Tag: Have a Nice Life

Tuesday | 09.01
What: Anja Huwe w/Plague Garden and Weathered Statues
When: 7pm
Where: HQ
Why: Anja Huwe was the singer for the influential German post-punk band Xmal Deutschland. The latter were pioneers of Neue Deutschland Welle (the German New Wave) but with a darkly dramatic and moody music that seemed to be in a similar vein to UK bands Siouxsie and the Banshees and The Pop Group. After a handful of albums the group split in 1990. Following that breakup, Huwe focused on her visual art pursuits with great success until being convinced by her friend Mona Mur to revisit music and in 2024 she released her first solo album Codes via the Sacred Bones imprint and to her credit that album is like an electronic post-punk album that borders on industrial but without the seeming connection to that style of music since the early 90s and with more in common with dance music. Opening the show are two of Denver’s greatest post-punk bands of recent years with the New Wave adjacent Plague Garden and its ferocious energy and Weathered Statues whose minimal, deathrock-inspired version of post-punk has a clear line of inspiration to Huwe’s old band.

Wednesday | 09.02
What: Soft Palms w/babybaby4ever and Smear
When: 7pm
Where: Hi-Dive
Why: Soft Palms is Julia Kugel-Montoya (of The Coathangers) and Scott Montoya (of The Growlers). With this new project it draws on the edge of garage punk and the moodiness and cinematic qualities of post-punk to create something new. Gloomy pop with some urgency. Along with the new record In Echo the duo published a book called How To Be Self-Reliant In The Music Business of which both musicians know more than a little. Opening is synth pop superstar babybaby4ever with better synth tone than most people you’ll see this year.

Thursday | 09.03
What: Bellhead w/eHpH and Hypersomnia
When: 7
Where: The Crypt, $12
Why: Bellhead is a post-punk band from Chicago whose style is darker and more caustic than the trendy post-punk with spindly guitar tone. It has more in common with industrial post-punk of the 90s and in some ways is reminiscent in sound of the more rock end of My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult. Its 2025 EP Threats includes remixes from Stabbing Westward, Clubdrugs and Frontal Boundary. EhpH is an electro-industrial duo from Denver whose own politically-charged songs are rooted in classic EBM and not the Future Pop strain, thankfully, with a theatrical live performance fronted by Fernando Altonaga of post-punk band Plague Garden.

Thursday | 09.03
What: Sweet Pill w/Deux Visages and Bike Routes
When: 7
Where: The Oriental Theater
Why: Sweet Pill is an emo band from Philadelphia whose sound incorporates elements of math rock that fans of Wednesday and Speedy Ortiz may appreciate for the eclectic guitar style that isn’t trapped in genre tropes and seemingly more keyed into strong hooks. Deux Visages were once based in Miami but now out Philadelphia where their sound of fuzzed out shoegaze pop seems a good fit for a music scene that has given us the likes of the headliner for this show but also Her New Knife and They Are Gutting a Body of Water. The trio recently released a new single “Always You” and further established its knack for blending melancholic vocal melodies with sonic edge and grit, vulnerability with bombast and threading discordant sounds with the sublime.

Friday | 09.04
What: The Playground Ensemble: Unchambered 4.0
When: 7/7:30-9
Where: Leon Gallery
Why: This is the fourth edition of the Ensemble’s Unchambered event in which for an evening experimental and improvised electronic music created by the group’s composers can be experienced featuring home made instruments, interactive electronics, processed voice and other avant-musical weirdness and innovation.

Friday | 09.04
What: Have a Nice Life w/Drowse and Allison Lorenzen
When: 7
Where: Gothic Theatre
Why: Allison Lorenzen is a Colorado-based ambient art folk artist whose pop songcraft is high but so is her highly emotional and the quality of her stylized performance. Drowse has been releasing some of the most experimental and engrossing post-punk bordering on ambient and field-recording infused pastoral tape music folk since the project’s inception. For this show the project will push those aesthetics further with a unique and boundary pushing performance. Have a Nice Life is one of the great cult post-punk bands from America that almost never plays live and even more rarely tours much less comes to Colorado. The band was last here in 2019 where it performed at the Hi-Dive cementing its reputation for exploding boundaries between emo, post-punk, industrial and ambient music.

Saturday | 09.05
What: The Serfs w/Pink Lady Monster, The Clue, Plastik Mystik and Kill You Club DJs
When: 7
Where: Hi-Dive
Why: Plastik Mystik fuses grunge, Wipers-esque punk and post-punk into a garage rock inflected set of music that has searing social commentary. The Clue is sort of a hardcore band but its sound is weirder and doesn’t really adhere to the aesthetics of that style of music yet its energy is very much in that vein. Pink Lady Monster and its No Wave funk art post-punk and poetry is arguably one of the best bands in Denver and America with live performances that are somehow both theater and a masterclass in musical technique. The Serfs from Cincinnati are a post-punk snobs favorite post-punk band with consistently fascinating records that blur the line between post-apocalyptic, bleak synth infused and arch political commentary the way Wire or Gang of Four would burn fascist impulses with creative lyrics. The Serfs sound like they read a lot of Ursula K. Le Guin’s more political novels, were inspired by the mood of Tarkovksy’s 1970s science fiction epics Solaris and Stalker and the crumbling post-industrial, late capitalist empire of America. There is no best place to start with The Serfs, just select a record and listen to their entire oeuvre.

Sunday | 09.06
What: Black Tapestry w/The Picture Tour, The Futons and Demi God Tezus
When: 7
Where: D3 Arts
Why: Black Tapestry is a synth punk duo from Sedona, Arizona who released their newest full-length Compartmental Illness in November 2025. Think like Youth Code but more rooted in The Yeah Yeah Yeahs than hardcore. The Picture Tour is a dark post-punk band from Denver with a clear command of atmospheric guitar tone and the aesthetics of night driving in the sprawl of American urban decay once banished in the wake of overdevelopment by private equity firms but on the horizon again due to the tech and real estate bubble collapse. The Picture Tour both embraces that nostalgia and seem to have seen into a dark future but romantic future. The Futons are a Denver band somewhere between garage psych and shoegaze. Demi God Tezus is a hip-hop artist in the more underground/alternative lane.

Tuesday | 09.08
What: greek w/Humble the Great
When: 7
Where: Moon Room at Summit Music Hall
Why: Michael Davie performing and releasing music as greek released his genre eclectic EP DANCE BREAK in August 2026. Coming up as a fledgling musician and making beats and writing songs through the use of production software that any teen might access, Davie found his voice as a talented purveyor of a kind of pop R&B benefiting greatly from his soulful and smooth vocal style. The music video for “HOLD ME” reveals a performer comfortable with the physical expression of the music and a playful sense of humor. The new EP builds on previous greek releases like the “THERE FOR YOU” single from 2024 that was in a more indie pop vein. The production on the new EP is more lush and immersive and the signal of a sophisticated talent in modern pop music.

Friday | 09.11
What: Unsane w/Season to Risk and Arson Charge
When: 8
Where: HQ
Why: Unsane is one of the foundational noise rock bands beginning with its formation in 1988. Bleeding together metallic post-hardcore aggression with the influence of industrial music, Unsane’s sound didn’t come off like it was too steeped into existing rock subgenre. It was caustic and heady and unrelenting yet heavier than most metal. In 2026 the group’s 1998 album Occupational Hazard was remastered and reissued by Lamb Unlimited as a bracing reminder of Unsane at one of its creative peaks. Season to Risk from Kansas City has established its own legacy as purveyors of arty yet visceral noise rock as one of the best of the modern bands operating in a similar vein as Unsane and having started just a year later as the latter in 1989. Its own 1995 album In a Perfect World got a vinyl reissue in 2026.

Friday | 09.11
What: Dominique Fils-Aimé
When: 6:30 and 9
Where: Dazzle
Why: Dominique Fils-Aimé is an acclaimed singer from Quebec who released her latest album My World Is The Sun in February 2026. The record is filled with field recordings and other contextual sounds that help set the mood to come. Fils-Aimé’s soulful singing is of course versatile and deeply evocative and resonates like a classic Neo Soul or R&B artist but there is something far more experimental in her songwriting like she is tapping into the kind of cosmic/spiritual jazz psychedelia as Alice Coltrane. You’re not just getting one extended flavor with the record and it is a showcase for a broad range of Fils-Aimé’s songwriting skills and vocal talent with a kind of epic journey through deep inner space.

F-Th| 09.11-09.17
What: Gypsy 83: Director’s Cut
Where: Sie Film Center
When: Varies by date
Why: The dirctor’s cut of cult film Gypsy 83 is screening for its 25th anniversary. The film is about two young goths Gypsy and Clive living in in Sandusky, Ohio who travel to NYC for a festival celebrating Stevie Nicks, an unlikely yet in retrospect fitting idol for goths in the 1980s with her witchy persona, fashion sense of dramatic music. Written and directed by Todd Stephens the film stars Sara Rue as Gypsy Vale and Clive Webb played by Kett Turton with John Doe of X fame as Gypsy’s dad and Marlene Wallace as her mom. Gypsy and Clive learn of an event called Night of a Thousand Stevies and make their way to the Big Apple to participate with revelatory adventures along the way. The soundtrack includes bands like The Cure, Claire Voyant, Velvet Acid Christ (from Denver metro), Switchblade Symphony and Apoptygma Berzerk and visually and thematically fans of the films of Gregg Araki. The late, great Karen Black appears as retired singer, and Gypsy’s mother’s best friend, Bambi LeBleau. For showtimes in Denver during its run at the Sie Film Center visit the link above.

Saturday | 09.12
What: Pond
When: 7
Where: The Gothic Theatre
Why: Australian psychedelic rock band Pond took a turn in a fascinating direction for its latest album Terrestrials (2026). Rather than the mind-altering, sculpted fuzz atmospheric psychedelic rock they set parameters to focus on more solid lines in the rhythms and guitar sound taking inspiration from late 70s and 80s post-punk and Gothic rock. The band didn’t drop its knack for memorable hooks and creative melodic framing but the resulting sound is less throwback than reinvention often sounding more like the art rock end of Magazine which drew some inspiration from the likes of Roxy Music and Brian Eno. And Pond this time out has employed its synths in a fashion that is stripped of modern affectations and overproduction for a record that is possibly the most creatively realized of its career.

Saturday | 09.12
What: Brandon Flowers
When: 7:30 doors, 9 show
Where: The Ogden Theatre
Why: Brandon Flowers is perhaps rightly known more for his career as the frontman of massively popular post-punk pop band The Killers. But this year he released his latest solo record ccalled Thrasher. And whatever one’s opinion of The Killers might be, without a doubt the songcraft of the band is respectable and on mainstream radio and playlists stands out in ways that can catch you unexpected. Thrasher proves that Flowers’ songwriting gifts translate well to a record of all honky tonk style pop country. With contributions from the likes of Jonathan Rado and Margo Price as well as country veterans like Bruce Bouton and Charlie McCoy there’s no doubt Flowers put in the time to bring some authentic sound to the songs.

Monday | 09.14
What: Liz Phair w/Sleater-Kinney and Snail Mail
When: 7
Where: The Fillmore Auditorium
Why: Liz Phair and Sleater-Kinney both helped to influence and shape the sound of a certain subset of underground rock in the 1990s. Phair spent a bit of time enjoying mainstream success with the release of her 1994 album Whipsmart but had already garnered praise as a talented songwriter for the more experimental and lo-fi masterpiece Exile in Guyville (1993). Even through subsequent records, all not nearly as critically well-received as Phair’s first two albums, Phair’s wit and personal insight shined through and as a performer she had undeniable, unvarnished charisma and presence. Sleater-Kinney emerged in 1994 out of Olympia, Washington with its first handful of albums on the great underground label Kill Rock Stars and earning a cult following for its superior songwriting and unique take on punk attitude and spirit with subject matter that seemed to resonate with what Phair was doing as an artist in Chicago while also aiming to perhaps establish themselves as artists encouraging other women to make whatever music they wanted to on whatever terms they wanted while being utterly themselves, which they have obviously succeeded in doing. Snail Mail is one of the great guitar rock songwriters of a younger generation whose shoegaze-adjacent pop with unabashedly, radically vulnerable lyrics.

Wednesday | 09.16
What: Sleep w/Pink Mountaintops
When: 7
Where: The Ogden Theatre
Why: Sleep without Matt Pike seems like an impossibility because the guitarist’s iconic psychedelic sludge style is one of the most influential sounds in heavy music of the last 35+ years. But when the group announced Pike was no longer part of the band and a new lineup that consists of Dale Crover (of the Melvins who saw the early version of Sleep in the early 90s who were clearly influenced by Melvins’ own artful crushing early doom metal) and Bubba Dupree of hardcore legends Void alongside, of course, founding member Al Cisneros on bass. The trio released a new album Hemispheres that reveals that while not trying to imitate Pike’s guitar tone and sound kept the heaviness and otherworldly quality of Sleep intact. The album released digitally on September 3, 2026 with a vinyl version out late October. Paired with the album is a new Sleep Comic Book including a flexi with a shortened version of “Have Spacesuit Will Travel.”

Saturday | 09.19
What: Atmosphere & Friends: Colorado – w/3OH!3, Everlast, Slick Rick, Z-Trip, Ra the Rugged Man and DJ Lala
When: 5
Where: Red Rocks Amphitheater
Why: Everlast is one of the featured artists on this now seemingly annual run with hip-hop stars Atmoshere headlining. Most may know him from his time as the frontman for hip-hop group House of Pain but by the late 90s he had established a solo career in which he fused rock and hip-hop in a way that didn’t seem cringe mainly because his lyrics were thoughtful and the songwriting not in some trope-y lane. In 2026 Everlast released his new album Embers to Ashes with some tender yet gritty vocal delivery and sparkling, late night atmospheric tones and well crafted moods. If you’re going to this extravaganza get there in time to catch his brand of blues American and its existential themes.

Monday | 09.21
What: The Tear Garden w/DJ Cosmos Mudwulf and Nathaniel Jamiel
When: 8
Where: Summit Music Hall
Why: The Tear Garden have long been a missing link in the experimental psychedelic world of the 1980s and creative production of EBM with the 1992 album, its second, The Last Man To Fly a classic in the Goth scene possible due to its membership being Edward Ka-Spel of the Legendary Pink Dots and cEvin Key of Skinny Puppy. The band has famously never played a live show until this past week and the first leg of its North American tour. The group is now expanded to several live members including Randall Frazier who is also a member of LPD and Orbit Service. In 2025 the group released its first album in 8 years with Astral Elevator. Expect the enigmatic and cosmic, psychedelic poetry and enveloping atmospheres with richly tones melodies and rhythms. It’ll be basically a once in a lifetime chance to see them unless you go to other cities.

Monday | 09.21
What: Chanel Beads w/Horse Vision and Anastasia Coope
When: 7
Where: Marquis Theater
Why: Chanel Beads released the second self-titled album in 2026 as a send up of music industry expectations but on its own merit is a fine fusion of delicate indie pop and highly electronic dream pop so that it is simultaneously Iand intimate, a rarity in music. Think something like Just Mustard but even more ethereal. Overall it sounds like a bit of a throwback to late 2000s underground indie rock but without borrowing too heavily from the sounds and ideas, just the mood that maybe all hope isn’t stripped out of the world while also giving us songs that address current streams of anxiety.

Monday | 09.21
What: Aldous Harding w/Sam Burton
When: 7
Where: The Bluebird Theater
Why: Once again Aldous Harding offers an inventive and emotionally vibrant yet idiosyncratic experimental pop with 2026’s Train on the Island. It sounds like Harding was diving further into integrating keyboards into layers of vocals and dissonant drones to give the record the sound of something that isn’t fully smoothed over yet not lacking in any production. It’s just real and has an immediacy to the sensitive listener with Harding’s typically enigmatic but resonant lyrics. Harding’s life performance style is similarly unorthodox and she seems well familiar with performance art and the avant-garde while incorporating that strangeness into ambitious pop songs.

To Be Continued…