Photos by Johne Edge
The Scene: Live music can happen almost anywhere, but for those under 21 years of age it is becoming harder and harder to find venues where they can see a show. Many of Denver’s clubs and venues have the capacity for all-ages shows, but since they make most of their money off beer sales, doing all-ages shows with any frequency isn’t a sustainable practice for them. Thank goodness for Soda Jerk Presents, who seems determined to find places for both young and old to play and watch live music. Our cities largest independent promoter still books hundreds of Punk, Metal, Rock, Electronic and Hip-Hop shows every year at a half-dozen Front Range venues from Fort Collins to Colorado Springs that, for the most part, are all ages. Friday night’s show at the Marquis Theatre was no different as Soda Jerk presented an all ages showing of Metalachi, the world’s first and only Heavy Metal Mariachi band.
Opener: The Skulls. “The corpses all hang headless / and limp bodies with no surprises / and the blood drains down / like devil’s rain / we’ll bathe tonight / I want your skulls / I need your skull s/ I want your skulls.” The Skulls came on stage at 9:00 and played an homage to the Misfits. This fast paced, yet flattering, set of covers not only got the crowd going, it introduced a lot of the “X” on the hand audience members to the Misfits music circa the Danzig era. Inviting the audience to sing-a-long, or to take vocals the vocals over completely, The Skulls set threatened to be turned into an all-to entertaining Punk Rock karaoke.
Opener: Lotus Gait. Next up was David Bartz and Lotus Gait playing their self proclaimed, “Dark Black Metal Punk Rawk.” The Denver band played the nights only original songs, many coming off their new album Virgin Blood. Their aggressive, straight forward, music and love of all things metal kept the energy in the room at peak levels. If you haven’t heard these guys yet do yourself a favor and grab a copy of their album here.
Metalachi: Mexican Mariachi music is made to move you. It is direct, driving, and designed to instill emotion. Most songs are about machismo, love, betrayal, death, politics, and revolutionary heroes. All of this was perfect for a group that came out of L.A. and would become known as the world’s first and only Heavy Metal Mariachi band. Metalachi combines traditional elements of Mariachi music including instrumentation and costuming, with the Metal music and styling’s of 80’s and 90’s hair metal. On Friday, violins, trumpets, the guitarron, and charro uniforms were effortlessly interspersed with spandex, skulls, pentagrams, and ladies bras. This melding of metal, and a KISS meets the Taco Bell’ Chihuahua like showmanship, put a cement grin across my face the entire night. The band’s performance Friday was amazing, transcending my idea of both covers or parodies.
Energy: A
Musicianship: A
Sound: A
Stage Presence: A
Set/Light Show: B+
Overall: A
Nice work Johne! Awesome photos as well….🤘🏻💥🤘🏻
Nice work Johne! Awesome photos as well!🤘🏻💥🤘🏻