Volume 4, Issue 3
February 7 - February 20, 2002
Four guys moved to Denver from Buffalo, NY a few months back. They needed a new scene, a new energy and a new start. And sunny skies are good, too. Their band, The Stephen Hero, came along as well. Judging from its debut CD Permutations of the Good and a few recent live shows, the decision to leave the snowbanks behind was a good one.
"We all needed a change," Guitarist Eric Gangloff said. "There is a lot to be said for your hometown, but in our case, we thought the band could do really well in a younger, more energetic, more diverse city like Denver." While Gangloff and associates Peter Dobmeier (vocals, keys), Chris Meckes (bass, saxophone) and Jonathan Marbach (drums and sequencer) got acclimated and adjusted to the Mile High City, The Stephen Hero hit the ground running.
The first show at Herman's revealed a band steeped in indie influences from Flaming Lips, Radiohead, Hum, Modest Mouse, Verve Pipe, and Tragically Hip. The songs take center stage but the whole package goes beyond music into the realms of physics, theater, psychology and personal exploration. On stage with the band sat a television displaying the sound frequencies feeding off of Gangloff's guitar. A small video camera clamped oddly to the end of Dobmeier's microphone shot a twisted view of one eye and cheek-bone as he sang. And sing he did, his taut and sinewy body poised as an explosive conduit between man and machine.
The music squeezes into no specific category while straddling the already thin and tense boundaries between many. Permutations gives rock music a modern-day kick in the ass but also nods at Brit rock, early Smashing Pumpkins angst, punk minimalism and the newly touted Emo-generation. The mid-CD cluster of strong tracks includes "T-Shirt Shop," "Flypaper Streets," "Manifest Destiny," and "Are You Afraid of Rock and Roll?," hitting everything from complex sentimental balladry to almost-happy pop. While such diversity sometimes weakens a band's sound, The Stephen Hero is united by two big, refreshing and attractive ingredients: braininess and irony.
Dobmeier's lyrics reflect a band that is always thinking, processing, searching for connections and revelations. On "Art," Dobmeier sings "She asked me if art was dead/I said, not yet I'll do my best/she said, Rudy you can't fail me now/she said, boy go and slash the canvas/go find a gallery and make a mess."
Gears change dramatically on "T-Shirt Shop" where Dobmeier goes for the abstract instead of the literal: "We stood on the balcony and watched it unfold/Talking of somewhere that you'd rather go/Your shirt was sheer you blew smoke in my ear/And the cityscape was sinking quite casually."
From James Joyce to tryptophan, planetary space noise (track 11) to mythology, The Stephen Hero manages to pull more than just sounds out of amplifiers and hopes to give us something to sink our minds into.
"All of this is not just about the music, the sounds that we make," Meckes said. "It's part of who we are personally and the strong friendship and understanding of our lives that we have together as a band. We try to bring together as many aspects of that as we can. But it's still all in good fun. Sometimes it's not good to take yourself so seriously."
There's no reason why The Stephen Hero should not be taken seriously. Welcome to Denver, gentlemen.
See the band live Friday, Feb. 8 at the Lion's Lair and Saturday, Feb. 23 at 15th Street Tavern. Find more at www.thestephenhero.com --Judy B
Michael Gene Binder was born in the city of angels on the 26th day of September in 1979. Approximately seven years later, he picked up his father's guitar and began teaching himself how to play. In sixth grade, Mike taught two of his friends how to play drums and bass so they could gig with him at local Mexican food restaurants as the Burnt Tortillas. Downfall, junior high school band number two, opened for the now multi-platinum Offspring soon after the release of their smash sophomore effort on Epitaph. At the age of fourteen, Mike migrated to Colorado. Dick Higgins gave the new kid in town his first shot at local experience, but it was only a matter of months before Mike would begin flirting with the big time. Chasing Furies (band number four) had nothing to lose by competing in an international band contest in Estes Park, and everything to gain. As winners of the contest, they would be offered a record contract by a subsidiary of Virgin known as Sparrow. Even though it was the first offer of its kind in Mike's life thus far, it would certainly not be the last. Now that Mike had mastered the guitar (and become proficient at six or seven other instruments), it was time to take his career to the next level. Where did he start? The phonebook. Not a single recording studio returned his phonecalls, but Bendiksen Productions offered Mike an internship as a talent scout and record producer. Two years later, Michael Gene Binder is already one of the finest producers in Colorado. Bendiksen Productions is located at 1165 Delaware (inside the Denver Musicians Association.) For further information on rates and availability, give Lance a buzz at 303-477-6910.
As good ol Valentine's Day draws near, many of us get nervous, depressed, desperate, weepy, super- horny, or googly-eyed-in-love. Cupid's arrow comes in many forms.
For Julia McKay, it's through her fingers. Her "spirit fingers," to be exact.
Where the Light Shows Through is McKay's debut as a solo pianist. For organizational purposes, her original compositions fit snugly in the New Age scheme of things but McKay herself wields a deeper commitment that challenges all labels. Oozing from the atoms of each of Light's ten tracks is a healing, loving power vibe. Ms. McKay is a composer, speaker and performance artist who is committed to enhancing people's lives and promoting passionate living. Her new record and live performances perfectly illustrate her belief in the power of music to inspire, ignite and discover what is most meaningful in our lives. After a few rotations in the CD player, your mood can't help but be calmer, your heart a little warmer.
And February is the cruelest month, not April. Let's be honest. It's seasonal limbo--cold, brown and too far from Spring Break. McKay's record offers up melodies that she hopes will "speak to your heart and assist you in finding the peace and passion that you desire in your life."
On February 14, join McKay and guests at a live performance and celebration of music and healing in Boulder at the Chautauqua Community House at 8 pm. As befitting the holiday occasion, McKay hopes her performance will "bring a sense of peace and passion to all" regardless of whether love is in the air or stirring deep beneath the winter layers we wear around here.
For more information go to www.spiritfingers.net --Pearl
This CD screams and whispers, yearns and burns. Project 12:01 brings dance club darkness and dreamy energy to the airwaves. Time for a Taste layers massive amounts of music and vocal tracks resulting in an experience that is not soon forgotten. Melissa London's voice is sensual and seductive whether she utters a barely audible hiss or soars confidently above the musical mayhem created by partner Noel Johannes.
Goth influences are everywhere. A recogniz- able dark and mysterious energy surrounds the whole record, especially on "Taste." It's the perfect track to keep you rolling through a wildly electric, heavily seductive and quasi-erotic four minutes-- "I want to feel the beat/I want to taste the hea/ I want to fill the skin/I want to taste the sin."
"Love" begins with a quick mood shift--an ethereal church choir--as London's voice soon creeps and crawls through the synth haze. Sometimes London sounds like Kate Bush, sometimes she sounds like Nina Persson The Cardigans). "This Heaven" could fit nicely on a beefier Portishead record. Of the eight tracks on Time, the last, "Beyond These Streets," is a bit overdone. The song is weighed down by too much airy whispering and slowly sliding chords packed on top of one another. It's odd since the prior seven songs are one big amalgam of slick production and engaging electronic daydreams.
With the addition of three musicians, Project 12:01 has hit live gigs at Herman's Hideaway and Soiled Dove so far. Check Go-Go listings for more or go to www.project1201.com . --Judy B.
Serberus isn't fucking around. Based on listening to their five-song album, Our Dying Grace, I'm guessing no one would be quicker to link the continuance of Western civilization with the existence of Slayer than these guys. This is a band that causes flowers to wilt and makes babies cry. They scare people.
From the ferocity of the arrangements, to the pristine quality of the recording, it's apparent that Serberus set out to do things right. They've loudly stampeded into the fray with a highly professional product and some fairly jaw-dropping aural pyrotechnics--for only having a handful of tunes, there are A LOT of notes on this record.
Along with some truly brutal, sternum-rattling blast beats, and methamphetamine-fueled guitar playing, there is also, of course, the obligatory amount of abrasive, anti-melodic, and relatively played-out death metal grunting that can only be lovingly described by the term "cookie monster vocals."
Instrumentally, the band is indisputably talented; you can't touch their performance on the CD. It's a barrage of blistering sextuplets on the kick-drum, deftly-picked unison guitar lines, and a metric butt-load of menacing attitude, all coupled to some positively bone-crushing chops. All the stuff that would appeal to your average manic-depressive, disenfranchised sociopath. Good shit.
If you don't mind being yelled at by a maladjusted, satanic Muppet for 20 minutes, this band and their disc both offer some amazing musicianship and extremely tight technical execution. If you dig other local metal bands like Immortal Dominion and Cephalic Carnage, you should definitely check out Serberus. They're insanely good at what they do. --D. Koke
All Rights Reserved © 2002 Go Go Media, LLC, Denver, Colorado