BandWagon Magazine - April 2022 - Joshua Ray Walker by BandWagon Magazine

MUSIC reviews holdfast. PG. 4 kaitlyn williams PG. 6 young habitat pG. 8

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BANDWAGMAG.COM Publisher

ELY CORLISS

Editor

KEVIN JOHNSTON

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art director

CARTER KERNS

CONTRIBUTORS GABE ALLEN DAN ENGLAND VALERIE VAMPOLA

PINK FUZZ BLOOD RUNS DEEP

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JOSHUA RAY

WALKER KING OF THE HONKY-TONK MISFITS

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Holdfast. Movies

Valerie Vampola

BandWagon Magazine

Holdfast.’s new album Movies brings their expected electro dark-pop and rock aesthetic but leans into other styles that open their doors to new fans. “I Wanted To Live” has a dance groove complimented by rhythmic guitar and synth but hangs on to that dark poprock aesthetic. “I’ll Try” plays more into that same sound with chugging guitar and acoustic piano hits. These tracks point to The Resistance era of MUSE

influences, even down to Charlie Maddock’s singing style. He demonstrates a dramatic contrast in dynamics, one that MUSE’s lead Matt Bellamy is well known for, though Maddock’s tone is undoubtedly his own, becoming one of Colorado’s most recognisable lead vocals. In “Movies In My Head,” Charlie employs a soft and subtly mumbled tone, which completely contrasts the powerful belting he exerts in “I Wanted To Live.” For longtime fans, these tracks hold onto that same sound they’ve had since their days of competing in local battle of the bands events. Holdfast. stray from those roots a bit on the opening track, “Brother,” a lighter and more commercially-leaning track. It opens with a common harmonic progression pop listeners will recognize and a chorus that begs for a sing-along. The second track “Find A Way,” takes a complete left turn into bluesy outlaw territory that

lets those founding influences shine through, but more pop-formatted and without the Hendrix-like guitar solos Holdfast.’s favorite bands might use. Holdfast. continues to deliver strong songs while experimenting with new sounds and textures. No matter where on the spectrum between light pop and dark rock any given

listener would prefer, Holdfast. is doing their best to provide each with the soundtrack to their own movie.

Holdfast. celebrate the release of Movies Friday, April 15 at Cervantes Other Side in Denver. Catch them at FoCoMX in Fort Collins on Friday, April 22. Tickets and more at holdfast.band

Kaitlyn Williams

Under These Lights (Live) Valerie Vampola

BandWagon Magazine

Under These Lights, the new album from Denver’s Kaitlyn Williams, walks the line between neo soul and music for the masses, departing from the bedroom pop she showcased in her 2019 album and subsequent singles. This album was produced in collaboration with Downbeat Denver and was recorded live at The Lodge at Woods Boss Brewing in Denver. A contributing factor to this shift in style is the live recording, which leaves less room for glittery production and more room for natural musicianship. We still get glimpses of that older, more commercial style, particularly through her longtime collaborator Connor Terrone’s excellent guitar playing, which still reflects an indie pop sound as heard in “Pantomime.”

Ariana Grande, especially when she exploits her soprano range, incorporating melismatic riffs. It’s clear she is a fantastic vocalist worthy of comparison to Top 40 queens, but the most interesting part of her singing appears in “Places.” Here, she describes someone running out of breath, mimicking that cadence rhythmically as if she was gasping for air herself. This moment is not the performance of a perfect pop singer but a forward-thinking artist, much like jazz artist Cécile McLorin Salvant. When songs such as “Don’t Blink” and “The Truth” sit in the realm of neo-soul with a grooving rhythm section, cool chords and soulful vocal harmonies, there is a certain satisfaction in hearing all the pieces fit together in support of Williams’ voice. This congruency is especially noticeable live and it’s a style we hope she continues to embrace.

BandWagon presents Kaitlyn “Kdubbs” Williams on Saturday, April 16 at The Black Buzzard at Oskar Blues in Denver with Glass Human and GhostPulse. Tickets at BandWagonPresents. com – Under These Lights is out April 8, more at William's clean vocals rival R&B deliveries the likes of kkaitlynwilliams.com

Young Habitat

In First Person Perspective Gabe Allen

BandWagon Magazine

All music is storytelling. Even an instrumental melody can transport the listener into their imagination. But unlike prose, music seldom tells you what to imagine in a concrete, absolute way. It requires you to fill in the gaps — sometimes thin, sometimes wide. Young Habitat’s debut EP In First Person Perspective, is a meditation on this idea. “Though not all these stories are my own, I can only experience them through my own distorted lens, in first person perspective,” singer/producer/mastermind Riley Sbrana (also of Nearby Liars) says. Sbarna and saxophonist Hayden Farr (Trash Cat, The Burroughs) are colleagues at the Music District in Fort Collins. The pair has long riffed about a potential musical collaboration, but the inspiration to finally follow through came from an unlikely source. When the pandemic struck, venues shuttered and the two musicians

had more free time than they had in years. Seeking a new project to fill the void, Sbarna unearthed a collection of new and old ideas that hadn’t made it into his former band’s catalog. Then, he and Farr began trading the tracks back and forth, layer by layer. Young Habitat was born. Though In First Person Perspective retains the emotional vulnerability of Sbrana’s previous work, the sonic landscape is a left turn from Nearby Liars. Sbrana’s understated vocals often devolve into heavily affected opacity. The instrumentation is reminiscent of lo-fi hip hop with frequent saxophone odysseys provided by Farr. It’s one part contemporary Bon Iver and one part Porches with a sprinkle of neo soul. It’s both melancholic and beautiful. “I was feeling okay… then I stood up,” a pitch-shifted Sbrana croons over sparse reverb-soaked guitars and a minimal beat in “FATIGUE.” At least that’s what it sounds like he is saying. While the lyrics aren’t completely clear, the emotion is crystal. A deeply felt tiredness that is all too relatable after living through the past two years. As the album unfolds, Sbarna meditates on coming of age away from home, radical self-care and self-doubt. Though the music is intimately produced, it’s never busy; each element placed with the utmost care.

In First Person Perspective by Young Habitat is out April 8. Presave at younghabitat.comwill be released Friday, March 18. More at BigBrooklynMusic.com

. n i d e v i l t s e b is a st or y

We are a city of diversity and innovation, both in who we are and how we think. Instinctively leading, rarely following. There’s a culture here around creating opportunity and challenging expectations, one that shines through everything from a vibrant arts and music scene to a growing downtown area, bustling with authentic local restaurants, boutique shops and award-winning microbreweries. We’re a city of ideas, a touch of the unexpected and a story that’s even better lived in than told. Our event calendar is never lacking for an opportunity to enjoy yourself. Stay tuned to MyGreeley.com for what’s coming soon.

UNC•GREELEY JAZZ FESTIVAL UNC CAMPUS

COMMONS APRIL 21-23, 2022

4:30 PM 7:30 PM

Featured ARTIST

OF THE MONTH

JYEMO CLUB

“F

rom my own experiences, I've always wished more people from this country would listen to music that is not sung in English,” Jonny Jyemo tells BandWagon. “There is so much out there. Language should not be a barrier, but an invitation to connect. We are becoming increasingly connected around the world – I wanted to present that in a musical way,” he says.

Jyemo is the founder of Jyemo Club, a Colorado band based on a simple, inclusive idea: a concert where people from anywhere in the world would feel welcome. Where beats invite dancing and lyrics are felt beyond language. The Club has so many varying backgrounds that they can only be described as universal. With musicians hailing from Havana, The Philippines, Zimbabwe, Mexico and the US, the global vibes are front and center.

HEAR THE NEW SINGLES FROM JYEMO CLUB ON THE COLORADO SOUND AND VISIT SWEETWINEGROUP.COM FOR MORE!

It’s the band’s mantra and part of the story behind their formation. “As a working musician, I am lucky enough to play many different kinds of music with people from all over the world,” Jyemo says. “Naturally you are going to make friends and form musical bonds.” He says nearly half of the band’s lyrics are in Spanish, though with the nature of their live shows, that can change depending on where the music takes them. “We're definitely known as bilingual music,” Jyemo says, citing their March 25 Reggae en Español release “Volar Volar” featuring Whitney Hernandez. “This one shows our raza latina side.” “This is an exciting time for us,” he says. “With the help of Color Red Music, we'll be putting out a new song every month from

our upcoming record EPocha.” In late April, they release “Irie In the Morning” their first recording with the full 9 piece band. “Usually our studio output includes a select few members. This time we were able to put the whole Club on it and it came out super powerful – the true Jyemo Club sound.” The Club weaves a tapestry of reggae, drum & bass, and Latin rhythms, covering themes that speak to humanity – from our low points to our triumphs – in more than one mother tongue. “When all is hopeless, choose love,” Jyemo says. “The future is multilingual and multicultural. Let's start now.”

- by Kevin Johnston

REASONS TO LISTEN TO THE COLORADO SOUND • MORE COLORADO ARTISTS • KNOWLEDGEABLE DJS WHO LIVE HERE • NO COMMERCIALS • • UNIQUE PROGRAMMING YOU DON’T GET ANYWHERE ELSE FROM BEASTIE BOYS TO BILLIE HOLIDAY •

105.5FM & ONLINE AT COLORADOSOUND.ORG 11

BANDWAGON PHOTO OF THE MONTH HOLDFAST. | PLAYS APRIL 15 AT CERVANTES OTHER SIDE IN DENVER

14 14

JOSHUA RAY

WALKER KING OF THE HONKY-TONK MISFITS

BY DAN ENGLAND

oshua Ray Walker’s role model for “Sexy After Dark” was not Tim McGraw, Billy Ray Cyrus or Keith Urban. It was Conway Twitty. Twitty, Walker said in a phone interview with BandWagon, was sort of a goofy guy who managed to sing some of the most romantic songs in country music. It’s not like Twitty belonged on the cast of Hee Haw, but he wasn’t Elvis. One of the intentions of “Sexy After Dark,” Walker said, was to pay a backhanded but lighthearted tribute to all the people like Twitty.

“I am confident,” he said about his persona with a laugh, “but I wouldn’t say I’m sexual. I tried to imagine myself in that situation, and that was a hard role to play.” He does play it, though, not only on his new album See You Next Time, but in his increasingly common live appearances in major venues. He struggled a bit to throw in a wink at the end of his performance on The Tonight Show. But CONTINUED ON PG. 20

“There’s a history of country crooners who aren’t sexy – putting out sexy songs,” Walker said. “‘Slow Hand’ is one of my favorites. Twitty is so goofy-looking, but he sold it. He really sold it.” The other intent, Walker said, was to poke fun at himself. He knows he’s also not Elvis. He’s confident about himself, but he doesn’t like to take himself too seriously, and he acknowledges that his appearance may necessitate that: he feels sexy after dark, he said, after he’s had a few drinks in a dark corner of the bar, like many of us.

he did it. Everyone feels a little sexy inside, he said, and the song is about bringing it out, even if it is after dark. That “sexy gent” may be an act of sorts, one in which Walker plays the main character for once. Walker’s catalog is stuffed with songs about characters he’s come across in his 31 years, and in many of them, he plays at least a supporting role. One of his favorite things to do is hang out in bars, he said — he even snuck into them as a teenager — and the people he met in them make up the bulk of a trilogy of conceptual albums, released annually over the last three years.

“I really did live that life,” Walker said. “I spent most of my nights in bars around people who were kind of forgotten: sex workers and addicts and drug peddlers. I surrounded myself with those people because they have interesting lives and are underrepresented in our culture. Some are even pushed aside. I entertained those people for years. I found a lot of myself in those people.” Alas, he no longer has the time to do that. This is a good thing. He’s successful now (we just talked about The Tonight Show, but Rolling Stone named last year’s album as one of country’s best) and he travels from one town to the next. Once he signs merch and meets fans, he’s on his way. Walker says he can’t hang out all night anymore, but it’s necessary. “I have to take care of myself a little bit too,” he sighed. “I can’t party like I used to.”

YOU CAN TAKE THE BOY OUT OF THE COUNTRY … Walker’s music sounds like country, though he doesn’t try to push his music in any one direction. His voice does that for him. “Whatever I write sounds like country once we record it,” he said. “That’s just my voice. This is just how it sounds when I sing.” It’s his meal ticket now and a big reason why he’s found success, but he was ashamed of it at one point in his life. Kids teased him about his thick East Texas drawl when he was in junior high. He didn’t find much help at home either. He compares his dad’s voice to Boomhauer from King of the Hill.

Walker doesn’t shy away from classic country, even as the genre has veered towards pop since the early 90s, and his voice sounds as classic as it gets. But he also doesn’t feel restrained by it. “It’s important for me to give credit where it’s due,” he said. “It took me a long time to figure out what I sound like, and once I found it and found the band that could create that sound, everything came together.” Walker’s trio of albums, inspired by and filled with the honky-tonk misfits and forgotten barflies he encountered at his hangouts, took 10 years to write but only three years to release. They are

all fictional, but there’s some truth in every character he writes about. His new album, See You Next Time, is the final installment and follows up Glad You Made It. “The whole idea with the trilogy was to use the honky-tonk as a setting where all these different characters could interact with each other,” Walker said in a press release. He has some ideas for the next record already, but first, he may allow himself a little downtime, in one of his favorite bars, where things might get a little sexy once the sun goes down.

“I purposely tried to lose it because I sounded stupid,” Walker said of his accent. Still, the drawl is there. But it’s not nearly as pronounced as it is when he sings. He’s not ashamed of it anymore, though it definitely sounds country, even when he pushes the envelope on his albums.

“There’s some classic country, some 90s country, some rock, some distorted guitars — I love Jack White — and some Tom Petty vibes,” he said. “I’m happy to sound like Conway Twitty, but I’d be just as happy to sound like Lizzo. She’s one of my favorites.” Indeed, “Sexy After Dark” sounds like soul à la The Nightsweats until Walker’s voice comes in, with a horn section and slight 70s vibe. He said he heard the horns in it once he fleshed out the song a bit. The classic country artists had horns at times, he said, like Merle and Conway and Kenny: You just don’t hear that much anymore.

BANDWAGON PRESENTS JOSHUA RAY WALKER IN CONCERT WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20 AT THE MOXI THEATER IN GREELEY AND FRIDAY, APRIL 22 AT LULU’S DOWNSTAIRS IN MANITOU SPRINGS. TICKETS AVAILABLE NOW AT BANDWAGONPRESENTS.COM 21

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PINK FUZZ BLOOD RUNS DEEP

BY KEVIN JOHNSTON

If you notice a particular sweetness in the vocal harmonies soaring above the sludgy riffs, ripping guitar and ruthless drums of Denver rock trio Pink Fuzz, you’re on to something. If you pick out stylistic parallels to another Denver trio The Velveteers, you’re getting even warmer. The sound you hear in the voices of John and LuLu from Pink Fuzz is called blood harmony. That sounds pretty metal, which is appropriate, but it’s a term used to describe the unmatched accordance that happens when blood relatives sing together. John and LuLu Demitro (and their sister Demi of the Velveteers) are siblings. And it’s not an act like Jack and Meg white – it’s the real deal. Something in the matching strands of Demitro DNA just sounds good.

“WE WERE ALL BORN IN THE SAME HOSPITAL, STRANGELY ENOUGH, AND GREW UP IN SCHOOL TOGETHER,” JOHN DEMITRO TELLS BANDWAGON. “AROUND HIGH SCHOOL WE ALL STARTED GETTING INTO ROCK AND ROLL, PUT TOGETHER A HIGH SCHOOL GROUP AND PLAYED A TON. OVER THE YEARS THE BAND CHANGED A MILLION TIMES BUT LULU AND I STAYED WRITING PARTNERS.” Maybe it’s easier to not break up as a band when you’re related, but John and LuLu also brought a former, non-Demitro comrade back into the family to complete the vibe. “Forrest rejoined again about 5 years ago,” Demitro says of drummer Forest Raup, “and that’s the origins of Pink Fuzz. We wanted to create the heaviest, fuzzed-out band juxtaposed with catchy, memorable lyrics and melodies.”

The Pink Fuzz fam is currently on a three week West Coast tour to Treefort Music Fest in Boise, Idaho, hitting the Weekender Festival in Seattle and more along the way. The road is like home for the trio, the place where they cut their teeth and figured out who they were, show after show. “Lots of extensive touring around the country has really shaped us and inspired us,” Demitro says. “Touring, you really get to know each other. We always have a great time traveling and playing music.” After Treefort, Pink Fuzz will take a short tour break, and then hit the stage at The Aggie Theater in Fort Collins on Friday, April 22 for the proper return of Fort Collins’ beloved FoCoMX festival. A month later they will play a headlining

show at The Hi-Dive in Denver on May 21. They’re stoked to play these Colorado shows and show their home-turf how the songs have stretched while on tour.

“THE NEW MATERIAL IS SOME OF OUR FAVORITE TO PLAY,” DEMITRO SAYS, “AND SOME OF THE MORE CHALLENGING TO EXECUTE. MAYBE THAT’S WHY WE LIKE IT! IT’S HEAVIER BUT STILL HAS THESE BEAUTIFUL SOARING VOCAL HOOKS THAT MAKE YOU WALK AWAY SINGING IT.” But don't forget – Pink Fuzz sings, but they also shred, channeling a huge amount of energy into the songs lined up for the new album, due out some-

time in 2023. “They’re also really fast,” he says of the new tunes, “great for making you want to drive fast.” ... spoken like a touring veteran ... “We feel that’s an important ingredient in good rock and roll.” As per those ingredients, FoCoMx festival-goers can expect to hear the new material live, Demitro says, and Pink Fuzz promise fresh new merch at their Hi-Dive show in May. Things seem to be gelling. “Tone-wise, I feel we’ve really honed in on what we sound like live,” he says, stating that each member’s unique twist on their instrument has started to mesh better than ever before. “Also, the lyrics are some of the best I feel we’ve ever put out,” he says. “We’re very excited to share these songs with everyone!” The crowds, festivals and gigging across the nation are, of course, an inspiring highlight of life in a young band. But during the pandemic, the Demitros proved that being a creative unit is just who they are. Unlike other artists who struggled to find the muse during the last two years, Pink Fuzz seized the moment. And as a self-produced and self-managed band, the list of opportunities to stay busy was long. “Honestly, quarantine was another defining moment,” Demitro says. “That was really motivational for us – to get creative, release videos and new music. We actually stayed extremely busy and released a lot of content we are really proud of. It’s a really satisfying feeling to do those things,” Demitro says, “Also a ton of work.” It seems for Pink Fuzz, indie rock n’ roll is simply in their blood.

PINK FUZZ PERFORMS ON FRIDAY, APRIL 22 AT AGGIE THEATER IN FORT COLLINS FOR FOCOMX. (MORE AT PINKFUZZBAND.COM). THE FOCOMX FESTIVAL TAKES PLACE APRIL 22 AND 23 IN DOWNTOWN FORT COLLINS. FOR TICKETS AND COMPLETE LINE-UP OF THE FESTIVAL, GO TO FOCOMX.FOCOMA.ORG 25

BANDWAGON PHOTO OF THE MONTH KAITLYN WILLIAMS | PLAYS APRIL 16 AT THE BLACK BUZZARD AT OSKAR BLUES IN DENVER

BandWagon Magazine - April 2022 - Joshua Ray Walker

Articles inside

kaitlyn williams

holdfast