MUSICMARAUDERS

Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom Denver, CO Words By Nicholas Stock Photos & Video By Nicholas Stock The Motet rounded out their two night sold out run with a "Best of Halloween" show with local act The Congress supporting. January 28th was bandleader and drummer extraordinaire, Dave Watts’ birthday. I headed down early during soundcheck to take some shots for The Motet’s promo video about their inclusion in the lineup for Wakarusa. After getting what we needed on video, myself, J-man, Carly and sax player Pete Wall met up with J-man’s brother, Brandon (who was also celebrating a birthday) and his girlfriend, Katie. I should add that this was also the nine-year anniversary of Cervantes and the old girl couldn’t be looking better. I rarely make it down because the lineup has skewed to the more electronic side of the scene, but every time I’m there I notice further improvements. The lighting rig and stage have truly evolved into solid setup, but this time around I noticed new...

Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom Denver, CO Words By J-man Photos By J-man & Carly Marthis Not many bands generate as much excitement and buzz as The Motet do in Colorado. The state's resident super-group played what appears to be an annual two night run at Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom to commemorate the birthday's of drummer/Motet magic man, Dave Watts and Scott Morrill, one of the owners of the venue. Both Cervantes and The Motet took no shortcuts in making the weekend a fantastic spectacle. Friday night played host to the "Funk is Dead" theme, with Saturday marking the "Best of Halloween." The weekend was a clear reminder of why we as music fans, reside in Denver, CO. We arrived at the venue late afternoon on Friday for soundcheck. Entering Cervantes I was taken aback by several noticeable changes/upgrades to the venue. Glancing up at the ceiling I noticed directional sound tiles, an impressive light rig and the first of two large screens that were be...

Bluebird Theater Denver, CO Words By J-man Photos & Video By Carly Marthis & J-man It was just one year prior that I took my girlfriend, Carly Marthis, to her first Toubab Krewe show. She assisted me in conducting an interview with Justin Perkins and Luke Quaranta backstage and when showtime finally came I turned to Carly to gage her reaction, as she had never heard the band play one note. As they began, I thought Carly was going to lose it. She was blown away and following that night, Toubab Krewe became one of her favorite bands. Their return to Denver marked Carly's first opportunity to see Toubab following her discovery and what a fantastic night of music it was! Our evening began downstairs/backstage with Justin Perkins and special guest, Faisal Salahuddin, working out some material. Their sounds were very unique and pure... As show time approached, members of Toubab wandered downstairs and joined in on the warm up. 10:30 pm rolled around and Toubab hit the stage to th...

Brooklyn Bowl Brooklyn, NY Words By Karen Dugan ( tinyrager.com ) Photos By Josh Raskin Videos By Scott Merenstein & Marc Millman Last Saturday, The Brooklyn Bowl played host to the 12th Annual Freaks Ball, a high-energy party hosted by the deeply-rooted, music-loving Yahoo! Group the NYC Freaks. With access to so much music, New Yorkers are privileged to see any act of their choice. In some cases, multiple times a year. However, it’s a show like The Freaks Ball that we wait for as music lovers in New York City. A wonderful part of NYC’s underground musical culture, the NYC Freaks have been around as long as anyone can remember. After inquiring to a few members, many couldn’t recall when they were invited to join NYC’s hottest music list, but noted that they were happy members and the list was their main access to music knowledge and insight. This party would be for the Freaks. Seeing the collection of hugging friends as the city’s heaviest music-loving hitters entered the Brookl...

Quixote's True Blue Denver, CO Words By J-man Photos By Carly Marthis & J-man There was lots of music happening in Denver that night. We found ourselves at Quixote's True Blue for a mellow evening of Dead music. Coming through the door of the venue I could hear Grant Farm had already taken the stage. Entering the room I was shocked to see that there was next to no one in attendance. I glanced down at my phone to see that it was just past 9:30 pm. Folks don't usually turn out to Quixote's until 10:30-11:00. We took a seat on a ledge near the soundboard and tuned into the music. Tyler Grant and the most updated version of his project, Grant Farm, performed their rock/country sounding arrangements with fury and precision. The reason I use the word "arrangements" as opposed to "tunes" or "jams" is out of respect for the technical organization of the music. What was once a bluegrass/jam project has developed and blossomed into a unique rock ...

Fox Theatre Boulder, CO Words By J-man Photos By J-man & Carly Marthis The Infamous Stringdusters were back in Boulder, CO which meant that's where we needed to be. We battled one of the windiest nights in Colorado from Denver to Boulder where we found ourselves parked in the lot across the street from The Fox Theatre. There was a long line out front of the building and the sizeable crowd that gathered looked excited and energetic. Inside the theatre it was filling in quickly. A photographer snapped shots of folks in different poses as they came through the door for The Fox Theatre's Facebook page. The mood was really light and party-like as the opener Pert' Near Sandstone took the stage. Music filled the Fox with Pert' Near Sandstone putting out some old-time sounding bluegrass. I enjoyed the music and thought it to be a fitting opener for The Stringdusters, however it was odd to see that one of the gentleman's role in the band was almost strictly tap dancing. ...

Bluebird Theater Denver, CO Words, Photos & Vidoe By Nicholas Stock ( www.phatphlogblog.blogspot.com ) To celebrate entering my 31st year on this planet we headed down to The Bluebird in Denver to catch Split Lip Rayfield. I had a solid crew consisting of Amy, my brother and my best friend Ben. We grabbed a spot on the rail in the balcony as I roamed around taking photos. I love the Bluebird; it is by far my favorite intimate venue in Denver. Good layout, awesome sightlines, amazing acoustics and a great crew all combined to make any musical experience at The Bluebird a good one. Living in Fort Collins, I don’t get down as often as I would like, but it’s always a pleasure when I make it back. Soon after we arrived Rayland Baxter Took the stage. Rayland was a mustachioed troubadour from Nashville. Odessa Rose accompanied him on violin and backing vocals for most of his set. Baxter demonstrated an incredible sonic range going from minimalist plucking to a full on audio assault. He w...

MusicMarauders Live! (Episode: 004) by Musicmarauders Live! on Mixcloud

We are excited to announce the next phase in MusicMarauders' expansion, MusicMarauders Management & Publicity! We felt it to be the next step in the natural progression of MM and after speaking with several musicians/friends, it was clear that it would be a move in the right direction! So as of January 18th, 2012 MM now offers management and publicity that includes: booking, street-teaming, poster/logo design, social media operations, event coverage and much more! We will be announcing our initial client list/roster/partnerships on Friday, January 20th. We're very excited about our catalog as well as the potential of what is to come! We appreciate all of the support of our friends, family, clients and readers of MusicMarauders throughout the country as this new direction will be fueled by a grassroots movement of passionate individuals! Please check out and "Like" our Facebook page Here: www.facebook.com/pages/MusicMarauders-Management-Publicity Gratefully yours, ...

Quixote's True Blue Denver, CO Words By Nicholas Stock ( phatphlogblog.blogspot.com ) Photos By Nicholas Stock & Carly Marthis Audio Recording By Corey Sandoval ( Kind Recordings ) Video By Nicholas Stock The long awaited two-night run of Game 7 was billed as the MusicMarauders Two Year Anniversary Celebration. Having been writing for MM for close to a year now, which has been a great experience overall, I was very excited to join in the festivities. J-man covered the first night so I picked up a few friends and headed down for night two. I arrived early enough to catch a bit of Wisebird’s opening set. They were a foursome of wide brim hat wearing, bearded jammers who looked like they walked straight out of a Kerouac novel. Wisebird dabbled in bluesy song structures with a rockabilly twang. I would say the most striking thing about their playing was the distinct cleanliness of their sound. While not necessarily incredibly complex the music of Wisebird was tight and well thoug...