Features

Interviews and profiles from the Northern Colorado and Wyoming scene.

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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, 2021FeaturesKolby Cooper’s Best, Worst YearKolby Cooper returned through single-digit temperatures and deep snow to his East Texas home on January 17 to find the hallways full of water.Dan England · Mar 2, 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, 2021FeaturesBattle Profile: Lady Denim“We were starting to get the ball rolling, you know, the snowball effect,” recalls Lundeen, Lady Denim’s lead vocalist, of the band’s momentum heading into March 2020, “and then it all got paused.” Lundeen looks back on the band’s last headliner at the Aggie Theatre in Fort Collins, where the band walked out to a crowd of 450. At a show a month later on March 13, just as news of COVID-19 began to flare up, the band walked out to a crowd of less than 50. “The silver lining of it all was that we were able to set aside time and record,” Lundeen reflects. Trading rehearsals for recording sessions not only brought the band closer, but also yielded the seeds for what Lundeen said will be their next release.Diego Felix · Feb 15, 2021FeaturesBattle Profile: Hannah & The CuddiesHannah Rodriguez knew that The Cuddies were entering a new chapter in January of 2020 when they won the first round of BandWagons’ Battle of the Bands. She eagerly planned their finalist set and looked forward to the future. But the future had changes in store. So now, after a year-long unplanned intermission, losing / gaining new band members and the optimism of a vaccine, Hannah is ready for The Cuddies’ first gig in 2021.Valerie Vampola · Feb 13, 2021FeaturesBattle Profile: Graham Good & The PaintersGraham Good is relentlessly upbeat. Not only is that really his last name, it’s his nature, and it’s the band’s aesthetic. Even the band’s website greets you with “I believe good things are coming.” He wants people to be happy. So after a year-long delay between the semi-finals and the finals of our Battle Of The Bands, he’s ready to rock.Dan England · Feb 12, 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, 2021FeaturesDead Amps: Where We Are Now / Harnessing the ChaosErin O’Toole isn’t Dr. Phil, but she does have a little marital advice: “If you can record an album together and remain happy,” O’Toole says, “you can survive anything.” O’Toole…Dan England · Jan 12, 2021FeaturesA Brother’s Bond: Holdfast. Stays, Fights and Reflects“We are three brothers” is the first sentence Holdfast. wrote in their Facebook bio and they’re not really wrong about that. Brothers Tom and Mikey Maddocks and their cousin Charlie Maddocks grew up right next door to each other in Windsor, CO. They did everything together, including signing a sync licence with Audio Network in 2020 and releasing their first full length Stay And Fight on January 8, 2021.Valerie Vampola · Jan 11, 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, 2021FeaturesSarah Slaton Says It’s Time to Get Up and You Know ItDespite the chaos that was 2020, Fort Collins singer-songwriter Sarah Slaton has been able to find one gig: “I’m joining a bunch of other folks from the music industry who have been laid-off from their normal jobs,” she tells BandWagon. “We are part of a Covid rapid-response team, going to small cities to build testing infrastructure and testing sites.” Because let’s be honest, if you need to build a mobile facility meant to deal with a lot of people, call are the music festival folks. “We get shit done quickly,” Slaton says. Additionally, Slaton released the “Get Up” single and video in December, which speaks to what so many are going through. She championed the Save Our Stages Act, spearheaded community events and much more.Laura Giagos · Jan 5, 2021FeaturesFor 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, 2020FeaturesThe Thin Black Line: Venues Fight To Survive“It’s nowhere near the money I need to sustain, but I was lucky,” says Travis Ragan. Ragan was a partner in the Roxy Theater in Denver and the Mesa Theater in Grand Junction, booking shows in 15 different markets. Now he hauls equipment for his brother, a construction manager out of Colorado Springs. “I know venues are closing down, and yet, we have no leadership backing us and supporting us. We have no one telling us what we should do as opposed to what we shouldn’t do,” Ragan says. “The place is not made to be at a 250 person capacity,” Renee Jelenik says of The Lincoln Theater in Cheyenne, “and even then, it’s not like we sold out those shows. People just aren’t coming out.” “We’ve been asked to shut down, or told to shut down, for months now,” says Ely Corliss of The Moxi Theater in Greeley. “We’ve done that, and where are we now?”Dan England · Dec 3, 2020FeaturesThrough Thick and Thin: Heartsick HeroineAllen and Hannah Maddox want you to believe that their world is pain.Dan England · Nov 9, 2020Features2GETHR 4EVR: NGHT WLVS Find The FormulaFor Northern Colorado-based synth hop trio NGHT WLVS, creating music together was nothing new. Long-time friends Will Duran, Sam Archuleta, and Tommy Martinez began making music together over a decade ago, and while life took them down separate roads, they reconnected. Rocking a sound saturated in the lushness and sparkle of classic synth pop while sticking to their hip hop roots.Laura Giagos · Nov 7, 2020FeaturesEverybody Loves An Outlaw: Break on Through to the Other SideBefore “I See Red” went viral, Longmont-based soul rock duo Everybody Loves An Outlaw were just DIY, writing the songs, producing the records, and managing the band themselves. Then, they got signed to Columbia records and “I See Red’ got featured in the Polish soft-core film ‘365 Days.’ This thrusted them into a new world, but they remember every little step along the way.Valerie Vampola · Nov 5, 2020FeaturesWalking The Walk: New Greeley Murals Celebrate and Beautify the way DowntownFor her new mural on the Maddie Apartments in Downtown Greeley, Betony Coons found herself challenged with how to include Union Colony’s most famous principle: temperance. Not only is “the active moderation of libation intake” hard to paint, but ironically, one of the reasons downtown Greeley continues to thrive is the world class breweries and distilleries it inspired.Dan England · Oct 14, 2020FeaturesThe Long Haul: Sunsquabi Funks Through the Covid EraSunsquabi sit in a very unique spot in the music industry. With the career they’ve had so far and the following they’ve built, they were able to step into isolation somewhat comfortably until things return to normal. If and when things do, they’ll be hitting the scene with a lot of great momentum built on the dedication to their craft and their love of the music. “Obviously we want to play shows in [traditional] venues again but we’re grateful to the drive-in thing because we’ve been having a lot of fun with it,” says guitar / synth player Kevin Donahue.Laura Giagos · Oct 7, 2020FeaturesSomething To Vibe To: Black Pegasus Is On A Whole Different Frequency‘Pandemic Proof’ by Black Pegasus obviously speaks to the current times. The world has been drowning in the COVID-19 pandemic since March, subsequently bringing the music industry to its knees. “I’m doing my best to adapt,” says Black Pegasus. “It’s pretty tricky, but I’ve always been a hustler and an innovator so I’m not worried.” He’s also vocal about important socio-political issues and is wary, yet hopeful for the future. “I really believe in the current movement for social justice and equality,” he says. “I also believe that the movement has been infiltrated by corporations and political agendas.”Kyle Eustice · Oct 2, 2020FeaturesHungry for Humor: Comedy Fort Takes the Place of Hodi’s HalfNoteDavid Rodriguez’ first comedy set, more than five years ago, was at Hodi’s Half Note, the beloved FoCo rock club which recently announced its closing. He believes it’s fitting, then, that he will open Comedy Fort in the Hodi’s building, probably sometime in January. “When this opportunity came about, it just felt perfect,” Rodriguez said.Dan England · Sep 15, 2020