2014 UMS Band Interviews #5

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Somerset Catalog 

Thu, July 24th 9:00 pm

Irish Rover

Where/ When are you playing for the UMS?

Thursday, July 24th, 9pm @ Irish Rover

In twenty-five words or less, describe what somebody who has never heard of you/your band might expect from your performance at UMS this year.

Imagine illegal fireworks exploding with poor safety precautions taken mixed with very large taxidermied animals--think stuffed Giraffes--and heat and heat and sport and catharsis. That should loudly do it. One of us may hyperventilate.

What was the first music you remember using your own money to buy?

Georgina bought the S/T LP from the Pretenders, and Bryce was tricked into buying Purple Rain by his sister when he really wanted use his allowance on candy. Kuker’s was either Enya’s Greatest Hits or Vanilla Ice’s first record--he can’t remember, he just knows he was in the VIP Posse before everyone else.

What has been your favorite album of 2014 so far?

A tie: Angel Olsen - Burn Your Fire for No One and St. Vincent - S/T

Do you have any advice for new bands?

Skip band practice and go for whiskey and ice cream together sometime. It’ll help with how serious all of this seems.

Have you planned out who you want to see at UMS this year? Who are some of your highlights?

Blonde Redhead!  Unknown Mortal Orchestra! Real Estate. Good job, UMS bookers. Also, on the local front, definitely Hollow Talk, Joshua Novak, Poet’s Row, Glass Hits final show, and so many more.

If you've been to UMS before, what three words would you use to describe it?

Hot, Local, Houseparty (yes, we cheated a little.)

What has been your most memorable experience at UMS to date?

Seeing Black Heart Procession at the Mayan Theater in 2011. Also, Everything Absent or Distorted’s last UMS performance in 2009. It was very emotional and overwhelming for us. Rabbit Is a Sphere also played their very last show that same year at the showcase, so we were all a bunch of sad sacks.  Little did we know that we’d be joining forces 5 year  later.  Fuck Yeah! We will seriously fight you.

Any tips you'd like to give the novices for making the UMS experience even better?

Plan to miss work on Monday...maybe take Tuesday off, too, for good measure.

Is there any place you're looking forward to eating during UMS?

Illegal Pete’s.  Gozo sounds good, so maybe we’ll try it. A Sputnik corndog is very likely.

What are your favorite shops on South Broadway?

Ironwood and Sweet Action

Who is your all time favorite Colorado band?

The Czars

Uphollow

Wovenhand

Denver Gentlemen

Joe Sampson

You're working the counter at Twist & Shout, and a customer is interested in expanding his music collection.  What three albums would you recommend?

Sketches of Spain (Miles Davis), Soundtrack to Garden State, and anything by Ray Stevens...we kid, we kid. That Garden State soundtrack is terrible.

Is there anything we forgot to ask you about the UMS that you think people need to know?

“When’s your new video for Landing Gear coming out?” Soon, love children, soon.

Joy Subtraction 

Sat, July 26th 7:00 pm

Eslinger Gallery

Where/When are you playing for the UMS?

Joy Subtraction plays at 7 p.m. on Saturday night at Eslinger (118 S. Broadway).

In twenty-five words or less, describe what somebody who has never heard of you / your band might expect from your performance at UMS this year.

Well, I guess I would have to say, when thinking about describing the music of Joy Subtraction and its live show, that it is really . . . [Ugh! That’s 25—I’m out of words. You’d think Twitter would have made me better at this.]

What was the first music you remember using your own money to buy?

The Xanadu motion picture soundtrack, featuring Olivia Newton John and Electric Light Orchestra (referred to as “ELO” by those of us in the know).

What has been your favorite album of 2014 so far?

I don’t think any albums have come out yet in 2014.

Do you have any advice for new bands?

Get out while you can. Seriously. Run.

Have you planned out who you want to see at UMS this year? Who are some of your highlights?

We don’t really care: we’re hitting the venues with bags of rotten tomatoes, and it doesn’t really matter who’s playing or how well they’re jamming, we’re going to express ourselves.

If you've been to UMS before, what three words would you use to describe it?

We’d say “excruciating,” “unbearable,” and “horrific,” but we really want to be invited back next year, so we’ll go with “incredible,” “edifying,” and “crucial.”

What has been your most memorable experience at UMS to date?

Is this a trick question?

Any tips you'd like to give the novices for making the UMS experience even better?

Practice your pick-pocketing chops—there’s ample opportunity to break even on expenses (and sometimes even turn a profit!).

Is there any place you're looking forward to eating during UMS?

The dumpster behind Sputnik usually yields a pretty fine bounty.

What is your favorite shop on South Broadway?

Nooch Vegan Market. The staff often mocks you, but the goods can’t be beat.

Who is your all-time favorite Colorado band?

It’s gotta be String Cheese Incident. Just the name alone is enough to make you want to jump off a cliff—excuse me, I mean get off your ass and jam.

You're working the counter at Twist & Shout, and a customer is interested in expanding his music collection.  What three albums would you recommend?

This is easy:

Welcome to Hell by Venom, because if you haven’t laid down your soul to the gods of rock ‘n’ roll yet, then you’re a fool.

Tutu by Miles Davis. It’s probably Davis’s worst album, but even Miles Davis’s worst album is better than most bands’ best album.

Bucketfulls of Sickness and Horror in an Otherwise Meaningless Life by Alice Donut, because sometimes you need a little pick-me-up.

Is there anything we forgot to ask you about the UMS that you think people need to know?

Yes—people should probably know about the Red Hour, which occurs every night of the UMS between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m., during which time all crimes are legal and about twenty percent of UMS attendees are murdered. Also, the Hornet has killer burgers.

  

Gun Street Ghost 

Sat, July 26th 7:00 pm

Skylark Lounge

Where/ When are you playing for the UMS? 

Skylark at 7:00 on Saturday. 

In twenty-five words or less, describe what somebody who has never heard of you/your band might expect from your performance at UMS this year. 

Roots-country based music, 70's rock and spacey folk mixed together. Songs about the struggles of life, hard work, and drinking to numb the pain. 

What was the first music you remember using your own money to buy?

Led Zeppelin IV

What has been your favorite album of 2014 so far? 

Doom Abuse by The Faint

Do you have any advice for new bands? 

Sex, drugs and rock and roll seems to be the recipe that works the best. 

Have you planned out who you want to see at UMS this year? Who are some of your highlights?

I'm gonna try to soak up as much as I can. 

If you've been to UMS before, what three words would you use to describe it?

Many great bands. 

What has been your most memorable experience at UMS to date? 

I Sank Molly Brown's set at Moe's BBQ a couple years back. It's hard to describe. Impressed, I was. 

Any tips you'd like to give the novices for making the UMS experience even better?

Make sure you have all of your gear and it all works upon arrival. 

Is there any place you're looking forward to eating during UMS?

The potsticker cart. 

What is your favorite shop on South Broadway? 

The Goodwill

Who is your all time favorite Colorado band?

Porlolo

You're working the counter at Twist & Shout, and a customer is interested in expanding his music collection.  What three albums would you recommend?

Bruce Springsteen - Nebraska 

The Magnetic Fields - The Charm of the Highway Strip

Baroness - Blue

 

2012 UMS wrap-ups, pt. 2

Paul Custer's take on this year's UMS:

My favorite performances from this year's festival were (in no particular order):

           Accordion Crimes - This has got to be one of Denver's most overlooked bands, and my personal favorite. Highly recommended for fans of Slint, Jesus Lizard and all things Steve Albini (Big Black, Shellac, etc.). Their set at 3 Kings was the perfect blend of precision and looseness and the dynamic variations made the set consistently fresh. If you enjoy razor sharp guitar tones, heavy rhythms and smart lyrics, you have to check these guys out.
            Mark Mallman - This dude is the energizer bunny of piano driven rock. This year I decided to start comparing him to Jerry Lee Lewis AND Meatloaf, although neither of them truly sums up the Mallman. He's the kind of performer you see once and vow to never miss again. Sure, there's a shtick, but the songs are insanely catchy and clever. His set at the Skylark exemplified, like all of his sets, the epitome of the Rock and Roll spirit. He's from Minneapolis, but comes to Denver a couple of times a year - I DARE anyone to have a bad time watching him perform.

            Big Freedia - If you haven't at least heard of Big Freedia I'd be surprised as her "Shake Team" have been making waves at festivals and venues around the country for almost two years. Her set at the Goodwill Stage was no exception. I noticed some people walk away from her performance with perplexed looks on their faces, seemingly from the lack of traditional "musicianship." Sure, every song has the exact same beat, but it's a compelling one to dance to. The main draw of the performance is booties, on stage, practically naked and moving in ways that would make belly dancers take note. And at the helm is Big Freedia, the tireless cheerleader, the Queen Diva, spittin' out gems like "Gin in My System" and "Azz Everywhere." Another performance that needs to be seen to be fully understood.
            Il Cattivo - Hard to pin down stylistically, but all the better for it. At times I could hear Cursive in the vocals and Mastodon and Baroness in the instrumentation. Friends mentioned glam influences (which I didn't hear), Jesus Lizard (which I could sorta get), and Soundgarden (also, barely). Rather than be confusing, those disparities were what made them compelling.

David Castillo's take on this year's UMS:

The 12^th annual UMS was my first of what I hope to be a many more. My UMS experience began with Steve Law at The Skylark. I was pleasantly surprised to hear Steve Law and female singer Toddy Walters accompanied by kick ass guitar player Kyle Zender playing a strong set of folk/country that was right up my alley of musical flavorings. Wymond Miles at the Hi-Dive was my next destination. Wymond played at Twist & Shout Records a mere month or so before this show and the band I heard at the Hi-Dive delivered a vastly improved, tight knit group of Cure-ish pop songs; not that they sucked at Twist, on the contrary they were louder and a little more reckless, but that being said it was rad to hear them playing so tight but still rocking. From there it was back to The Skylark for The Legendary River Drifters. It was nearly impossible to order a drink because the crowd was so rowdy and the energy was bouncing off the walls. Suzanne and the gang never fail to deliver and deliver they did. After that the night turned into a tequila haze of memories and stumbling into friends and co-workers up and down Broadway.

Day two kicked off with ManCub at The Main-Stage. Besides being a cool dude, Alex has great taste for showmanship and infectious beats. His cover of “You Dropped A Bomb On Me” was not only tasteful but a personal highlight of the whole UMS. I decided to continue the dance party at Compound Basix with Peter Black followed by Men In Burka. I swear the bartender put dancing powder in my drinks because I can’t dance. I don’t dance. But, I danced my ass off for two hours. After falling out of the Compound Basix I headed over to DeLite to catch 3two’s set, an action packed set of relentless hip hop. The crowd inside just moved and the crowd outside couldn’t help but stop and listen and try to get in on the action.

Saturday was a late start day for me even though I was at the Gildar Gallery by noon. It was 100 degrees and we had a lot of beer to get nice and cold. Good thing we bought all the ice the liquor store next door had because by 3pm – UMSers were thirsty and very much in need of a cold one. Sole at the Main Stage at 5pm was still a bit too hot for me to get into, but I tried as much as a dehydrated partied-out dude could. It was a solid set of classic spacey Sole beats and Sole ramblings in between songs. Joy Subtraction was a band I had noticed a couple days before when I was putting up their flyer for an upcoming album release show at the Hi-Dive on the 4^th of August. I was a little negative about their name and the picture of a noose on their flyer, so I am happy to say that they completely changed my mind when I heard them at 3 Kings. Great pop. Great musicians. Great stage show. I wouldn’t be surprised to see myself at their show on August 4^th and I’m looking forward to listening to their CD. The night wrapped up for me with Fiction Is Fun at Moe’s BBQ. They delivered a deliciously flavorful show. I’ve been listening to Fred Thulson and the gang for several years now and their song craft and chops have only gotten better and better. That goes for every member, even Jake Fairly who seems a little out of place with his thrash metal stage presence and even howls to go with it. But, as they themselves say it’s, “folk music for the thinking man.”

Sunday I woke up in Sheridan with a half drunk bottle of Kentucky Deluxe sleeping next to me. Unsure how I was going to get back to Denver I hopped on the light rail and luckily made it back to the car I hadn’t seen in 3 days without getting a ticket. Wearing the same stinky clothes I had worn for 3 days I was utterly defeated and satisfied. I had had enough. I bit off more than I can chew. So, I called it a day and went home to a much-needed shower and a bed for sleep.

And check out some snapshots of the event by Twist staffer Natja: