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Old 01-21-2015, 01:34 AM
 
Location: San Jose, CA
18 posts, read 66,721 times
Reputation: 39

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First post here, so be nice!

My wife and I have been looking at moving to Denver or Austin from San Jose, CA. (I'm from IN originally so don't hate me).

I'm a grunge/alt/modern rock guy in my mid-30's with a band in the Bay Area called The Tricycle Wipeout. The stuff is melodic and culls from everything from Seattle grunge to indie and Southern rock. Think Alice in Chains-meets-Seether-meets-Elliott Smith.

Anyway, the San Jose music scene is TERRIBLE, with few places to play, many closing down, and few replacing them, and rent for cruddy practice spots can easily run over $500 a month! People don't seem to really value music much here for a few reasons:

1) Too busy with their jobs
2) Multicultural nature of the area actually means people are more siloed to their own ethnic communities with less cross-pollination of musical genres
3) Just not a cultural value.

I was BLOWN AWAY by what I saw of Austin (hate the humidity, though), with live music EVERYWHERE from the airport to the backs of convertibles to all over the streets. It seems like it can be hard to stand out there, however.

I really love both big rock shows at marquee venues and indie rock shows at smaller clubs, and have my fair share of both seeing bands at and playing at dives, so having all three types of places available would be great.

As far as being a musician, I'm looking at homes with good basements where I can have my own practice space.

First question: Does anyone know how involved it is to soundproof a basement so you can have a practice with a full band at a sensible level without having neighbors wanna kill you or complain? That's the dream.

Second question: What is the music scene like in the greater Denver area? Is there decent diversity, or is it all club music or indie rock? (My stuff fits well with indie, alternative, modern rock, or even metal).

Third question: If I lived in Highlands Ranch, Centennial or Littleton, would venues be too far away? What about open mic opportunities to meet people? I'd like to be able to get somewhere in the evening within 20 minutes to half an hour.

Fourth question: Regarding open mics and musicians, are there inviting places or particular "scenes" that are best suited for meeting people? How hard is it to get together to jam? I ask this because music is a pretty low priority culturally in the Silicon Valley.

I would love some thoughtful responses.

I'm a singer/songwriter/guitarist, and my name is Matt. I used to write for an area music publication.

Thanks!
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Old 01-21-2015, 09:30 AM
 
Location: Home, Home on the Front Range
25,826 posts, read 20,589,083 times
Reputation: 14813
Speaking purely as an observer, I think that Denver has a pretty active music scene.

Some links:

Music Venues on Colfax - ColfaxAve.com

Top 10 music venues in Denver, Colorado | Travel | The Guardian

Root40 Music Fest

Is East Colfax facing its next live-music renaissance? - Reverb

Summit Music Hall - Denver Music Venues - Downtown Denver
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Old 01-21-2015, 11:03 AM
 
384 posts, read 504,789 times
Reputation: 689
As someone no longer "in" the scene, I'd say from a distance the music is pretty good from a seeing shows standpoint. Most touring acts come through town at one venue or another.

And there is still a scene for the hard rock/metal(ish) genre. I have a friend that plays in cover bands of that type, and they seem to have more gigs than they want (and actually get paid).

There are a lot of places to play around town, and I hear from friends in original bands, that it's a pretty supportive area. So yeah, I think you could make it work. I'd suggest checking out the WestWord magazine and read up on what they think of what is happening right now. That's our local "alternative" paper. Denver Music
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Old 01-21-2015, 11:52 AM
 
694 posts, read 1,032,217 times
Reputation: 512
Denver has a good music scene, but it is not known for the development of bands as is Austin, Nashville and New Orleans.

There are a few places in town for grunge/alt/modern, but nothing like the clubs in New York City that I've been too for that type of music.
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Old 01-21-2015, 12:56 PM
 
Location: denver, co
112 posts, read 167,403 times
Reputation: 210
Quote:
Originally Posted by SoLongCalifornia View Post
First post here, so be nice!

My wife and I have been looking at moving to Denver or Austin from San Jose, CA. (I'm from IN originally so don't hate me).

I'm a grunge/alt/modern rock guy in my mid-30's with a band in the Bay Area called The Tricycle Wipeout. The stuff is melodic and culls from everything from Seattle grunge to indie and Southern rock. Think Alice in Chains-meets-Seether-meets-Elliott Smith.

Anyway, the San Jose music scene is TERRIBLE, with few places to play, many closing down, and few replacing them, and rent for cruddy practice spots can easily run over $500 a month! People don't seem to really value music much here for a few reasons:

1) Too busy with their jobs
2) Multicultural nature of the area actually means people are more siloed to their own ethnic communities with less cross-pollination of musical genres
3) Just not a cultural value.

I was BLOWN AWAY by what I saw of Austin (hate the humidity, though), with live music EVERYWHERE from the airport to the backs of convertibles to all over the streets. It seems like it can be hard to stand out there, however.

I really love both big rock shows at marquee venues and indie rock shows at smaller clubs, and have my fair share of both seeing bands at and playing at dives, so having all three types of places available would be great.

As far as being a musician, I'm looking at homes with good basements where I can have my own practice space.

First question: Does anyone know how involved it is to soundproof a basement so you can have a practice with a full band at a sensible level without having neighbors wanna kill you or complain? That's the dream.

Second question: What is the music scene like in the greater Denver area? Is there decent diversity, or is it all club music or indie rock? (My stuff fits well with indie, alternative, modern rock, or even metal).

Third question: If I lived in Highlands Ranch, Centennial or Littleton, would venues be too far away? What about open mic opportunities to meet people? I'd like to be able to get somewhere in the evening within 20 minutes to half an hour.

Fourth question: Regarding open mics and musicians, are there inviting places or particular "scenes" that are best suited for meeting people? How hard is it to get together to jam? I ask this because music is a pretty low priority culturally in the Silicon Valley.

I would love some thoughtful responses.

I'm a singer/songwriter/guitarist, and my name is Matt. I used to write for an area music publication.

Thanks!
I've been out of the scene for a while now, and was last doing most of my playing in Chicago. When I moved here in 2007 and played around a bit, there were definitely places to gig. Like anyplace else, the trick is getting an audience to show up/pay. I feel there's a decent rock scene, although there will always be a competing jam band scene as well.

Coming from Chicago (and you may see the same coming from CA), there aren't a ton of gigging options outside Denver. There's Fort Collins, Colorado Springs, and the mountain resort towns, but after that you're looking a big hike to the next city. Chicago (or other parts of the country) offer several large metropolitan areas within a few hours drive. Here you're a bit more limited.

Austin is a fantastic town for music, just be aware that everyone else thinks that too so they move there to be heard. On the good side, there are amazing musicians everywhere, on the bad side you're competing with all of them for gigs/talent.
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Old 01-21-2015, 01:07 PM
 
26,116 posts, read 48,720,528 times
Reputation: 31502
Music scene is covered fairly well by a local newspaper called Westword.
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Old 01-21-2015, 03:18 PM
 
Location: San Jose, CA
18 posts, read 66,721 times
Reputation: 39
Thanks, TigerLily24, step33, JohnnyDenver, mundele and Mike from back east. Nice to get some thoughtful responses!


I've played most of the venues in the greater San Jose area, and have ventured to San Francisco, Fresno, and Santa Cruz.



Honestly, just juggling a band along with being a dad and working a busy full-time job would probably mean focusing on a 90-minute radius until things organically progressed to the point of realistically looking elsewhere.


That said, I really want to make a dent in the area and network. Just being in an area with different attitudes is important and will make a difference.
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Old 01-21-2015, 08:53 PM
 
450 posts, read 504,154 times
Reputation: 840
Denver might open some great doors for you (as a launching pad). I don't frequent Denver much, but it's proximity to several mountain towns make the commute doable. As an example, there are several restaurant/bar/coffee shops in Evergreen that offer open-mic nights and you never know what you're going to get! There is one restaurant/bar that we pass by almost every day whether we just drove to the store for a few groceries or decided to take a walk by the lake. We often stop just to listen!

In Boulder, I think the street performers might work in cooperation with each other to share performance space and audience. (Not really sure how that works, but it does). Some of them might be paid performances... I don't know. But someone here should be able to advise more wisely.

The people in the metro-Denver area as a whole seem to be very "live-and-let-live". It works!

Can you imagine getting an opportunity to perform at Red Rocks Amphitheatre?!!! That alone would make the move worth-while if I were a musician!!!

Good luck!
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Old 01-22-2015, 12:09 PM
 
556 posts, read 1,195,195 times
Reputation: 561
If you are here in July, check out The UMS
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Old 01-22-2015, 01:06 PM
 
Location: 0.83 Atmospheres
11,477 posts, read 11,441,320 times
Reputation: 11976
Quote:
Originally Posted by JWEvergreen View Post

Can you imagine getting an opportunity to perform at Red Rocks Amphitheatre?!!! That alone would make the move worth-while if I were a musician!!!

Good luck!
Red Rocks is always open. As long as you aren't amplified and there isn't another event scheduled, anyone can go set up and play there.
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