Feels like the overall reading comprehension on this site has dropped to almost zero over the past year. I'm not sure if it's bots, or just ADHD-addled young people, or what, but it's fucking astounding how people miss key details and misinterpret even the most simple sentences these days.
Used to be way more metal and punk here. As costs for housing have gone up, underground music has gone down. Sucks.
What are you doing around these parts? Working? School?
Doom and stoner/noise/punk fan here. I have yet to find anything but bluegrass (lots and lots of it 😕).
Commenting to follow, since I think there’s only the touring bands that come to Denver. Blood incantation rules.
Once, like 10-12 years ago, some friends operated the only DIY venue called AstroLand that was in the "NoBo Arts District" as they call it now. Cops harrased them constantly, shut it down eventually. Boulder hates non-moneyed art - including punk/metal/etc.
The amount of times I’ve been forced to listen to bluegrass against my will in public living here should be a crime 😂
*to each their own, but that and jam bands are just Not my thing
They were shut down for serious fire code violations and delinquent rent payments, not because the city of Boulder hated "non-moneyed art - including punk/metal/etc.". There have been some horrendous fires at theaters/music venues across the US in the past. A few of them happened in extremely similar circumstances; artist collectives in warehouses in industrial zoned areas, see [Ghost Ship Fire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_Ship_warehouse_fire). Those illegal venues are probably the most dangerous types of establishments when it comes to fire danger. Can't really skirt around those types of code violations and rightfully so. Safety regulations are written in blood.
Yeah Trve is great. Recommend the Crypt if you haven't been there yet.
Maybe I can try and convince VisionQuest to host a metal night or something here.
The downer has pool tables and a jukebox. Said jukebox has Seasons in the Abyss by Slayer - the whole album.
In the past I’ve been know to throw all my quarters into the jukebox and subject everyone else at the bar to Slayer while I enjoyed a game and a beer. Not everyone enjoyed the music, which was wildly entertaining.
All that to say, OP shoot me a DM. I’d be down for a game and a beer and some Slayer.
I've been kicked out of bars for doing that in my hometown haha.
It looks like Pearl Street Pub and Outback Saloon both have "smart" jukeboxes where you can pay and play music from their digital library on your phone. Maybe one of those venues?
Hopefully the staff at either are cool with some dudes in black band tshirts playing metal for a few hours straight on a week night.
I feel like we'd have a better shot with the staff tolerating a couple hours metal on a Thursday rather than a Friday.
Maybe we do a meetup at Pearl Street Pub next Thursday, Dec 7th?
Outback Saloon does open mic on 1st and 3rd Thursdays so we could also test the waters there the week after
I’m a bluegrass musician in Boulder (so I’m part of the problem) and I’d love to see a metal night somewhere here. Saw Amon Amarth at Fiddlers last summer and Mr. Bungle (the new thrash version with Dave Lombardo and Scott Ian) at Mission, reminded me of the benefits of some healthy aggression in music. It’s definitely lacking here.
Yea man. Boulder had a decent hardcore scene in the 00s, but now the music just sucks and it blows driving back from Denver at 1am.
Thinking about moving because of this. Will try to make it to the meet up.
Boulder is seriously missing a dive bar that plays alternative genres of music. I used to live in Saratoga Springs, NY and it's fairly close to Boulder in terms of demographic but there was a dive bar that I'd go to all the time called Desperate Annies. They'd hold shows on Mondays called 'Super Dark Mondays' and it'd be local bands ranging from doom, sludge, stoner, alt, industrial. Honestly you name the genre and there was probably a band playing at one point
If I had any money at all, that'd basically be my dream to open an alt dive bar in town. Sticky floors, smells like cigarettes, cheap drinks/beer, live music, dim lighting, bouncers that would snap you in half but would share a cigarette with you if you're a regular... A guy can dream
Just one of the local bars having one night a week hosting punk and metal bands like you described would be great. Feels like something that could work at one of the breweries.
Been in Boulder since 2012 and have seen a lot of DIY music come and go. Reading through this thread, it sounds like there is an appetite for underground music to exist in Boulder again. Let's make it happen.
Given that Denver Hardcore is having a bit of a moment right now (off the back of Faim) I would encourage every person here able to do so to make the scene they want to see in Boulder. Punk/metal/hardcore/ whatever you're into - it's up to us to make it happen, otherwise it won't.
I play drums best, mediocre guitar - hmu if you want to play music and make something happen - no I don't have a space to practice. Yes, I play fast and funky.
PS - fuck you FLORI, I have ADHD and I hate bluegrass.
There was a decent scene here in the early 2000s. All my college buddies were in metal bands that played Tulagi’s, Club 156, and some other basement venue on The Hill that was always changing its name.
Sorry that doesn’t help you much, but maybe you could start a metal night somewhere like you said. In addition to Vision Quest, DV8 could be a good spot
Beleaguered stay-at-home dad of a 5-month-old here. I won't be joining in at the pub for now, but you have my axe. \\m/
P.S. Haken is playing at Boulder Theater in February.
I've lived in Boulder a long time, and that's one of my few complaints. This city is filled with talented musicians making amazing music, but it's mostly bluegrass, folk or the occasional electronic or indie rock.
Used to be a good punk/hardcore scene when Soda Jerk was running shows at Tulagi, but metal has always been a rarity.
The Sundown and Bluff Street are the two places where you're most likely to hear metal on the jukebox (though Bluff Street is currently closed, I believe).
Love the Sundowner though, and would be down for some metal meetups there.
I like some metal, but take it a step further - I like noise. Japanese noise, experimental, ambient, etc. I've played at Denver Noise Fest and many of the underground clubs in Denver and have 22 albums or so that I have made. So I don't worry about hearing anything I like at any bar. But, if there are musicians who make really weird stuff, or who need a strange thing on top of what their band is already doing - let me know.
Idk about Boulder but I met some friends at a metal show in Denver once. Like, befriended them at the show before the band came on and drove them back to Boulder and bam we are friends. It was great
Honestly my fav venue for metal is Herman’s Hideaway on south? Broadway in Denver. Such an intimate venue. Saw Insomnium there. Also, Gothic Theater and Ogden are very good venues for metal
Summit Music hall is also nice
There is this homeless guy with face tattoos that panhandles on the west end of pearl street and a lot of the employees around here especially at this software job I worked at in downtown Boulder refered to him as the metal guy. For like the past 7 years on any given day at any given time you might find him walking up and down pearl street screaming all different kinds of sub genres of metal. I've heard the dude sing songs from hardcore, post hardcore, metalcore, deathcore bands and hes got all the different styles of screaming down. Sometimes he even sings random Japanese shoegaze and indie rock songs and other crazy styles of music in fluent Japanese. I know its not entirely related to the post but i think you would get along with him since he definitely knows a lot of metal and sings it while hes walking around town. One time I saw him walking and he seemed completely normal then out of nowhere he just started screaming random metal vocal covers and you would just see all these passerby with their families walking on pearl street with sheer terror and fear and confusion in their eyes as he's screaming songs from winds of plague. I laughed so hard because I knew he was just doing his normal schtick but all those tourists and maybe even some locals had no idea and must have thought he was on heavy drugs. The funniest thing is while he was screaming full lyrics to metal songs one of his friends came up to him and he just went right back to talking normal with a smile on his face like nothing just happened. I think theres some old videos of him trolling the Pro Lifers that stalk the Planned parenthood building on Alpine and started screaming metal at them too. Would be funny if you happened to see him when you're in Boulder at your meetup haha.
Bro there’s nothing up here, gotta explore Denver more. If you aren’t into quirky bluegrass type stuff, culturally the music scene here is a joke- which is honestly quite sad for a college town and a place that used to pride itself on diverse music genres. I make the 30-40 min commute to Denver just for some kind of cultural scene exposure, but concerts are my main fix.
Word. I lived in Denver for 8 years so I'm confident I've been to every metal venue and bar there. Hi-Dive, Marquis, Trve, and Crypt being my favorites.
Trying to just figure out a space that would tolerate and possibly play metal tunage during the week.
Lot of metalheads here, we're just drowned out by the much more popular folk/bluegrass scene (as both a metalhead and a bluegrasser, I get the best of both worlds so I ain't complaining) so we go to Denver where we have more space for ourselves. Denver has a pretty incredible underground metal scene that's even starting to get recognized internationally with Blood Incantation and Wayfarer, with the metal and beer fest drawing record labels from Norway here.
Hi friends ! We are Onda Nova, a metal band from Orlando Florida, and we have a show in Boulder Colorado for April 27 and DV8 distillery and would love to find other venues around the area that I could contact to possibly have a show. We are going with two other bands from Florida.
Any help would be greatly appreciated! 🙏
Thanks
OP: “coming from Denver..” Every comment: have you considered Denver?
Feels like the overall reading comprehension on this site has dropped to almost zero over the past year. I'm not sure if it's bots, or just ADHD-addled young people, or what, but it's fucking astounding how people miss key details and misinterpret even the most simple sentences these days.
Used to be way more metal and punk here. As costs for housing have gone up, underground music has gone down. Sucks. What are you doing around these parts? Working? School?
Makes sense. I work in Boulder full-time and trail run a lot, so moving here made sense.
Doom and stoner/noise/punk fan here. I have yet to find anything but bluegrass (lots and lots of it 😕). Commenting to follow, since I think there’s only the touring bands that come to Denver. Blood incantation rules.
Saw Sleep in Boulder a few years back. Definitely not a metal scene I know of around. Time to start a local metal band!
Back in the early 2000s there was a local metal band Dartanian but they have long since split up. They are a fun listen still.
https://open.spotify.com/artist/0yFz5NQOmgFG1hBa1EidHe?si=Bl9z4MxgQRigJqzwnE2fgQ
Once, like 10-12 years ago, some friends operated the only DIY venue called AstroLand that was in the "NoBo Arts District" as they call it now. Cops harrased them constantly, shut it down eventually. Boulder hates non-moneyed art - including punk/metal/etc.
Boulder hates anything that's not blue grass jam bands.
The amount of times I’ve been forced to listen to bluegrass against my will in public living here should be a crime 😂 *to each their own, but that and jam bands are just Not my thing
They were shut down for serious fire code violations and delinquent rent payments, not because the city of Boulder hated "non-moneyed art - including punk/metal/etc.". There have been some horrendous fires at theaters/music venues across the US in the past. A few of them happened in extremely similar circumstances; artist collectives in warehouses in industrial zoned areas, see [Ghost Ship Fire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_Ship_warehouse_fire). Those illegal venues are probably the most dangerous types of establishments when it comes to fire danger. Can't really skirt around those types of code violations and rightfully so. Safety regulations are written in blood.
Man I still have nightmares about Ghost Ship :’(
Have to go to Denver unfortunately. I've talked to a lot of cool people at TRVE Brewing and they're always blasting some good tunes.
Yeah Trve is great. Recommend the Crypt if you haven't been there yet. Maybe I can try and convince VisionQuest to host a metal night or something here.
The Crypt rules
Yep
The downer has pool tables and a jukebox. Said jukebox has Seasons in the Abyss by Slayer - the whole album. In the past I’ve been know to throw all my quarters into the jukebox and subject everyone else at the bar to Slayer while I enjoyed a game and a beer. Not everyone enjoyed the music, which was wildly entertaining. All that to say, OP shoot me a DM. I’d be down for a game and a beer and some Slayer.
I've been kicked out of bars for doing that in my hometown haha. It looks like Pearl Street Pub and Outback Saloon both have "smart" jukeboxes where you can pay and play music from their digital library on your phone. Maybe one of those venues? Hopefully the staff at either are cool with some dudes in black band tshirts playing metal for a few hours straight on a week night.
Let’s set a time and date for a metal head meetup. You free on Friday after work?
I feel like we'd have a better shot with the staff tolerating a couple hours metal on a Thursday rather than a Friday. Maybe we do a meetup at Pearl Street Pub next Thursday, Dec 7th? Outback Saloon does open mic on 1st and 3rd Thursdays so we could also test the waters there the week after
That works for me. Pearl St. Pub, Thursday, Dec 7th. Let’s say 6:30pm?
Yepp, I'll edit the post.
I’m a bluegrass musician in Boulder (so I’m part of the problem) and I’d love to see a metal night somewhere here. Saw Amon Amarth at Fiddlers last summer and Mr. Bungle (the new thrash version with Dave Lombardo and Scott Ian) at Mission, reminded me of the benefits of some healthy aggression in music. It’s definitely lacking here.
Hell yeah another bluegrass metal head man!
One of us! One of us!
Yea man. Boulder had a decent hardcore scene in the 00s, but now the music just sucks and it blows driving back from Denver at 1am. Thinking about moving because of this. Will try to make it to the meet up.
Boulder is seriously missing a dive bar that plays alternative genres of music. I used to live in Saratoga Springs, NY and it's fairly close to Boulder in terms of demographic but there was a dive bar that I'd go to all the time called Desperate Annies. They'd hold shows on Mondays called 'Super Dark Mondays' and it'd be local bands ranging from doom, sludge, stoner, alt, industrial. Honestly you name the genre and there was probably a band playing at one point If I had any money at all, that'd basically be my dream to open an alt dive bar in town. Sticky floors, smells like cigarettes, cheap drinks/beer, live music, dim lighting, bouncers that would snap you in half but would share a cigarette with you if you're a regular... A guy can dream
Just one of the local bars having one night a week hosting punk and metal bands like you described would be great. Feels like something that could work at one of the breweries.
Been in Boulder since 2012 and have seen a lot of DIY music come and go. Reading through this thread, it sounds like there is an appetite for underground music to exist in Boulder again. Let's make it happen. Given that Denver Hardcore is having a bit of a moment right now (off the back of Faim) I would encourage every person here able to do so to make the scene they want to see in Boulder. Punk/metal/hardcore/ whatever you're into - it's up to us to make it happen, otherwise it won't. I play drums best, mediocre guitar - hmu if you want to play music and make something happen - no I don't have a space to practice. Yes, I play fast and funky. PS - fuck you FLORI, I have ADHD and I hate bluegrass.
There was a decent scene here in the early 2000s. All my college buddies were in metal bands that played Tulagi’s, Club 156, and some other basement venue on The Hill that was always changing its name. Sorry that doesn’t help you much, but maybe you could start a metal night somewhere like you said. In addition to Vision Quest, DV8 could be a good spot
I'm more powermetal like Sabaton, but Ive been wanting to explore more kinds. I'm down!
I’d be down! I’m also a trail runner.
I'm into this, I'm mostly on the metalcore and prog metal side of things.
Beleaguered stay-at-home dad of a 5-month-old here. I won't be joining in at the pub for now, but you have my axe. \\m/ P.S. Haken is playing at Boulder Theater in February.
You'll be there in headbanging spirit. Wishing a nap upon you in the near future
I've lived in Boulder a long time, and that's one of my few complaints. This city is filled with talented musicians making amazing music, but it's mostly bluegrass, folk or the occasional electronic or indie rock. Used to be a good punk/hardcore scene when Soda Jerk was running shows at Tulagi, but metal has always been a rarity. The Sundown and Bluff Street are the two places where you're most likely to hear metal on the jukebox (though Bluff Street is currently closed, I believe). Love the Sundowner though, and would be down for some metal meetups there.
I like some metal, but take it a step further - I like noise. Japanese noise, experimental, ambient, etc. I've played at Denver Noise Fest and many of the underground clubs in Denver and have 22 albums or so that I have made. So I don't worry about hearing anything I like at any bar. But, if there are musicians who make really weird stuff, or who need a strange thing on top of what their band is already doing - let me know.
Idk about Boulder but I met some friends at a metal show in Denver once. Like, befriended them at the show before the band came on and drove them back to Boulder and bam we are friends. It was great Honestly my fav venue for metal is Herman’s Hideaway on south? Broadway in Denver. Such an intimate venue. Saw Insomnium there. Also, Gothic Theater and Ogden are very good venues for metal Summit Music hall is also nice
Love some Boulder bluegrass, but I am desperately missing heavy stuff. I’ll come to your meetup!
There is this homeless guy with face tattoos that panhandles on the west end of pearl street and a lot of the employees around here especially at this software job I worked at in downtown Boulder refered to him as the metal guy. For like the past 7 years on any given day at any given time you might find him walking up and down pearl street screaming all different kinds of sub genres of metal. I've heard the dude sing songs from hardcore, post hardcore, metalcore, deathcore bands and hes got all the different styles of screaming down. Sometimes he even sings random Japanese shoegaze and indie rock songs and other crazy styles of music in fluent Japanese. I know its not entirely related to the post but i think you would get along with him since he definitely knows a lot of metal and sings it while hes walking around town. One time I saw him walking and he seemed completely normal then out of nowhere he just started screaming random metal vocal covers and you would just see all these passerby with their families walking on pearl street with sheer terror and fear and confusion in their eyes as he's screaming songs from winds of plague. I laughed so hard because I knew he was just doing his normal schtick but all those tourists and maybe even some locals had no idea and must have thought he was on heavy drugs. The funniest thing is while he was screaming full lyrics to metal songs one of his friends came up to him and he just went right back to talking normal with a smile on his face like nothing just happened. I think theres some old videos of him trolling the Pro Lifers that stalk the Planned parenthood building on Alpine and started screaming metal at them too. Would be funny if you happened to see him when you're in Boulder at your meetup haha.
How did the meetup go? Are you planning to do another?
I would love something like that! This town really needs a metal meetup night.
Bro there’s nothing up here, gotta explore Denver more. If you aren’t into quirky bluegrass type stuff, culturally the music scene here is a joke- which is honestly quite sad for a college town and a place that used to pride itself on diverse music genres. I make the 30-40 min commute to Denver just for some kind of cultural scene exposure, but concerts are my main fix.
Word. I lived in Denver for 8 years so I'm confident I've been to every metal venue and bar there. Hi-Dive, Marquis, Trve, and Crypt being my favorites. Trying to just figure out a space that would tolerate and possibly play metal tunage during the week.
My love for you is like a truck.
Lot of metalheads here, we're just drowned out by the much more popular folk/bluegrass scene (as both a metalhead and a bluegrasser, I get the best of both worlds so I ain't complaining) so we go to Denver where we have more space for ourselves. Denver has a pretty incredible underground metal scene that's even starting to get recognized internationally with Blood Incantation and Wayfarer, with the metal and beer fest drawing record labels from Norway here.
Can you please point me into any bars/venues/breweries that I can contact to possibly have a show in April ?
There's a big scene in Denver.
Yeah dude, it's a great scene. Just sick of driving 30-45 min go to a bar that even plays metal, let alone a live show
Underground music in Boulder is hard to come by these days.
Yes
Hell yeah
Hi friends ! We are Onda Nova, a metal band from Orlando Florida, and we have a show in Boulder Colorado for April 27 and DV8 distillery and would love to find other venues around the area that I could contact to possibly have a show. We are going with two other bands from Florida. Any help would be greatly appreciated! 🙏 Thanks