Spend Your NYE with The Pink Party + AFTERHOURS SPACE ODYSSEY to Start 2019 with a Bang

Life is better in pink.

Life is better in pink.

Still making your New Year’s Eve plans? We hope your answer is Yeah Baby! Denver’s full-sensory experience bar is hosting the best way to enter the new year with The Pink Party. Starting at 8PM, The Pink Party will be an intimate bash thrown by Synesthesia Denver Psych Fest, Kyle Hartman (The UMS), and Reed Fox (DéCollage, Moon Magnet). The night is 21+ and will feature sounds by Motion Trap (DJ Set), LePew (ft. members of Retrofette), S.I.X.X.X.D, and Reed Fox himself! Visual transportations will be provided by Andy Ai, Yonbre, and Kat Phenna. The night will of course feature a special midnight toast, and a free drink from Yeah Baby with your ticket purchase. Plus, if you stay true and wear your best pink duds (glitter or mylar preferred), you’ll receive select $5 cocktails all night long. Tier 1 tickets have already sold-out for the night, but Tier 2 tickets are still on sale for $35 here.

Get reborn.

Get reborn.

Though The Pink Party stops at 2AM, you don’t have to. Following your trip through Yeah Baby’s psychedelic pink wonderland, Lyft yourself over to Spectra Art Space for the NYE 2019: AN AFTERHOURS SPACE ODYSSEY after party. This rocket ship blasts off at midnight and returns to orbit at sunrise, so you can dance into the new year up until 6AM. Along with lasers, art installations, and “sounds you've never imagined,” this adventure will feature complimentary libations and an open maté bar. The AFTERHOURS SPACE ODYSSEY, produced by Moon Magnet, Belly Up, Hey Hay, and Spectra Art Space, will feature sets by Reed Fox, f-ethe, and Chuck Shadow. The event is 21+ and RSVP is required 24 hours in advance to attend. There are three tiers of tickets available for takeoff at this link.

Jet into a whole new world (and year) with The Pink Party + An Afterhours Space Odyssey. 2019 never looked so good baby…

Gasoline Lollipops Gear Up For a New Beginning In Lieu of a Departure

By: Brody Coronelli

Drummer Adam Perry reflects on his decision to leave the band, and what’s on the horizon.

The Gasoline Lollipops have been a fixture in Colorado music for over six years. What began as a bar band became a group that can sell out the Fox Theater, open Red Rocks, get on the bill of some of the state’s most popular festivals, and have their name recognized all across the state. This meteoric rise wasn’t a passive one, though.

GasPops. Photo Credit: George L. Blosser

GasPops. Photo Credit: George L. Blosser

Clay Rose’s songwriting was always too immense for the bars and breweries that gave the band their break, so their rise was always imminent. However, those who follow the band closely will notice that their rise to popularity happened right around the time their drummer Adam Perry joined back in 2016. The two met in a music class at Naropa University and became fast friends, which eventually led to Perry stepping behind the kit.

“I agreed to play some shows with the band until they found someone else. But in the middle of one of those shows, I had a moment where I realized, ‘Why would I not do this?’ So, it kind of took off, and we started playing all the time,” Perry says. “I did what I always do when I play in a band: I think about how it could grow, and how we could be on the radio. It was a bar band at the time, but the music [was much more than that]. Clay is an incredible songwriter, and it shouldn’t [have stayed] at [that] level. I started booking shows, contacting press, and getting us on the radio.”

Perry’s skills at working with press, booking, and promoting the band was the driving factor behind the band’s acceleration over the last two years. He helped turn a bar band with a performance that far outweighed their counterparts into a household name throughout the Front Range.

“Adam pushed us to a level where we were getting statewide recognition, and a lot of people knew our name. Booking agents started talking to us, but we weren’t really chomping on the bait, because as long as Adam was with us, we didn’t really need one,” says Clay Rose, the band’s frontman.

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Two years later, Perry has decided to leave the band. Citing his desire to spend more time with his family, focus more on work, and generally have less on his plate, his departure is completely amicable.

“Beyond music, Adam has been our manager. He’s built the railroads that we’ve been travelling on,” Rose says.

The amount of responsibility Perry took on- serving as the band’s drummer while also behind the wheel of all the bells and whistles it takes to keep a band relevant and in the public eye- was a lot, and what ultimately motivated his decision to leave the band.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to build railroads while you’re also on the train,” he says.

In addition to his duties with the band, Perry works at a law firm in Boulder, has an eight-year-old daughter, writes for Westword, and is an avid cyclist.

“I’m really embracing those things right now. It’s a great way to feel calm and still,” he says.

While the band has cultivated new friendships, connections, and a list of accomplishments that many musicians are never able to cross off their list, this sense of calm and stillness is something that’s often missing in his life.

“When we were on tour in Europe [in 2017], I was having a bit of a nervous breakdown. I realized that I can’t do this and everything in my life well if I’m putting it all into the band. But it’s nice that it’s an amicable split this time around,” he said, alluding to the musical fallouts he’s seen multiple times throughout his career.

Perry at Red Rocks. Photo Credit: Hannah Oreskovich

Perry at Red Rocks. Photo Credit: Hannah Oreskovich

Perry has been playing in bands since he was 16. Growing up in Pittsburgh, PA, music has been at the center of his life since the beginning, and as he’s gotten older, it’s remained important, but he’s ready to re-center and set his sights elsewhere.

“My only education in music was through punk rock in high school, so my form of drumming is very primitive and loud. I was playing in clubs and bars when I was 16, and it was just about how fast and hard you could play,” he says.

His background in punk-rock shines through loud and clear. His presence on the songs is pummelling and thunderous, giving the band a density that most alt-country and rock acts have a hard time capturing.

Perry’s other notable project in Colorado was The Yawpers, a band he helped form in the aughts. After his time with that band came to an end, his plan was to turn his back on playing music entirely. But meeting Rose and stumbling upon the magic of the Gasoline Lollipops changed his mind.

“I left The Yawpers in 2012 and told myself I’d never do the band thing again.” he says.

Perry’s decision to leave the Gasoline Lollipops comes six months after the band released Soul Mine, their fourth album. The record came from a band with a long history, but it carries the pent up energy and polishing of their raucous, gritty, and often sweeping blend of alt-country and rock‘n’roll that renders it more similar to a crashing, bombastic debut than an album from a band with steady footing.

Rose at Red Rocks. Photo Credit: Hannah Oreskovich

Rose at Red Rocks. Photo Credit: Hannah Oreskovich

“I didn’t know how to push a band [before Adam joined]. You have to have an interesting story or a project to pitch to press, and he showed me how to do that and lit a fire under me as far as making [Soul Mine]”, Rose says.

Perry speaks of Rose with similar fondness of his role in the band, and the opportunities he’s granted them.

“With Clay, there isn’t a wall between him and his songs. Every other band I’ve been in, what the singer/songwriter is writing aims to portray something. I don’t think Clay could do that if he tried,” he says.

Perry’s last show with the band is their headlining show at The Bluebird on May 18th. With support from RL Cole & The Hell You Say and Grayson County Burn Ban, the night will be a celebration of where the Gasoline Lollipops have been, and where they’re headed from here on out.

Rose wants to dedicate his time to other projects at the moment as well, so it could be a year or two before we get another GasPops album, but until then, the band is just as alive as ever. They recently opened for The Tallest Man On Earth at Bluebird Music Festival, and they’re on the bill to play Grandoozy this September, sharing the stage with Kendrick Lamar, Sturgill Simpson, and St. Vincent, among other high profile acts. This is where the band was headed from the beginning, and they couldn’t have done it without Perry.

“Eventually, we might’ve reached the point we’re at now, but without Adam, it would’ve taken a really long time. This is where I always wanted to be, but I had no idea how to get here,” Rose says.

There’s a lot on the horizon for The Gasoline Lollipops in wake of Perry leaving. Whatever it ends up being, Rose assured me that it’ll take on a new sound.

“[Our new music is] going to sound a lot different. I’ve always had a definite direction where [my music] is heading, but I never see it until the last minute. It’ll definitely be more psychedelic and dreamy,” he says.

Here’s to a new beginning for the band, in lieu of a departure. Get tickets for GasPops Bluebird show here.

-Brody

All photos, videos, and embedded tracks per the artists featured and those credited. This feature was edited for brevity and clarity by BolderBeat.

BLDGBLKS Artists Score Grammy Considerations

By: Jura Daubenspeck

A Grammy Award is no doubt the highest honor for recording artists. Each year, thousands of artists are entered for considerations. And while the heavy-hitting musicians we know and love often find their way onto the ballots, it’s also important to note the other hard-working up-and-comers who make their way onto the list.

This year BLDGBLKS artists Bonne Finken, Amy Kress, Mawule, R Michael Rhodes, and Interstate 10 have made the cut for the 2017 Awards considerations.

A membership with The Recording Academy is required in order to submit any music. Glenn Sawyer, producer at The Spot Studios, as well as a Voting Member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS), has taken charge and submitted the following music for these BLDGBLKS artists:

Bonne Finken - “Speak to Me” - Best Pop Solo Performance

Amy Kress - “Fly” - Best Dance Album of the Year

Mawule - “Chosen” - Best R&B Album

R Michael Rhodes - “After All These Years” - Best Americana Album

Interstate 10 - “I’m Gonna Miss You” - Best Country Duo Performance

So what happens for these artists between now and the Awards? After the voting members submit their music for the consideration round, the expert Grammy committees come up with a final ballot of artists. Artists are generally taken from the top percentage of nominations, but many artists not on this top list still make their way onto the ballot. This part of the process can take about two weeks. After the final nominees are contacted and, once again, voted for, the results remain hidden until the fateful February evening of the Awards ceremony.

Until then, considered artists can connect with one another, and make a push to have their music heard. Artists such as Bonne Finken, R Michael Rhodes, and Mawule all plan on partaking in this lobbying process, sending out personalized letters and connecting with voting members.

No matter what degree of fame an artist holds, it is an immense honor to even be considered for the acclaimed Grammy Awards. And while many voters may already have their eyes and ears set on a sure-fire winner, it’s important to always honor the accomplished local talent, who will stop at nothing to get their voices heard.

-Jura

All photos, videos, and embedded tracks per the artist featured and those credited. This feature was edited for brevity and clarity by BolderBeat.