Denver remains a city with one of the better music scenes in the country. While surrounding areas like Boulder and into the mountains are fertile jam-band communities, Denver proper has it all.
Not only does it have scores of great venues and the world’s finest amphitheater sitting just West of the city limits, it also has a vibrant hardcore punk scene that’s existed for decades, tons of jazz, reggae, rock and world music and a nationally recognized genre of gothic country known as “This Denver Sound.”
Adding to the musical diversity in the Mile High City is the “psych-soul” sound being pioneered by rock band The Blue Rider, a quartet that plays original music informed by psychedelic and garage rock, surf rock and punk-influenced soul. Or soul-influenced punk.
The Blue Rider will perform tonight with California rock band Couches at The Olde Schoolhouse. The Blue Rider is Alex Eschen on guitar, Mark Shoosz on keyboards, Rett Rogers on bass and vocals and Scott Beck on drums.
Their formation was born in 2011 out of their friendship and a shared desire to dig into the back catalog of underground garage rock for a new sound.
“We were all good friends. Everyone else in the band was playing music in different various projects,” Rogers said last week from Denver. “We started playing covers of old garage songs and even outside of that category. Things picked up, and we played around Denver, we recorded a single, then an EP/10-inch.”
For newbies, an exploration into underground music of the psychedelic and garage genres can be an ear- and eye-opening experience. Digging into this is a noble musical pursuit, a palate-widening affair of an almost limitless number of bands and songs.
Musicians are music fans too; members of The Blue Rider double as DJs on off nights (not lap-top jockeys, but actual “disc” jockeys) and have spent hours digging through crates of vinyl in record stores and at random sales. Finding old underground gems has greatly influenced this band, which could fit in alongside bands like Man or Astroman, Can, The Ramones, Booker T & the MG’s or obscure German rock bands. They’re music fans, and they pursue sounds whose popularity has waned over the years.
“I think garage rock has had several phases and several waves. The term ‘garage’ rock is thrown around so loosely at this point. I think psychedelic has also had several different waves,” Rogers said. “We define ourselves as ‘psych-soul’ because we incorporate things like old school soul music; we have things that sound like Bo Diddly riffs, and we have that psychedelic sound. We’re inspired by things like that, and even ‘kraut-rock.’ We span many genres.”
The Blue Rider has a full-length album set to be released in 2015. Couches are touring behind their latest EP, “Slackin’ Since the ‘80s.”
Liggett_b@fortlewis.edu. Bryant Liggett is a freelance writer and KDUR station manager.
Bryant’s best
Friday: Rock music with Little Wilderness, 6 p.m., no cover, Moe’s, 937 Main Ave., 259-9018.
Friday: Rock music with The Blue Rider and Couches, 10 p.m., no cover, The Olde Schoolhouse, 46778 Highway 550, 259-2257.
