Sam Zalkin is a photographer and musician from Denver. If you’re not from Denver, you might not know who he is but if you’ve been paying attention to the underground scene in the Mile High City you may have run across his photographic work documenting bands playing places like Squirm Gallery, Seventh Circle Music Collective, D3, Hi-Dive, The Marquis Theater and elsewhere. He was born in Houston, Texas but moved to Denver around age five when his father moved to town for a job at Children’s Hospital. In seventh grade Zalkin was encouraged by his school counselor to apply to go to Denver School of the Arts where he would attend through high school graduation in 2026. He was a film student who got into photography when he got access to a camera in his early-to-mid-teens and early in his tenure at DSA he met a friend who introduced him to K Records and Kill Rock Stars bands which lead him to a different world of music than what his parents were into. Zalkin wrote a piece about David Lynch for school and his teacher Amy McGrath told him her daughter was friends with someone opening for Midwife at the Bluebird Theater in 2024 and that lead Zalkin to an internship and then employment at Wax Trax records and being around the likes of the members of Pink Lady Monster, Cherry Spit and going to Squirm gallery for the first time and encountering Ryan Wong and his musical projects. Rapidly Sam became a fixture in the local scene shooting shows and bringing a uniquely creative vision to the visual presentation of the bands in post-processing and honing his photography skills. His work has graced the artwork for east coast-based experimental rock band Neptune’s album Play Some Music (2026) and he has done short documentaries on Denver musician and long-time Wax Trax employee Doug Mioducki (title Common American Crow, Mioducki has been in bands Felt Pilotes, Koala, North Americans, Sparkles, CP-208, Quits etc) as well as Squirm Gallery (titled Something Real). Now Zalkin is off to attend school at Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore where he will likely further pursue his work in film and photography but he will always be a key contributor to documenting the Denver scene the past couple of years plus.
Listen to our interview with Sam Zalkin on Bandcamp and see his band Apple Blossom at D3 Arts at 3:45 on Saturday, July 25, 2026 as part of the Blucifer Fest Satellite event.
Modern Leisure is the songwriting project of singer/guitarist Casey Banker. The latter grew up in the Denver metro area and played guitar from a relatively young age before attempting college at UNC in Greeley where he ended up meeting like-minded musicians and forming his first band that played live that anyone who was part of the late 2000s Denver underground music world has heard of called The Don’ts And Be Carefuls. The group made a mark in Denver with well-developed songwriting and exuberant energy as a live band with poetic lyrics that truly channeled the experience of being young and experience all the strong feelings that come from being in your early 20s. Banker’s lyrics were clearly telling stories that felt vivid and thoughtful and the music like a post-punk band with a knack for dance rhythms and evocative melodies. The band faded out by the early 2010s and Banker joined dream pop group Shady Elders for a time until forming a project that could be a vehicle for his creative vision and Modern Leisure was formed in the mid-2010s and garnered attention for Banker’s strong songwriting and charismatic live performances. Before the end of he decade Sumner Erhard joined the band and brought his own accomplished musicianship to the band. But like many musical endeavors Modern Leisure went on hiatus with the pandemic. Banker went on to develop his DJ business as DJ Kay Bay and affiliated with the Weird Touch night when it had a residency at what is now The Roxy on Broadway. That experience gave Banker his current career as a DJ for events including weddings. But of course he had songs in the can and a new set of material he wanted to write and develop and Modern Leisure returned to life with Banker recording new songs with contributions from studio musicians and a producer Jake Supple formerly of the psychedelic rock band Plum and contributions from Will Walden of ambient/psychedelic rock band StaG. The new live edition of Modern Leisure debuted on July 2, 2026 at the Hi-Dive with a lineup that included Erhard and his Dollpile bandmate Isadora Eden proving the continued vitality of the older songs and the vibrancy of the new songs. The lead single “tied in a knot” was released on July 21, 2026 and expresses a catharsis from the oppression of the working class by the oligarchy. Expect further singles to be released throughout 2026 and a new album in 2027.
Listen to our interview with Casey Banker on Bandcamp and follow Modern Leisure at the links below. Modern Leisure will perform at Blucifer’s First Rodeo on Friday 24, 2026 at 7PM at Adrift Tiki Bar.
Blucifer Fest pre-show, photo courtesy Gillian Pasley and Mike Young
Blucifer’s First Rodeo is the debut edition of Blucifer Fest, a music festival focused on local artists, independent venues and businesses as well as DIY spaces and the active Denver house show scene. The festival runs from Thursday July 23, 2026 through Sunday July 26, 2026 beginning with the DIY venue shows, the small venues and businesses on Friday and Saturday and closing with the house shows on Sunday and ending with a few performances including bands from the fest’s primary organizers. Two of the main heads behind the festival are Gillian Pasley of the cosmic Americana band Caspar Milquetoast and Mike Young of the psychedelic country group Clementine Was Right. Both had extensive experience in the world of underground and DIY music before moving to Denver during and shortly after the lifting of the pandemic restrictions. Pasley came from the East Coast and went to college in Ohio having organized a festival while in high school and putting together shows as a student at Oberlin and playing in various bands prior to moving to Colorado in 2022. Young is from California but has spent time in Portland, Oregon, New Mexico and other parts of the country playing in bands and organizing shows himself before landing in Colorado in 2020. Both have become significant participants in the local music community in addition to writing music and performing in two of the local scenes most noteworthy bands. For the festival the two pooled resources and traded ideas and honestly planned and executed one of the most ambitious local music festivals in the modern history of Denver by incorporating the DIY music scene more completely as well as the house show scene not to mention the significant Baker district area that has been a home to a good deal of local music venues featuring underground artists for decades. The festival involves hosts of the venues and Pasley and Young aimed to help participants know how to do this sort of thing themselves and in effect become stakeholders in the event in a way that empowers them some too. Going to any or all nights of the festival and you could randomly pick one of the venues and see a band that represents well some corner of the music scene as well as catch some of the more celebrated relatively underground artists. The festival sold out more than a month before it happened indicating that the festival was a success before it even happened at least on that score but also the planning of not just the shows but the amenities and promotion of the event and how the organizers of Blucifer Fest have thought about so many aspects of the event and put together shows leading up to the show with aims of highlighting the local scene throughout the year. Other festivals take note and not just those in Denver.
Listen to our interview with Gillian Pasley and Mike Young on Bandcamp and for more information about the festival please visit bluciferfest.com. The festival runs from July 23-26, 2026 and is currently sold out but you might be able to find a ticket.
White Rose Motor Oil is an Americana/cowpunk duo from Denver that launched in 2018. Singe/guitarist Eryn DeSomer and drummer Keith Hoerig-DeSomer were both members of notable alt-country bands The Hollyfelds and The Jeckylls in 2000s and 2010s. Hoerig-DeSomer was also one of the founding and longtime members of ska-punk/rock band Five Iron Frenzy. By 2016 The Jeckylls were winding down and Eryn DeSomer played some solo shows but that evolved into White Rose Motor Oil by 2018 when Hoerig-DeSomer decided he would learn to play drums. From the beginning WRMO was playing regular gigs and as part of its circuit it would play out of town shows regionally and well beyond. Its lively and emotionally-charged music equal parts garage rock, punk and alt-country and straight ahead country with some deep mood in the mix garnered the band a following and the duo has released a string of EPs and albums all along including the excellent 2023 album The Gift of Poison. One thing that has set the band apart is how its music fits in fine with a broad spectrum of bookings because the presentation has a lot of spirit and edge and the superb songwriting and DeSomer’s powerful and charismatic vocals transcend specific genre. Also its simple format of drums, guitar and vocals comes across as much more forceful than seems likely. The band also regularly donates money to causes for social and civil rights justice because it’s obvious the world could use some encouragement at improvement and even a casual listen to band’s music reveals it’s about more than just entertainment. Look for the band’s new album out on vinyl, download and streaming on Halloween 2026.
White Rose Motor Oil performs at Blucifer’s First Rodeo (aka Blucifer Fest) on Friday, July 24, 2026 at 6PM at Wax Trax Broadway Bazaar. You can also catch WRMO at The Skylark Lounge on Tuesday, August 11 at The Skylark Lounge with Minot and Zealot, at Rugby Rocks Festival on Saturday, August 29 at 1PM in Aguilar, Colorado and at Bar 404 for the album release show on Saturday, October 31 at 7PM.
Michael McGrath is one of the premier live music photographers based out of Colorado. Born in the Bronx, McGrath found himself seeing the Rolling Stones play Folsom Field in Boulder in 1981 and found a resonance with the state and has lived in New Mexico and Colorado since. Having studied at University of Northern Colorado in Greeley and University of New Mexico in Albuquerque he took advantage of his access to camera equipment and film processing facilities to focus on his early endeavors in live music photography. Since around the mid 90s McGrath has shot for New York Times, The Denver Post, Vice, Relix and various other publications. His photos of Yoko Ono were included in the impressive one volume career retrospective of her work titled Infinite Universe At Dawn. These days McGrath is the primary photographer for the music website Audiovore. All of these details, though, leave out McGrath’s presence in Denver as one of the most active photographers of live music for over a decade and a half always capturing the essence of the show and knowing how to get the right lighting and angle to convey the life inherent in the subjects of his photos with high quality equipment. You can see him patiently and quietly getting the perfect images knowing so many of the rooms well and the lighting situations he is likely to encounter and how to adapt to dynamic situations. But beyond being a photographer McGrath has become a part of the local music community because of his expansive personality, inherent friendliness and unpretentious grace. The world of music through McGrath’s lens is a better place than we’re used to and one you want to be involved with because it lends the art a timeless and compelling quality that isn’t present in all concert photography and an intuitive sense of composition born of inherent skill and honed practice. The interview presented is very casual with plenty of surprises and left turns.
Listen to our interview with Michael McGrath on Bandcamp and follow his work at the links below. He, his wife Amy and one of their children Molly, a musician and writer, will be guests at the next Analog Salon at Posner Center for International Development on Wednesday, July 15, 2026 with doors and DJ at 6pm, talk at 7pm during which the family will in the tradition of the event discuss some of the records that most impacted them. Molly’s band Tassles will also play a set.
Emily Rach Beisel released their sophomore album Sumptuous Branching via avant-garde label Amalgam on April 10, 2026. The album informed partly by late medieval chant and its use of intertwining voices and a kind of organic sonic architecture free of the strictures of codified modern music theory and expectations on the part of the artist and listener. Beisel is a Chicago-based composer, improviser, educator, curator and specialist in woodwinds known for commanding and visceral live performances in which they employ extended technoque in vocals and instrumentals with analog electronics as part of the musical pieces. The album has an entrancing enigmatic quality with an expansive heaviness balanced with a keen sense of emotional atmospherics. While working on the album Beisel was reading Mark Z. Danielewski’s 2000 album House of Leaves and for the track “Cantilevers” in particular the novel’s lack of conventional resolution and a suggestion of endless pathways of endless varieties finds a parallel with Beisel’s idea of a chant in which the distinct voices often begin together but go along to their natural trajectories. Beisel conceived of the album as a set of songs that had a unified quality that could be performed live as a solo artist. Listening to the album one can hear the challenge of presenting the material live with its complex layers and rhythms yet it also feels of a piece that tells a story of a mythical journey of personal transformation through audacious creative action. Fans of Sun Ra’s more out there synth explorations and Popol Vuh’s more cosmic folk and drone leanings will deeply appreciate Beisel’s cinematic compositions and their willingness to go off standard musical paths. Sumptuous Branching is out now on limited vinyl, digital download and streaming.
Listen to our interview with Emily Rach Beisel on Bandcamp and follow the artist at the links below.
The Builders and the Butchers, photo by Tari Gunstone
The Builders and the Butchers is a folk rock/punk band from Portland, Oregon that formed in 2005 among friends and musicians who found themselves coming to the Rose City separately from Anchorage, Alaska. The group in its early days performed street shows completely unplugged. But eventually the group plugged in but not before establishing itself as a lively group of performers whose songs began as lyrics written by guitarist and singer Ryan Sollee. The group built a regional and then national and international following in underground music for its commanding live show and lyrics that always delved into subjects of the current human condition combining personal issues with social commentary. Now with its new full-length, its seventh, No Tomorrow (out April 2, 2026 on vinyl, digital download and streaming via Bandman Recording Co.) The Builders and the Butchers offer both a critique of the prevailing socio-economic order and a message of hope in basic human connections and our capacity to experience joy and to create in spite of failing systems and political leaders, in spite of the machinations of the powerful and the wealthy whose influence really only exists with our collective consent. The band’s storytelling with music has always been vivid and meaningful but with the new record it is reaching a new peak in its songwriting.
Listen to our interview with Ryan Sollee on Bandcamp and follow The Builders and the Butchers at the links below.
Anne Richmond Boston was an early and current member of Atlanta-based New Wave/jangle pop band The Swimming Pool Q’s. As a vocalist and keyboard player, Boston was in the group in time for playing opening slots for Devo and Police in the late 70s. The Q’s were a staple in the college rock world of the 80s with Boston highlighted as a powerhouse singer with the band. She left the group in 1987, 5 years before its 1992 split (reuniting in 1998), and in 1990 released his first solo album The Big House of Time. The follow up I Should Be Happy was recorded with contributions from musical luminaries like Terry Adams (NRBQ), Marti Jones, Syd Straw, David Barbe (Sugar, Mercyland), Billy Conway (Morphone), Bob Elsey (The Swimming Pool Q’s), Michael Lorant (Indigo Girls) among others. But the record was shelved for reasons not even clear to Boston either. Thanks to friend Clay Harper over thirty years later Boston remixed eight of the 12 original songs recorded and added seven for a 2025 release on vinyl, CD and digital. The album sounds perfectly in line with the current era with the kind of songwriting that recalls classic pop, Laurel Canyon folk rock and the kind of art folk pop one might associate with Joni Mitchell. Boston sounds confident and soulful singing songs that seem to be about existential crises before that became a term used to describe a state of mind in which one grapples with life pressures and a sociopolitical climate that doesn’t support anyone’s best life. When writing the songs Boston likely had no idea it would be a perfect record for the 2020s while simultaneously capturing the mood of the early 90s as well.
Listen to our interview with Anne Richmond Boston on Bandcamp and follow the singer/songwriter/graphic designer/visual artist at the links below.
Danny Clinch photographing Low Cut Connie on December 21st 2025 in Asbury Park New Jersey.
Low Cut Connie is a rock and roll band based out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The group fronted by singer, pianist and songwriter Adam Weiner began in 2010 as a way to manifest his songs as a dynamic live act. Prior to Low Cut Connie Weiner was mainly a solo artist who played piano and sang in bars of all stripes, restaurants, honky tonks, warehouses, anarchist squats, DIY spaces and all manner of places where the opportunity presented itself. By the time an actual band came into the picture Weiner had honed his stagecraft and command of an audience from thousands of hours of getting in front of not always receptive audiences. The 2010 debut Low Cut Connie album Get Out the Lotion, despite being recorded in original guitarist Neil Duncan’s garage in Florida in just four days, had a captivating immediacy and freshness that garnered critical acclaim from the likes of Robert Christgau (writing for MSN rather than Village Voice at the time), Ken Tucker of NPR and Merrill Garbus (Tune-Yards).
Across subsequent albums Weiner’s songwriting built upon an ability to express stories and situations about the lived experiences of real people as they are, not overly romanticized, and discerning and vividly articulating an essence of the human condition that anyone hearing the song and witnessing it live could immediately identify. A Low Cut Connie video typically has people in it that might look cool but aren’t necessarily fitting a Hollywood archetype and simply the kind of people you run into every day and showcasing their inherent grace and dignity even if a particular song is about an aspect of life that isn’t the most fun. There is an emotional honesty to a Low Cut Connie song that draws you in and perhaps get you to dance. The style draws some inspiration from the likes of Sly & The Family Stone and Aretha Franklin and their gift for insightful social commentary inside an undeniably moving and exuberant bit of music as well as early rock and roll and infused with a touch of punk spirit and charismatic stage presence. The music combines high energy with raw vulnerability and compassion showing how that combination can not just be exciting but cathartic and good for the soul.
Over the years Low Cut Connie has garnered attention from public figures and high profile musicians such as Barack Obama, Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, Howard Stern and Nick Hornby. Obama included the track “Boozophilia” (from the 2012 album Call Me Sylvia) on his Summer Spotify playlist for 2015. Since then the group has released a handful of critically acclaimed albums, been featured on television, performed at festivals like Newport Folk Festival, Bonnaroo and Pickathon and otherwise built a devoted cult following and expanding collaborative work and recordings. Then on February 13, 2025 Weiner put out a statement about canceling the band’s scheduled March 19, 2025 performance at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in response to President Trump’s takeover of the institution. The invite to perform had been extended prior but the newly re-elected president’s legacy and policies promoting racism, hate generally and authoritarianism was and is antithetical to even the conceit of human decency much less the diversity of the band’s fanbase. Other artists canceled their own performances and otherwise resigned from the Center’s board of artistic advisors. That may Low Cut Connie released the acoustic version of the single “Livin’ in the USA,” a song that didn’t have explicitly topical references but the music video and the sentiments of the song seemed to be a critique of the Trump administration’s radical immigration policies and the illegal and unconstitutional actions of ICE throughout the country not to mention talk even in the previous administration of stripping legal immigrants of their citizenship status. And by extension that being something that could be done to anyone that dared to oppose the Trump regime. The song got Weiner threats online of violence and death thus vindicating the song’s message completely.
In February 2026 Low Cut Connie released the electric version of “Livin’ in the USA” as a peek into the forthcoming 8th studio album Livin’ in the USA out July 3, 2026. The album itself is a vivid set of snapshots into the American character and psyche. At a time when it feels like things are falling apart and on the verge of collapse, this new set of songs sees past the divisions without ignoring sources of conflict and despair and keys in on the hope inherent to being weary of things being desperate in a climate of ambient chaos, menace and oppression. Throughout the ten songs we hear stories of human connection and the ways in which we can alienate ourselves from others and from our own hearts. It doesn’t necessarily offer solutions but offers resonant emotional truth in a time when we are bombarded by lies and misinformation by not just the president but the oligarch/technocrat-captured media and social media. It’s a record the reminds us that analog human experience is our best hope for liberation from the perils of the current era.
Wheelchair Sports Camp began as a solo project for rapper/producer Kalyn Heffernan who started releasing music under that moniker around 2009. The project has always benefited from Heffernan’s creative and energetic wordplay honed from growing up as a vocalist and imitating her favorite artists of that time. Since 2009 Wheelchair Sports Camp has become a fixture in Denver underground music but a project that has a footprint well beyond Denver due to fortunate tour and opening slot opportunities and some national press support. After all Heffernan isn’t just a rapper and producer, she’s an activist for disabled communities and really anyone experiencing persecution and prejudice. Her participating in the occupation of then Colorado Cory Gardener in 2017 garnered her pieces in various publications including a feature on Democracy Now! including an interview with legendary investigative journalist Amy Goodman. Which is part of the point of the art, to draw attention to everyday people’s struggles as a means of addressing injustice.
Listen to any Wheelchair Sports Camp track and you will hear a richness and variety of sonics that set the band apart from many other hip-hop projects. Longtime collaborator Jerod Sarlo aka Qknox brings a deep underground electronic dance sensibility informed by classic hip-hop production to various recordings. Other members of the live and recording band include or have included Gregg Ziemba on drums, Joshua Trinidad on trumpet, Wesley Watkins on synth, Tom Hagerman and Jeanie Schroder of DeVotchKa on accordion/strings and tuba respectively, experimental hip-hop luminaries RAREBYRD$, Abi McGaha Miller on sax and vocals and more recently Jello Biafra, Mark Bliesner aka Radio Pete, Michelle Rocquet and Kimya Dawson. A debut album was released in 2016 called No Big Deal and that era of the band was very avant-garde jazz forward in the sounds but it also showcased Heffernan’s development as a lyrics offering deep personal lyrics and incisive social commentary. Between then and now the COVID-19 pandemic happened and Wheelchair Sports Camp did a soundtrack to a theatre production of Alice in Wonderland in 2021 as well as music for an installation at Meow Wolf (Wheelchair Space Kitchen, 2025) and various singles.
In 2026 the second full length oh imperfecta was released via Alternative Tentacles. The imprint is more known for punk but anyone familiar with the label’s roster knows it’s the home of weird punks in general and other artists outside the mainstream. The new Wheelchair Sports Camp album feels somehow both stripped down and maximal in impact. The songwriting feels incredibly focused and not just for this band. The songs address the instability and peril of the world we’re living through at the moment and understandable emotional reactions to all of that when your own life could use with some maintenance to put in motion to where you want it to be but still having to find the daily strength to get through to those better moments. The song “Dead” is a delightfully pointed song about how aspects of our warped culture deems certain people disposable as a drag on society and how that designation can be applied to anyone when the powerful want it to. It’s a hip-hop album with that sensibility and production guiding its style and sound but its spirit is rebellious and very punk in attitude.
Listen to our interview with Kalyn Heffernan and Gregg Ziemba on Bandcamp and follow Wheelchair Sports Camp at the links below.
Queen City Sounds and Art 
You must be logged in to post a comment.