MAY 13 ........................................HARLAND WILLIAMS JUN 10 .............................................UNITE TO FIGHT VI AUG 5 ...........................LES CLAYPOOL’S BASTARD JAZZ AUG 9 ..................................................TIM HEIDECKER AUG 14 .........................................................BOMBINO JUST ANNOUNCED 15- APR 17 21 16 APR APR APR 22 APR 23 25 APR 30 APR ROOSTER & PARTY GURU PRODUCTIONS PRESENT: THE DOIN SHOWS PLAYIN MUSIC TOUR OPIUO CANABLISS, PHYPHR (4/15), MEGAN HAMILTON, MZG (4/16) 4/20 FEAT. MADEINTYO AMTRAC FRIDAYFITZ PRESENTS BOB MOSES RYNE, BEN BEAL, HUTTY, JACK MOE, CRASH G X MVRS 97.3 KBCO & SKA BREWING PRESENT: GET A JOB TOUR 2022 THE GREYBOY ALLSTARS JOEY DOSIK 97.3 KBCO, WESTWORD, PARTY GURU PRODUCTIONS & TERRAPIN CARE STATION PRESENT APR BOOMBOX FEAT. BACKBEAT BRASS ETHNO (JEFF FRANCA OF THIEVERY CORP.) CHANNEL 93.3 & ROOSTER PRESENT: PUP RETURNS: THANK FUCKING GOD PUP SHEER MAG, PINKSHIFT EVERYONE ORCHESTRA FEAT. ALANA ROCKLIN (STS9), KEVIN DONOHUE (SUNSQUABI), JEREMY SALKEN(BIG GIGANTIC), THE GREENHOUSE BAND & MORE! MAY THE PURPLE TOUR MAY GOOD TO SEE YOU 2022 MAY 15 17 MAY 19 22 MAY MAY 23 6 PI’ERRE BOURNE 8 HENRY ROLLINS 9 WELCOME TO NIGHT VALE DAVID BROMBERG QUINTET MAY THE MUSIC PERFORMING DISRAELI GEARS & CLAPTON CLASSICS OF CREAM FEAT. WILL JOHNS & KOFI BAKER 105.5 THE COLORADO SOUND PRESENTS: 50TH ANNIVERSARY CONCERT AN EVENING WITH BRUCE COCKBURN 105.5 THE COLORADO SOUND PRESENTS: PICKIN’. GRINNIN’. TELLIN’ STORIES. TAKIN’ REQUESTS TOUR TODD SNIDER THE CODY SISTERS VERSIONS OF THE TRUTH TOUR MAY THE PINEAPPLE THIEF FEAT. GAVIN HARRISON WITH SPECIAL GUESTS UPCOMING SHOWS MAY 28 ...................................................................BUILT TO SPILL JUN 8 .............................................................. TIGRAN HAMASYAN JUN 12 ......................................................................PURITY RING JUL 23 ...............................................................JAMES MCMURTRY AUG 4 ............................................................................. SON VOLT 14 17 MAY MAY 20 MAY 13 MAY 15 16 APR APR 21 APR 27 APR 28 GRATEFUL SHRED APR APR GRATEFUL SHRED INDUSTRIES, RELIX, PHILM & TERRAPIN CARE STATION PRESENT: GO EAST III TOUR ROOSTER PRESENTS 30 MAY MAY 5 6 12 MAY BURY MIA THE LOSERS CLUB, DAYSHAPER, SLAP HAPPY PARTY KNUCKLE PUPS MAY INDIE 102.3 PRESENTS MR. MOTA’S GRADUATION DELTA SPIRIT PALM PALM 9 THE CHURCH FOX 30TH ANNIVERSARY THE THUGS FEAT. SPECIAL GUEST SEAN KELLY BOUND FOR PEACHES: TRIBUTE TO ALLMAN BROTHERS + TEDESCHI TRUCKS FEAT. MEMBERS FROM EMINENCE ENSEMBLE, ENVY ALO, LEGATO & MORE 88.5 KGNU PRESENTS START MAKING SENSE NILÜFER YANYA TASHA, ADA LEA SON LUX NAPPY NINA UPCOMING SHOWS MAY 21 ...........................................................................ELDER ISLAND MAY 28 ....................................................................................JANTSEN JUN 3 .................................................................................TAYLOR FEST JUN 9 ......................................................................DANIEL NUNNELEE JUL 15 .............................COLORADO’S FINEST UNDERGROUND HIP HOP JUL 2 .............................................. THE EXPENDABLES JUL 16 ...................................................... STEELY DEAD JUST ANNOUNCED ROOSTER, TERRAPIN CARE STATION & PARADISE FOUND PRESENT THE VELVETEERS DRY ICE, ROSE VARIETY NO SIGNAL MELLOWPUNK, SHADY OAKS, BIG PINCH YOU’RE DEAD TOUR BRIANNA CHICKENFRY 97.3 KBCO & PARADISE FOUND PRESENT BARSTOOL’S SLEEP WHEN APR MIKE CAMPBELL & 23 THE DIRTY KNOBS SAMMY BRUE FRIDAY CRAP: ADDICTED 222 MUSIC Get Glammed BY JOHN BEAR Two moments in Aaron Hart’s life led to the creation of Denver’s Love Stallion, a four- piece band that pays homage to the glam rock and hair metal of yore. One was a hard-rock set by Prince in 2013. The other was that time in 2014 when Hart gobbled a headful of mushrooms and hit up a KISS/ Def Leppard show at Ball Arena (then called the Pepsi Center). “We were just right in front of where Gene Simmons stands,” Hart recalls. “He’s staring at you, and his tongue is out and shit. I’ve played KISS pinball since I was ten, but when it’s right in front of you and you’re on mushrooms, it’s just completely mind-blowing. It was like the most spiri- tual experience.” Hart remembers walking to get a drink in between sets, and he and his friend Rob McLemore, the original guitarist in Love Stallion, began writing the lyrics to an early Love Stallion track while singing vocals into their phones. They’d seen these kinds of bands play before, but for the fi rst time, they were struck by the spectacle. “It was just a pivotal moment,” Hart says. “The whole fucking Pepsi Center was going nuts. So, yeah, for me, it was kind of like one of those big turning points, like, ‘Oh, my God, we have to do this, but do it our way.’” Hart, who plays guitar, is joined by Tay Hamilton on lead guitar, Sabrina Winter on bass and Frankie Bones on drums. The four have formed a stable lineup the past few years and have released two albums. The group wrestled with its branding, because “hair metal” to many evokes plain metal, which by modern standards is a far cry from the bands that haunted the Sunset Strip in 1986. “Some of those bands started and they were called heavy metal,” Hart says. “But what they were playing wasn’t super hard, necessarily. We’re more like straight rock and roll with a little blues thrown in. When we’ve said hair metal, people say, ‘This isn’t metal.’ That’s why we moved it to glam rock, even though we have long hair.” Love Stallion writes and records its 28 own material, releasing its sophomore effort, Hot to Trot, last year. The music does recall a certain era in 1980s popular music — leather-clad, lipstick-sporting dudes with big hair — and the band has played the famous Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles and shared the stage with classic glam acts such as L.A. Guns. Hamilton says MUSIC Love Stallion resurrects the glam rock and hair metal of the ’80s. the Sunset Strip scene of the 1980s has a certain mysticism to it, and the band draws on that sound and infl uence. “It’s not the only thing that this genre or this style works with, but it’s defi nitely a good place for us to go play,” he says. Considering that the genre bordered on self-parody even at the time of its creation, it’s easy to jump to the conclusion that Love Stallion is playing a joke, albeit a heavily involved one. Hypersexual and wholly juvenile song titles like “Highway 69” and “Bareback Cowboy” don’t bolster its case for sincerity, but the band insists that the music is all done in earnest. Hart looks to Los Angeles act Steel Pan- ther, which will headline a show on April 16 at the Fillmore (Love Stallion is opening), as an example of his band’s commitment to the genre. Steel Panther has songs with titles like “Bukkake Tears” and jokes about sex rehab on stage during its highly profane performances. What the group does could be called a pastiche of ’80s glam rock. But that doesn’t mean that Steel Panther isn’t serious about what it does. Hart fi nds the shtick genius, and Love Stallion engages in a bit of the same on stage. For example, the band employs a set of sexy disco legs — a take on the disco ball, but with a nice set of a gams — that was a custom job made from a hot-wax mold of Hart’s own legs. It’s complete nonsense, of course, but everyone is having a good time, so who really cares? “Maybe that’s the whole joke,” Hart says. “It’s kind of a long-lost genre that no one’s doing. People are like, ‘Oh, hair band. Are you serious?’ And we are serious. It’s a tongue-in-cheek, big-rock sound we love so much.” Love Stallion plays the Fillmore Auditorium, 1510 Clarkson Street, on Saturday, April 16; get tickets, starting at $19.75, at livenation. com. Hot to Trot is available at lovestallion- rocks.com. APRIL 14-20, 2022 WESTWORD | MUSIC | CAFE | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | LETTERS | CONTENTS | westword.com SUSAN M WOLCOTT
