than any other charity work I’ve ever done. It’s really crazy,” he says. “Now it’s like, every day at a festival I’m thanked by at least 100 people literally going, ‘Thank you for being here. I follow you online. We love what you’re doing.’ That’s gratifying, but it also shows the need in our community for somebody being on the forefront going, ‘All right, it’s okay to talk about mental health,' or 'If you’re going to use, use safely.’”

The nonprofit is already seeing Punk Rock Saves Lives chapters pop up in states such as Virginia and Wisconsin. There’s interest in other cities, too, including Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. Expanding and growing, which includes the festival, are part of the organization’s long-term plan, according to Rushing. That also means the co-founding couple will spend less time behind the wheel, but they’ll “always be doing something like this,” he says.

“We’re rallying volunteers around the country. We’re going to grow. We’re on the precipice of growing and starting to hire more people. That’s when we can take the giant leaps,” he says, adding that it would be ideal to eventually have several Punk Rock Saves Lives reps around the country to oversee outreach in specific areas.

Hosting a flagship event like the summer festival only supports that vision. Of course, nonprofits “need to raise money to do good,” but neither Rushing nor Punk Rock Saves Lives are “in it to get rich, either,” he says. The “crazy-low” ticket prices, which start at $25 and top out with a $75 VIP option, are proof of that, he adds.

“If we come close to breaking even or raising a little bit of money, then that’s great, and we give the people of Denver a cool experience for not much money,” Rushing says, adding that any money raised contributes to  "more good done on site every day.

“That’s the goal,” he concludes. “The festival is to help eventually fund some more of that, but mainly to give Denver a rad time by using our connections and getting people to come out and have a good time. It’s for our hometown.”

Punk Rock Saves Lives Festival, 6 p.m. Friday, July 21, and Saturday, July 22, Ratio Beerworks, 2030 South Cherokee Street. Tickets are $25-$75. For more information, visit punkrocksaveslives.org.