Gabe Allen

49 stories · Page 3 of 3

CommunityStayin’ Alive: Unconventional Venues Save The SceneWhen Ben Mozer was 14, he took a trip to Spain with his family. Across from their hotel, a theater was playing the newly released hit Pulp Fiction, which he and his brother had been unable to see in the U.S. due to its R rating. But what stuck with him after the movie was over wasn’t Samuel L. Jackson’s iconic monologue. What stuck with him was the theater. Earlier this winter, Mozer’s Fort Collins movie theater the Lyric was one of the only venues in Northern Colorado that was still producing live music. And Mozer isn’t the only one finding a creative way to amplify local sounds. This winter, Dan Mladenik has tapped local talent for the Mishawaka-produced Live on the Lanes series at Chipper’s Lanes, converting a bowling alley into a cosmic live music experience.Gabe Allen · Mar 4, 2021FeaturesBattle Profile: Nelsen“The momentum was really good,” Nick Nelsen said. “We were doing four gigs in a one month span.” On the first day of February last year, Nelsen (the band) beat out Hot Tub Wrestler, Ethan More or Less and the Able Dogs in round one of BandWagon’s 2020 Battle of the Bands. The success was three years in the making. Nelsen had also competed in 2018 and 2019, never to make it past the first round. Now, armed with tearjerkers new and old, Nelsen is poised and ready to make the audience “feel” when the Battle of the Bands returns on March 12.Gabe Allen · Feb 16, 2021FeaturesJoy as Resistance: Wayne Watts Raps Decompression for RevolutionariesWayne Watts is a man of letters, but he is also an educator and activist. “I wanted to make music for revolutionaries to decompress to. While you’re fighting these things it’s really essential to remember to breathe.” The power of his dedication to words lies in the myriad of ways in which he employs them. “They’re filled up with a lot of manifestations and affirmations,” he said. “I treat my mantras like songs.” As an educator, Watts co-founded the Dream Create Inspire Tour. “The intention has always been to create an incubator to give disenfranchised creators a platform.”Gabe Allen · Feb 2, 2021MusicAlbum Review: The Crooked Rugs – IT!On their debut LP IT!, Colorado quintet The Crooked Rugs take the compulsory ingredients of modern rock band instrumentation and create something wonderfully foreign. Echoes of psych, prog and garage rock resound, but each song is clearly the result of diligent experimentation. IT! was recorded this summer in Durango, and for an album made in a barn in rural Colorado, it’s anything but folksy.Gabe Allen · Jan 13, 2021FeaturesDIY Kick: Colorado’s Recording Industry Takes It HomeIndependent artists made more music online and at home during lockdown, and recording studios have adapted. Mike Davis was uniquely prepared for this shift, founding Koncept Jewel Studios, an itinerant collection of recording equipment and instruments that operates wherever Davis happens to be living at the time. “It’s kind of an amorphous thing. I’ve moved around since I started it and plan to continue moving around,” he said. This can-do, remote DIY sentiment is echoed by Ben Behrens of Wright Studios: “It doesn’t matter how cheap or weird your gear is. If it works, we can make something cool with it.” Stone Cottage studios in Boulder has even turned its space into a stage for live-streaming artist performances online.Gabe Allen · Jan 6, 2021PremieresVideo Premiere: People In General – Take It Or Leave ItPeople In General head straight into 2021 swinging with the premiere of the “Take It Or Leave It” video. Recorded entirely in bassist/keyboardist Matan Birnbaum’s basement, the track’s production is crisp and inviting, and the video introduces us to their rabbit hole of imagination.Gabe Allen · Jan 2, 2021Single & Video Review: Modern Leisure – “Rita”Modern Leisure has, once again, harnessed millennial malaise and channeled it into an achingly beautiful 3-minute track.Gabe Allen · Dec 22, 2020FeaturesFor Once In My Life: John March Remembers Ted Greene.During the 2013 Colorado Floods, John March broke both of his elbows and then continued trying to make a living as a gigging guitarist despite crippling pain. “Two weeks later, I was playing at a fundraiser for people whose homes had been destroyed in the floods,” March said. MusiCares was the first organization to provide financial assistance to March, who is now donating a portion of the proceeds from his new album For Once In My Life to three charities, including MusiCares. The album is March’s second tribute to his former mentor and jazz guitar legend Ted Greene.Gabe Allen · Dec 9, 2020MusicSingle Review: Enzi – “Mad Chemistry”As with all of Enzi’s music, her full-throated vocal performance on “Mad Chemistry” carries the track. She croons through a hooky chorus while calling and responding to a many-layered harmony of her own voice. You get the feeling Enzi is jut getting started.Gabe Allen · Dec 7, 2020