Colorado bands that rock
With John Denver’s glory days long past (and was he even from Colorado, anyway?), it’s time to look at the up-and-comers of the Centennial State. Here are some groups that have us grooving.The Swayback: Don’t lump this Denver group in with the plethora of other 80′s-inspired dark punk groups. For all their atmospherics, the band still knows a riff when it hears one, and they’ll follow it as far as they can take it. Check out “Concrete Blocks” or “Earring in the Shag” for examples.Monofog: Singer Hayley Helmerick’s throaty vocals and Doug Spencer’s tight guitar jamming may initially suggest comparisons to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, but Monofog has a few more tricks up its sleeve. Listen to the grunge-meets-art rock of “Sub Like Nothing”, and look for their album “Runner” on cdbaby.Reverend Deadeye’s No Man Gospel Band: This Pentecostal punk is like nothing you’ve ever heard before. Sure, there are echoes of Muddy Waters, Tom Waits, and the Cramps, but the stripped-down rocker “Drunk on Jesus” is entirely the Rev’s own. And it’s just begging for some hand claps.Ian Cooke: If you were to set Ian Cooke’s music to the weather, the perfect accompaniment would be a thunderstorm. Flashes of lightning streak across the sky as melodic string arrangements intertwine, and rain beats the windows as eerie choruses snake into your ears. Check out “The Rot” from his album The Fall I Fell to see what we mean.Vices I Admire: VIA writes songs that you could almost imagine hearing on the radio, but that doesn’t change the fact that there’s a good deal of variety between them. Compare the heavy alt-rock of “Kiss Kiss” to the punky hip-hop of “Monster.” Even better, the gang’s giving away their new album The Politics of Apathy in a name-your-price format.