The good, The Bad, The Bleeding: Northern Colorado Punk through Front Range Fury Fest
To explain my feelings on hardcore punk as an extension of communities and as a lover of the music is complicated, but it can be encapsulated by just acknowledging the crowd that was there for 2024’s Front Range Fury Fest.
A lead singer takes to the stage to open up about his struggles with addiction and there are two separate places that I know I can access Narcan at any point in this venue. I am told about the second place by a person smoking cigarettes up against a chain link fence, they have dried blood on the side of their face and a massive grin.
Still daylight, the crowd is thinner but pressed tightly around the concrete slab that half of the artists will create a stage out of for the day. There is a man in the crowd in front of me discussing how lackluster he finds the energy. “This is the most pussy crowd I’ve seen. There’s better crowds in Baltimore”, he announces to his friend with a smirk. Yet, this man doesn’t join in.
I spot another man later on wearing a shirt that says “this is a fucking war you vegan shithead” and a hat with the outline of Texas on it. He helps up someone who made the wrong step in a bouncing mess of a pit and lost his balance.
These two men don’t speak to each other, they most likely don’t know each other and they encapsulate the scene more perfectly than I could’ve ever hoped to imagine. The threads of community lining the fabric that makes up hardcore scenes wear thin in a more modern age. I find myself thinking about the differences between violence and aggression and the way they fit within these spaces. The good in hardcore in this author’s opinion is often found in a bloody grin through a chain link fence, the words of safety between two people seeking a little refuge, and of course in the nastiest guitar tones you could possibly imagine.
Back Lip
Back Lip approaches the stage with coiled excitement, their approach to beatdown violent and crackling with energy. Their latest EP Trauma Response is crumbly hardcore with growls and groans a plenty. “Sick” twirls around the head like a storm cloud dense with rain, the commanding breakdowns a crack of thunder and the feedback from guitars the spark of lightning. The guitars pummel through songs “Snakes” and “Burn”, their tones turning phlegmier with intent rather than leaning into the stoic beating that can be common in hardcore songs. While the head-banging rhythms being created by the guitar and bass are excellent, the frenetic drums catch my attention the most. I spoke for a moment with their leadman, Evan, who was like a beacon in a yellow shirt amongst the crowd of all black. He stalks up and down the stage, screaming down into his pit, but afterwards off stage is thoughtful in his answers and eternally calm in his presence. Back Lip turned into the band I thought about the most afterwards, returning to listen to their stuff frequently. They promise things to come, including new music and plans for another tour.
“I think the scene is stronger than ever and I just love seeing so many new faces every time we play.
Never felt more proud to be a part of such a supportive community. COHC is only growing stronger every day and it’s really exciting”
– Back Lip on Northern Colorado hardcore
If you drive a 1994 Honda Accord and like straight edge you’ll like… “Leech”.
If you like growls, Coke Bust’s Confined and being in the pit you’ll like… “Burn”.
Wolfblitzer
A local melodic hardcore band, Wolfblitzer stands out in the sticky aggression of their bass tones, the charisma behind their vocals, and the ability for the guitar and drums to sonically flirt with each other so successfully. The steady hardcore drums, like a breath on the back of your neck, combined with the nipping at your heels energy of the more spontaneous guitar melodies can be head throughout Songs Dedicated to Movement, their 2023 album. “Open-Eyed Paralysis” and “Vice-Tight Jaw” caught my attention the most. “Open-Eyed Paralysis” has a sloshing lazy rhythm created in its first half that lets up to a more insistent latter half. The bouncing melodies of “Vice-Tight Jaw” showcase the snarkier guitar lines and iconic group vocals that highlight many of the band’s songs.
If you drink Pabst Beer, like group vocals, and Incediary’s Thousand Mile Stare you’ll like… “Vice-Tight Jaw”.
If you like Cold World’s No Omega and Marlboro blacks you’ll like… “Respite”.
At its core, hardcore punk stays closely tied with local music scenes and DIY efforts. The history of punk, and especially hardcore, is tied to these efforts to stay detached from commercial firms or ‘corporate success’. There are lots of fans that flee from spaces once they begin to become popularized or mainstream, so the underground or local support for hardcore punk tends to feel different than it may for your local indie bands. There is less of an anticipatory energy for success when I talk to punk bands, and hardcore punk takes this mentality to its extreme (much like it takes a lot of the aspects of punk to their extremes). The focus is shifted more intentionally onto doing, regardless of the level of interaction or success gained. To skip over these pockets of music while discussing Northern Colorado’s music scenes would be borderline blasphemous, as they embody the qualities and interactions that are highlighted frequently when discussing local music.
I find the hardcore mentality of expression to be refreshing in its intentional attention on the present. This mindfulness can feel strangely juxtaposed to the frustration expressed through a lot of the music, like a practice in deep breathing before screaming at the top of your lungs. It is certainly worth scoffing at a description of a song filled with mucous-filled snarls and distorted guitars as ‘vulnerable’, yet there is a compelling openness to hardcore music. The perpetual motion for the genre to become more aggressive, more exclusive, and more hardcore is something to be recognized as partially necessary because of this openness. There is something vulnerable about bleeding to your favorite music, and that should be respected.
Sewerslide
Sewerslide lit themselves up in red lighting, contrasted to the darkness around them, and drowned themselves in metalcore blast beats. Newest releases “WHAT’S LEFT” and “GLASS JAW” sit together like meeting teeth in a closing jaw, the rapid drums and growling guitars applying pressure from all sides. They sit in a more thrashing aggression than the hackle raised growls of other bands of the night, egging the crowd on as they fed on the bands energy. The guitars kiss along the edges of death metal with the drums creating a heaving breath of hardcore. They sit heavy on the sternum when listening to them live, each inhale thick with smoke and blasting drums.
If you own a camo hat, like vampire movies and Fit For An Autopsy you’ll like… “GLASS JAW”.
If you fear wasps but love crowdkilling, and like Nasty’s Heartbreak Criminals you’ll like… “WHAT’S LEFT”.
Snuff Tape
Snuff Tape combines elements of hardcore and nü metal in a way that frees them up to create songs that play with the more gothic metal elements as well as the frayed-edge snarls of hardcore. Their latest single, “Spiraling”, features the crunchy metal guitars with a cleaner bass tone that kicks the song into a frenzy. Kai Christensen and Bob Godden sink into a raw texture with their guitar tones, the licks of melody descending into nostalgia for 90s fuzz. With Nickleback visuals floating above them, they play the intro to single “C4”, the moments of release within the bass line stirring up the crowd. Alec Lange’s vocals range from a snarled bark to the more classic growl of hardcore as he tells the crowd in front of him to “swing first or duck”.
If you like Municipal Waste and being on the barrier you’ll like… “C4”.
If you use a wallet chain and like gravely vocals you’ll like… “Red Collar”.
“We had an absolute blast at FRFF thanks to Miguel and everyone involved at the Lyric theatre. Ran very professionally especially being year one for a festival. We made some new friends and saw a lot of good bands! We can’t wait to play it again if we get invited back. Shout out to Marshall for crushing it on audio! Back Lip and Sewerslide had some amazing songs.”
– Snuff Tape on Front Range Fury Fest