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REVIEW: THE BASTARD SUNS, SPRED THE DUB, SUSPECTS, NO BUENO, PORT AUTHORITY, & FEAR THE CALM - 3/22/2014
Gweedo
This evening marked my first event at the Roxy Theatre. They were hosting The Bastard Suns, Spred The Dub, Suspects, No Bueno, Port Authority, and Fear The Calm. All this music was at a steal! It was $10 for an advanced ticket. I was able to get in for free for being part of the Denver Street Team and running around town putting up flyers. A task I was more than willing to do for one of my favorite bands, The Bastard Suns. There is great parking across the street from the venue that is free and well lit. Also a LightRail stop is right across the street. Inside the Roxy Theatre is a small active bar with a narrow long open floor. The bar was at the back of the venue. I liked the venue because there seemed to be a good place for each kind of concert goer to hang out. There wasn’t much of a backstage so most of the instruments were out and off to the side. Most of the bands had little merch areas set up. There were very few people at the start of the show.
Gweedo
This evening marked my first event at the Roxy Theatre. They were hosting The Bastard Suns, Spred The Dub, Suspects, No Bueno, Port Authority, and Fear The Calm. All this music was at a steal! It was $10 for an advanced ticket. I was able to get in for free for being part of the Denver Street Team and running around town putting up flyers. A task I was more than willing to do for one of my favorite bands, The Bastard Suns. There is great parking across the street from the venue that is free and well lit. Also a LightRail stop is right across the street. Inside the Roxy Theatre is a small active bar with a narrow long open floor. The bar was at the back of the venue. I liked the venue because there seemed to be a good place for each kind of concert goer to hang out. There wasn’t much of a backstage so most of the instruments were out and off to the side. Most of the bands had little merch areas set up. There were very few people at the start of the show.
Local Denver band Fear The Calm opened for the evening. They are a no bells and whistles kind of band. Just concerned with bringing their taste of punk metal to the masses. Fear The Calm is a three piece. They had a decent bass player that sang and had good melodic and walking bass lines. The guitarist sang for some of the songs. Also their drummer was really solid. It wasn’t totally my kind of music but I felt they played pretty good. A little more energy in their performance would be nice.
A big surprise was Port Authority. This local band really rocked. They are a fairly new energetic punk band. The floor was still a little empty during their set but more people had filled the venue. Most were at the bar like moths to a light. These guys were so new that they didn’t have any merch yet. Notable were two great punk covers of Third Eye Blind “Jumper” and Rancid “Radio”. The crowd was starting to get more into the show when Port Authority hit the stage. Go check these guys out when you get the chance!
An even bigger surprise was the appearance of No Bueno! A great local band that called it quits one year ago to the day! The Bastard Suns really like this band and it was great to see them come out for a special performance. Visually you could see the guys were a little out of practice but I think they actually sounded better than ever. A huge crowd came out to support them and sing-a-long. This was the most active the crowd had gotten thus far. No Bueno had lots of energy. I’m not sure why they broke up but I really hope this show breathed some life back into the band.
The final Denver local band, Suspects, kicked some ass. The lead guitarist for Port Authority was pulling double duty. Though he rocked a little too hard and ended up breaking a string and had to do a quick guitar swap. They had a raw rough sound that resembled a heavy Offspring. Their drumset looked pretty cool with a cone on the front bass drum. There were less people on the floor as they went back to the bar. They managed to get a moshpit going on their last song though.
The Palm Beach, FL band, Spred The Dub, embarked on their first national tour with the help of The Bastard Suns. This tour has facilitated them in bringing their unique reggae ska to new ears. They were also featured on the latest Bastard Suns CD, Long Live Song. I thought they played really well and brought a feel good vibe to the stage. Their music got the crowd dancing around. Two unique aspects to the band was a trombone and keyboard. These instruments opened up the band to a lot of different sounds and melodies. They shared some equipment with The Bastard Suns which I can imagine helped get them around the country a little easier. The group seemed pretty high probably due to the newly legalized marijuana in Colorado and the quality that the state produces. Can’t fault them too much for partaking perhaps a little too much. Their set seemed really short and I’m not sure if it was from this situation or that being a new band they didn’t have much content. Regardless the length, there was quality and enjoyment in their music.
Finally The Bastard Suns returned to Denver and better than ever. After finishing a Kickstarter funded album the next thing to do was tour with it which I believe some of the funding also helped out with. There was some question of their continued existence due to a few band members leaving but thankfully they filled in some blanks in the lineup and got a second wind. The Bastard Suns have the incredible ability to blow me away every time I see them. This was my forth time seeing the band and forth time thinking it was their best performance. This go around was slightly different than prior. They have a new bass player that was not on the tour but was substituted by David. David owned the neck of that bass. The only problem with his playing was that he didn’t have enough time to learn the entire catalog of tunes by The Bastard Suns making it difficult to satisfy requests. Really not that big of an issue because this isn’t a fan request driven show but the band strives to leave fans satisfied. Also, unlike other bands, The Bastard Suns have a lot of melodic parts that fall on the bass and make it essential. Another huge change was the addition of future Mrs. Clay Hiers, Whitney Carite on vocals. Clay and Whitney have some serious pipes! Whitney adds a great dynamic to all the songs. The whole band seemed very happy and more sober than other shows. Guitarist Wes Driscoll shredded as you would expect. Jay Tea was rockin’ so hard he broke his hi-hat and had to find a quick replacement. They played a couple of songs off their new CD. Surprisingly it sounded better than the CD! Spred The Dub’s keyboardist and trombone player came out for a couple songs. Everyone there was loving the show and were mostly there to see these guys. There was an off and on moshpit. Their show was really long as usual going past midnight. Fans ordered them shots while they were on stage. Also Matt Whitesides from No Bueno was pulled up to sing “My Pint”. The small crowd that remained at the end managed to win an encore with their cheering. The band came back out and played their cover of Queen’s “Fat Bottomed Girls”.
Overall it was a great show. Patrons got introduced to some great local music. The Roxy Theatre was a fun little venue to go to. I really hope that No Bueno gets back out and playing music. It will be interesting to see where some of these local bands end up. As typical with a Bastard Suns show they give you way more than your money’s worth. I already can’t wait for them to come back through town and I’ll pick them up some beer for the road!
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