129 APRIL 4-10, 2024 westword.com WESTWORD | CONTENTS | SHOPPING & SERVICES | ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT | FOOD & DRINK | MUSIC & VENUES | Best Rock Concerts Ipecac ipecacrocks.com Sheer talent dedicated to pure, raw hard rock — that’s Ipecac. The band delivers unbridled performances that hurtle au- diences to the golden ages of the genre with a healthy dose of punk and grunge, too, evoking such greats as Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden and Hole. The members are natural-born rock stars: Vocalist Isabella Osborne is a powerhouse, whipping across the stage with mic in hand, while founding member/guitarist Ariadnee Ziady tanta- lizes the audience with heavy, crushing chords and solos alongside fast-and-furious drumming from Kanyon Dickerson, all of it held down by Tayte Eubanks’s masterful bass. The band’s self-titled EP was released in September 2023 and has kept us hooked while we check Ipecac’s socials and web- site for upcoming shows. Best Revival of Classic Rock Velvet Daydream thevelvetdaydream.com The ’70s are alive and well in Velvet Day- dream, the new psychedelic rock-and-roll band from Broomfi eld that wowed us with its self-titled debut album, released in Oc- tober 2023. Reminiscent of such greats as Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath and the Rolling Stones, the four-piece has also won our hearts with its live shows, which include plenty of headbanging and top-tier mu- sicianship from members Nick Schwartz (drums/keys/vocals), Ryder King (guitar/ vocals), Jude Pfanstiel (bass/vocals) and Kaeden Keys (guitar/vocals). If you’ve ever wished you’d been at Woodstock, put these guys on your list of bands to see. Best Out-of-Pocket Lyrics Horse Bitch horsebitch.bandcamp.com If you’re an underground music fan and tend to frequent shows at the hi-dive or Skylark, you’ve probably seen Horse Bitch perform and thought, “What the fuck are they saying?” Take the lyrics “I’m gonna start a Harry Styles stan account that gets so big that I can’t go out in public,” for example, in “a song about fuck,” from the 2021 album RIP Pistachio, or “Getting fucked up on cough syrup the night we slept inside your car,” on “a song about cough syrup.” You might not know what they mean, but once you learn the words, the live shows will have you banging your head and screaming every syllable. After listening to pretty much any music after- ward, you’ll come to realize that no one writes lyrics like Horse Bitch. Best Soul-Shaking Stage Presence Rootbeer Richie & the Reveille rootbeerrichie.com A reveille (from the French for “wake up”) is the morning bugle signal used in the military, and this Reveille knows just how to arouse your body and stir your spirits. The rhythm-and-blues swamp-pop crew might sound like it was born on the bayou, but that’s only true of the band’s frontman. Hailing from Cajun country (aka Louisiana), “Rootbeer” Richie Richardson spent time rambling from town to town and soaking up new sounds before eventually landing in the Mile High City. That odyssey resulted in a formidable eight-piece Denver supergroup of experienced rockers who always bring their best soul-shaking chops to the table. Best Band of Activists Los Mocochetes losmocochetes.wixsite.com/mocoso If giving a shit is hot, then consider Los Mocochetes an active Colorado volcano. Not only is each and every bandmember a multi-disciplined artist, but they are all extremely dedicated to community activ- ism. The charming Chicano funk outfi t has often been described as making “protest music you can dance to,” and its socio- politically charged lyrics accomplish that task with wit as sharp as a machete. The ever-evolving, intoxicating sound helps set the stage for these hardworking hometown heroes and their like-minded comrades to create and hold space for all that need it. Best Punk Music Video “Bad Indian” Dead Pioneers deadpioneers.bandcamp.com Indigenous activist, visual artist and spo- ken-word performer Gregg Deal wanted to put a spoken-word piece to music, and that led to his forming a band, Dead Pio- neers, which released its eponymous debut album, recorded at the Blasting Room, last September, and grabbed attention with sev- eral concerts. One show, at Seventh Circle Music Collective, was recorded for the “Bad Indian” music video, which is inter- laced with scenes of Deal confronting Na- tive stereotypes. The music, the scenery and the lyrics are pure punk, and so is the album. The band’s already gotten half a million streams, and we see it going far. Best Sad-Boy Psych-Punk Band The Sickly Hecks thesicklyhecks.com Raymond Suny and Steve Hartman of the Sickly Hecks have always been DIY punks at heart, but they’re not afraid to embrace a potential pop crossover. After all, they’ve always understood that the foundation of most punk bands is still just a bastardiza- tion of pop music. So after they graduated from rowdy house shows to self-produc- ing their work on a DIY label, it was not surprising to fi nd that they had somehow become a boundary-pushing post-punk powerhouse. As the musicians continue to grow, so will the band evolve musically. But the Sickly Hecks will always remain tethered by Suny’s melancholic “sad boy” melodies. Best Dream-Pop Band Little Trips littletrips.co Formerly known as Whiskey Autumn, the Denver duo of Greg Laut and Jason Paton dissolved that project in 2020 and almost immediately reincarnated as Little Trips. At that point, Laut and Paton had to wait until the world e f n g d e d e n r l r r e l d e y y e y d continued on page 130 OPEN 24/7 NOW HIRING DENVERSTRIPCLUB.COM ASK ABOUT EARLY BIRD SPECIAL ................. .................. ................. .................. .............................. ............................ .............................. ............................ ....................... ................... ................... ....................... ................... ...................
