Durango’s always had a solid DIY and independent music scene.
To my knowledge and time here, that scene goes back to the mid 1990s, when bands like Smut Vendor, Super Bee and The Thirteens were playing steady and heavy in traditional and not-so-traditional venues. Flash forward a few years into the early 2000s, and bands like The Randibles and The Neighbors would also play those aforementioned traditional and not-so venues, satisfying the rock needs of the aging punk rockers who would still venture out for shows along with the under-21 crowd who were into the music at all levels, from forming bands and writing original material to putting on shows in various halls or homes.
If you go
WHAT: Rock and indie with Ora, Hotel Draw, Alicia Glass.
WHEN: 7 p.m. Saturday.
WHERE: Cold Storage, 11th Street and the railroad tracks in Durango.
TICKETS: $15 at the door.
There’s still a fertile and growing scene in the region, found in places like The Hive (in its former, and hopefully future space coming soon) or places like Cold Storage Art Collective, the artist space formerly known as Channel 37 that serves as studio space, art warehouse and sometimes music venue.
Cold Storage Art Collective will host a show featuring players from that fertile scene on Saturday with a triple bill featuring Alicia Glass, Hotel Draw and Ora.
The three-band booking of local bands is something Hotel Draw bass player Marc Bourdon got involved with in Alaska when he was part of Anchorage’s music scene.
“We would always do a three-band bill,” he said. “You book a bill that’s complimentary, or just go for more of a showcase style, which I feel like is what we’re doing here. It’s not going to be four hours of the exact same music; it’s going to be four hours of stuff that flows into each other, and is different, but something for everybody.”
Those “something for everybody” sounds will include the indie-rock of Glass, what she describes as “dirtbag dream-rock.” Last year, she released the fabulous EP “Close/Open,” which walks a line between 1990s FM radio rock and punk. Hotel Draw are a heavy, roots rock band whose sound treads into the alt-country or the 21st century indie-Southern rock realm (think indie-rock bands from the South, not Molly Hatchet). They’ve been busy recording their debut, a record that will drop later this year. Ora is a dreamy, psychedelic rock band with subtle, stoner rock-sounds.
An all-ages show of this nature could only happen in a space like Cold Storage – Durango is currently short on smaller to midsize venues where you can pull a show off like this on the cheap. DIY means keeping costs low, and Cold Storage, with its multi-uses, remains a solid spot to pull off a hometown, do it yourself, multi-people making it happen type of show.
“I had been to this really cool punk show there with Acid Wrench and a bunch of Diné punk and hard-core bands, and the vibe was just great,” Bourdon said. “It’s got some character and some vibe; it feels like a bit of a mystery because it’s in the alley and you know, it’s an old building, but I just felt a rock-show vibe.”
A bonus to Saturday's show will be the added visuals of local artist and animator Gabriella Molina, whose addition will create a setting not unlike a late ’60s, San Francisco acid-test show minus Kesey and Garcia. That’s another bonus to having a solid, DIY music scene, as your local barista may also be a musician in a killer rock band, or someone with the talent to kick a local rock show up an imagistic notch.
“It’s one of the things that I like best about Durango,” said Ora drummer Cyle Talley. “With a little bit of audacity and a little bit of planning, you can put on something in this town that is just totally left of field.”
Bryant Liggett is a freelance writer and KDUR station manager. Reach him at liggett_b@fortlewis.edu.
