Handicapping Hometown for the Holidays

Hometown For The Holidays

The Top 10, I mean Top 12 thanks to a 4-way tie for 9th place, has been revealed for this year’s Hometown for the Holidays competition sponsored by KTCL 93.3 FM. Now, it’s up to the radio listeners (those who signed up at RateTheMusic.com prior to December 9th) to vote for their favorite acts from the Top 12. The top three vote-getters will perform at the Hometown for the Holidays concert at Casselman’s on Saturday, December 17th and the band with the most votes will receive $3,000 worth of recording time at The Blasting Room plus pricless bragging rights. Visit Area93.comto hear the Top 12 songs. Here are my predictions of each band’s chances of making the Top 3:

The Heyday – “Somebody to Someone”
The Heyday has made it into the Top 3 for three out of the last four years, so you’d have to consider them a heavy favorite to repeat this year. “Somebody to Someone” might not be as strong overall as last year’s “Fools Go Fallin'”, but the chorus is a knockout punch. I’m a little concerned that the track is more country-rock crossover than they typically play on KTCL, but I still expect The Heyday to do well in the voting. ODDS: 2 to 1 (50% chance)

The Photo Atlas – “Tell Me Again”
This one is tough to gauge. The Photo Atlas are well respected within the local music community. They’ve won a Westword Music Showcase award in each of the last two years, and may already be familiar to KTCL listeners (or Burnout Paradise video game players) thanks to their modest hit “Red, Orange, Yellow”. “Tell Me Again” is pretty poppy for the band. Ultimately it’s going to come down to whether listeners love or hate Singer Alan Andrews’ unique high, vibratto vocals. ODDS: 3 to 1 (33% chance)

Fierce Bad Rabbit – “You”
The Fort Collins based Fierce Bad Rabbits is a very strong contender in this year’s competition. “You” is ladened with the same kinds of hooks found in last year’s local hit “All I Have Is You”. But the song may be too “adult alternative” to attract the kinds of people that are likely to vote. If they can mobilize their FoCo followers through social media, they’ll have a huge advantage. ODDS: 3 to 1 (33% chance)

Churchill – “Change”
Churchill has to be commended for this savvy song choice. By choosing a song that features Bethany Kelly rather than Tim Bruns, “Change” automatically stands out as the only female-featured vocal. Plus, this song is absolutely gorgeous and capitilizes well on the success of KTCL artists like Florence and the Machine. Churchill made the Top 10 last year (and the Top 3 in 2009) and “Change” may very well put them in the Top 3 this year. ODDS: 2 to 1 (50% chance)

Saints – “Dark Country”
I first heard this song on “Locals Only” last month and wrote down the name of the band so that I wouldn’t forget it. Some of their songs have an Oasis vibe, but “Dark Country” is more Jakob Dylan meets Franz Ferdinand. While the song has a funky, chill vibe to it, it doesn’t really go anywhere. There is no difference in the music betwen the verses and the chorus, and unfortunately not even the dynamic outro can save it. ODDS: 10 to 1 (10% chance)

Reno Divorce – “Lover’s Leap”
“Lover’s Leap” is another song that stands out from the rest as being the only pure punk rock song in the competition. Fans of Social Distortion, Bad Religion, and Rise Against will vote for this song in droves and they’ve done a good job of mobilizing their fan base to vote. Still, you have to wonder why the band has failed to crack into the Top 3 after being in the Top 10 for three out of the last four years. Maybe there is some backlash for sounding too much like Social D. ODDS: 3 to 1 (33% chance)

My Body Sings Electric – “Doctor”
Like The Heyday, My Body Sings Electric was in the Top 3 last year. Their new single “Doctor” is indie-pop perfection. If they don’t make it into the Top 3, I’ll eat my hat. ODDS: 3 to 2 (66% chance)

Eldren – “Sleepy Walker”
I was a little perplexed by this decision. “Sleepy Walker” is a fairly new song and hasn’t been “road tested” much. But, I have come around to the shrewdness of the decision. It’s a short (not even 2 and a half minutes long) pop nugget that is alternately bouncy and dreamy. Eldren’s primary disadvantage is their newness. But one listen is all that most people need to become believers in this band. ODDS: 5 to 2 (40% chance)

Beats Noire – “Castaways”
Talk about a “wild card”. Beats Noire is the only band I’ve never heard of before. Hell, before the results were announced, they had fewer than 200 Facebook fans. This song’s Gorillaz-like vibe is pretty on point, but I think they would have been better served by editing the song down from its almost 4 minutes running time by removing the jazzy-piano interlude in the middle that just kills the song’s momentum. ODDS: 4 to 1 (25% chance)

Monroe Monroe – “Summon The Sound”
I don’t know whether the tally of 2010’s votes were published, but I’d be surprised if Monroe Monroe hadn’t finished in 4th place. “Squeeze” was one of the best songs to come out of Denver in 2010. I’m not sure that “Summon the Sound” was the best choice of songs to submit (I’d have gone with “Love Language (Wild Hearts)”). Still, Monroe Monroe has some good momentum going. ODDS: 3 to 1 (33% chance)

The Swayback – “What Death Cares About”
The Swayback are another perrenial favorite. I’m sure they will do well in the voting, but this song just doesn’t do it for me. ODDS: 3 to 1 (33% chance)

In The Whale – “Heels”
Nobody does more with less (members) than In The Whale. These guys have never met a gig they wouldn’t play. And whenever they start playing, newcomers get this look on their face like “are these guys serious?”. But, it isn’t long before Nate and Eric make converters out of them. “Heels” is less The Black Keys and more Clutch. It may be a little too hard rock for KTCL. And one of the things that makes In The Whale so charming and likeable is their nerdy exteriors. But, this will be lost on radio listeners. ODDS: 5 to 1 (20% chance)

There you have it. My Body Sings Electric and Churchill will fight it out for 1st place and The Heyday will round out the Top 3. Who do you think the Top 3 will be?

Concert Recap: InnerPartySystem’s Last Show Ever?

Die Tonight, Live Forever? 1,800 miles away in the early morning hours of August 28th, Hurricane Irene was doing Denver a favor. Following an announcement that InnerPartySystem would go on indefinite hiatus, the band announced two final shows: at Denver’s Bluebird Theater on August 28th and “the last show” in New York on August 31st. But the weather prevented them from travelling to Denver on the 28th and the show had to be rescheduled for September 5th – making the Denver appearance the last ever scheduled performance by the band

Several of Denver’s music elite showed up to say goodbye to a band that enjoyed a large following here. Among the crowd were members of The Epilogues, The Photo Atlas/Serious Moonlight, 3OH!3, and Take to the Oars. Also on hand were KTCL DJ’s Nic Cage and Nerf. Before launching into “American Trash”, singer Patrick Nissley made a point to thank KTCL for being such a strong supporter of the band.  During that same song, it appeared for a moment that Cobraconda’s Spencer Foreman was planning to dump a trash can full of ice over Nissley’s head from behind, but Foreman thought better of it. IPS’s biggest hit “Don’t Stop” was saved for last, during which the band was joined on stage by several of their fans and friends. As the song ended and the stage cleared, I saw drummer Jared Piccone unplug one of Nissley’s synthesizers and hand it to a fan in the pit – perhaps a sign of acrimony between band members?

Denver’s bad boys of rap Cobraconda opened the show. Prior to hitting the stage, they debuted their video for “BBHM$” (Bitch Better Have My Money). As the group promised on their Facebook page, the video was an R-Rated revelry of cocaine, alcohol, and oral sex (which may or may not have been simulated). Most of the crowd stood with their mouths agape unsure of how to react (particularly those who were on a date). Others gasped and whooped it up. The duo then hit the stage and pounded through a tight set that was punctuated by back-to-back tracks designed to get the hometown crowd going: “Never Going Back to Cali” (sampling 2Pac’s “California Love”) and “Everyday (In The Mile High)” (sampling Rusko’s “Everyday”). They closed out their set with fan favorites “K.I.S.S.I.N.G.” and “El Camino”. Judging from the amount of band merchandise I saw in the crowd, they picked up several new fans as a result of this coveted opening slot.

Why Doesn’t KTCL Play Local Music?

Denver has one of the most vibrant local music scenes in the country right now.  Over 13,000 people showed up to the Westword Music Showcase in June, and another 11,000 tickets were sold for July’s Underground Music Showcase which featured 350 local bands over four days.  You’d think that Denver’s Alternative Rock radio station, KTCL 93.3 FM, would want to take advantage of this demand for local music and play more of it.  Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Using statistics from http://www.yes.com/#KTCL and a mid-week sample date of Wednesday, August 31st, I discovered that KTCL had a total of 220 “plays”.  Of those plays, only 14 were from bands that are (or were) based in the Denver/Greeley/Fort Collins area.  That’s just barely over 6%.   It’s even more pitiful when you consider that these 14 plays only represented 7 unique songs.  One local musician said to me recently “People don’t need to hear [the Flobot’s hit] ‘Handlebars’ every fucking day”.  It may sound like he was exaggerating – only he wasn’t.  “Handlebars”, a song that is now 4 years old, was played twice on Wednesday.  “Girlfriends” by Single File was played three times.  As far as I can tell, these guys broke up almost two years ago!  Tickle Me Pink’s “Carolina” was played – they, too, are no longer together.  Breathe Carolina and The Northern Way (formerly known as Set Forth) also got two plays each.  Then there’s the biggest slap in the face: The Fray was played four times!  Why is this the biggest slap in the face?  Because, KTCL’s Alf was pretty much single-handedly responsible for breaking The Fray through his “Locals Only” show on Sunday nights.  Proof positive that radio airplay (along with listener demand) can turn a local act into a national act.  In fact, I’m not even sure it’s fair to count their four plays against the 14, because they are probably just part of Clear Channel’s “Premium Choice” program anyway.

Premium Choice is an initiative to “identify Clear Channel’s most effective content across music genres”, in other words: an approved playlist.  Clear Channel claims to give the local Program Director “total choice and flexibility in choosing the Premium Choice programming elements, and can use large portions, single elements, or none of the programming if they choose”.  But, there is no way that can be true.  According to his LinkedIn page, Nerf is not only KTCL’s afternoon drive DJ, but the station’s Program Director as well.  Nerf works very hard to get local bands onto larger stages, such as KTCL’s Big Gig, Hometown for the Holidays, and this year’s Denver County Fair (where he got  Take to The Oars, My Body Sings Electric, and others into the Stadium Arena at the National Western complex), but he can’t be bothered to play their songs on the radio?  It just doesn’t add up.  His hands must be tied.

So, what are we as concerned citizens and lovers of local music to do?  Stop listening to KTCL?  Do you think Clear Channel has any problem shutting down one radio station?  No way, and KTCL does too much good for the local music community to risk that.  My suggestion is to make “Locals Only” the most popular show on the channel by listening every Sunday night, and to call the request lines every other hour of the week to request local bands.  The fact is, I probably wouldn’t even be writing this blog right now if it wasn’t for KTCL spending 4 minutes out of a 1,440 minute broadcast day to play “Hunting Season” by The Epilogues.  Never in my 18 years of living in Colorado had I gone out to see a local band headline a show.  But that single play led me to the Bluebird Theater just days later where I saw Monroe Monroe, My Body Sings Electric, and The Epilogues.  Since then, I’ve been addicted to the scene and have shoveled money into the pockets of musicians.  One play.  That’s all it took.  Judging from my research, I got lucky.