The Journey Of Seth Beamer Continues With A New Project.

From the early days of Red Fox Run to the recent foray with Wildermiss, Seth Beamer has always been an artist we admire. A new solo project has been his main priority as of late and we are excited to share his upcoming show tomorrow night at The Black Buzzard here in Denver. We often say talent grows from past projects and the ups-and-downs of learning We had a chance to hear some of Beamer’s new music and we can can certainly vouch for what he is about to release.

Seth Beamer is a Denver-based songwriter and all-around artist whose melodic musical style and lyrical transparency open a door into the universal. Characterized by a direct and genuine voice, Seth’s self-described genre is “Shameless Alt Indie.” A lifelong musician with an innate talent for playing by ear, Seth takes inspiration indiscriminately and can turn a half-heard melody into something completely new.

Seth’s style of musical composition, historically an ode to his deep appreciation of music theory, now moves away from principle and towards honest, renegade self-expression. Inspired by life’s trials, Seth’s most recent solo project applies varying influences—from jazz to pop and punk to indie—to produce songs that are at times candid and poignant and others uptempo and angsty.

Former founding member and guitarist of indie rock band, Wildermiss, Seth was also previously the bassist for local quartet Red Fox Run. During his tenure with his various Denver-grown bands, Seth has played at—and, more often than not, sold out—venues including the Bluebird Theater, Larimer Lounge, and Red Rocks. He has toured with national bands, The Oh Hellos, Jared & The Mill, and Bronze Radio Return; performed on the main stages at Westword Music Showcase and Underground Music Showcase, and was recognized as a winner of both 93.3’s Hometown for the Holidays and Big Gig. Seth has twice performed live on Last Call with Carson Daily.

With a mastery of instruments—piano, guitar, drums, and bass—a musical resume inclusive of competitive drumline, band, and percussion, and bachelor’s degrees in jazz bass and audio engineering, it is no surprise that Seth is a sought-after session player and performer. A member of or rotating regular in countless projects over the years, Seth has played with notable artists such as Rob Drabkin, Eldren, Brent Cowles, One Flew West, Andy Sydow, Lazer & Levi, Cristina Vane, and Pandas & People. Seth has had successful sync placements on MTV, Intuit QuickBooks advertisements, Colorado Tourism, Denver’s Covid-19 Stay-at-Home public service announcements, and the ever-popular Sesame Street.

Westword Music Showcase Celebrates 25 Years

Bishop Briggs providing one of the best sets of the day. (Photo Credit: Robert Castro)

Earlier this month we had a chance to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Westword Music Showcase here in Denver. The entertainment outlet has been putting on this amazing festival for years and lucky for us we have had a chance to cover a handful of them. Taking place in the Golden Triangle neighborhood of Denver, the festival went all out for this year’s lineup which featured everything from indie to electronic dance. With temperatures in the mid 90’s it was a perfect opportunity to grab a White Claw and Breck Brew Summer Pils to cool off. Festival goer’s were able to escape the heat taking refuge inside venues along Broadway to see some of the best local music bands from our area. From rockers Citra to up and coming star Bailey Elora, the lineup catered to the masses. This year Breckenridge Brewery took hold of the main sponsorship and their presence was felt as a “Breck Brew Camping” area adorned the parking lot between the main stages offering games, live art installations and a silent disco. Standout performances included main stage acts Yasi, Bishop Briggs, The Knocks, Slow Caves, Jai Wolf, and CHVRCHES. Local acts that shined included Adiel Mitchell, Los Mocochetes, CITRA, The Velveteers, Briana Straut, Corsicana, Vic N’ Narwals, as well as DJ sets by Erin Stereo and Polyphoni.

The festival itself has always been the unofficial kickoff to summer in the mile high and provides an amazing day with an amazing layout to be able to catch multiple stages. This years talent was as good as any of the previous years we have covered. Cheers and hopefully we get to celebrate the next 25 years with the Westword Music Showcase.

-Robert Castro

Photo Gallery: Robert Castro


The elegant and dazzling Lauren Mayberry of CHVRCHES. (Photo Credit: Kate Rose)


Crooked Colours shined. (Photo Credit: Aly McClaran)

Spend Your Money on Dava... Or At Least Your Spare Time

Local artist Dava has a hot new single out, and we have it here, just for you!

Photo courtesy of artist

Photo courtesy of artist

Dava told us, “I gather a lot of my inspiration from the females I grew up listening to. Ladies like Gwen, P!nk, Madonna were never afraid to write about what they really wanted. Lawrence Grivich and I had a blast making this - I wanted it to feel a little dreamy but still carry a strong presence lyrically. 2019 has a ton of music coming - releasing just about every month.”

Keep an eye out for this gal, she’s kicking butt and taking names!

Listen here.

KYLE EMERSON ON 'WORTH IT' EP + FIRST LISTEN

Kyle Emerson celebrates the release of his debut Ep Worth it on Thursday 5/11 at Hi-Dive, and right now we're really digging the stripped down space he's created in his work. Often compared to artists like Ryley Walker and Elliott Smith, Emerson has carved his own route with a self-taught finger-picking style that is pretty unparalleled,-- a skill that has created a distinct and severely raw, listenable sound.

Worth it is a far-flung departure from his earlier work with the psych-rock group Plum, an experience which has informed Emerson's perspective in more ways than one. Emerson's music has since shed much the instrumentation of Plum, in favor for guitar-heavy musicality and lyrical vulnerability. Instead, Worth it offers Emerson's experience, earnestness, and a fairly large helping of "humble pie," something that is hard to communicate behind the production levels of a larger rock group. 


You have to eat humble pie at some point. The song is a reflection on these last few years and my realizations of what is meaningful in life, versus what you pursue when you’re like, trying to make it.
— Emerson with Ultra5280

Emerson is sincere and open with us; from his beginnings, to his experiences in L.A., and ultimately what is really 'Worth it', something that can be easy to lose sight of. From 'Post-Egomania' to 'Off The Road', Kyle shares what he's learned along the way, and it is refreshingly, sweetly simple. 

Check out our exclusive interview with Kyle Emerson below, and be sure to buy your ticket for his release show with The Velveteers and Freaky North at the Hi-Dive on 5/11 here.

 

OUR EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW ON WORTH IT

 

KENDALL: Your solo work is a very big step in your own direction, away from the psychedelic, reverb-saturated world of Plum. How does it feel to have more creative control in terms of sound? 

KYLE: I definitely finish more songs in a quicker fashion. It’s still pretty collaborative though, I mean Brad Whaler from Sun Boy played drums for me on the EP, and he’s been big in the arrangement process. Dan Vollmar of Shady Elders played bass on it as well. It was definitely still a collaboration, I’m not like playing every instrument. It feels more like my own style still, though, and I think you could tell that there is less influence on Worth it from the personalities of the members of Plum.  

KENDALL: What artists have had the most influence on your debut EP Worth it?

KYLE: I definitely was really into Neil Young, John Lennon, and Paul Simon when I was working on the EP. A bit of Big Thief and Kurt Vile too. Ryley Walker and Steve Gun’s open tuning finger-picking really opened my eyes to what you can do with a guitar. Andy Shauf, who has a bit of an Elliott Smith vibe, and his style of production was also a big influence; it’s very dry and compressed.

KENDALL: Yes, I definitely got a bit of an XO vibe from Worth it, if I was to pick an Elliott Smith album. 

KYLE: I actually love Elliott Smith, and I listened to him a bit when I was younger, but I haven’t listened to Elliott Smith regularly in a really long time. So the Elliott Smith comparisons are kind of out of the blue; I wasn’t like trying to rip him off or anything. He’s kind of a sad sounding guy, and that wasn’t what I was trying to do, but I take it as a compliment. He’s brilliant. 

Image: Kyle Emerson

Image: Kyle Emerson

KENDALL: The EP was produced with a few friends. What was it like working with them during the production process? 

KYLE: I tracked with Jeff Cormack from South of France, and then I mixed with Justin Renaud, who actually mixed Plum’s last EP as well. He was one of my best friends, and it’s always really easy just hanging out. He’s really good at what he does. We sat down, and I was like, ‘This is what I want the record to sound like.” We did it live on tape with no clip tracks, which was a big step in a different direction compared to how I usually record. Things came out sounding pretty close to how I wanted them to. We kind of discussed what we didn’t want to do more than what we did want to do with it, and that’s how I knew he was the right guy for the job. He said he had ideas about the way it should be mixed, and working with him was really easy. It definitely wasn’t a process of mixing a song three or four times. 

KENDALL: What’s different about the creation process when you’re writing on your own as opposed to with a group? 

KYLE: I get more ideas out, more written during a guitar playing session than when I was working with Plum. We’d have a riff, maybe a melody, and everyone would just throw ideas out. Lyrics are definitely a bigger part of this project when compared to other projects, which makes it easier to know where I want to go musically. 

KENDALL:  When you’re writing songs, where are you pulling your lyrics from? 

KYLE: I usually draw on something from experience. Not all the songs are necessarily from my own life; if it sounds like I'm singing about myself, it's not necessarily my own experience as far as the stories go. but I write from life experience. It can be fictional, but it’s generally based on something that’s happened to me. 

KENDALL:  Can you tell us a little about the meaning behind the title Worth It? 

KYLE: The title was taken from the fourth song of the EP. The lyrics of the song ask the question, ‘Was it worth it?’ and later on the song tries to ask the question again in a different way. During production I never had a preconceived title in mind, but I’ve since noticed that I hear the term like, ten times a day. So, it was just funny to me because I had a song called ‘Worth it’. Once I started thinking about it, I realized that the saying can mean so many things. It could be both really heavy, or really conversational. I've had the tendency to be overly poetic in the past, to try and use some word that nobody knew, and I just loved how normal and unpoetic the term is. It wasn’t trying too hard, which I found really appealing. 

KENDALL: What were your initial ideas about the EP during its conception? Did your creative intentions change after its completion?

KYLE: I wrote a bunch of songs in LA and at that point in time, I hadn’t really formulated what I wanted to do, but I knew I wanted to do something that was pretty guitar driven, and not in a super rock ’n’ roll way. I was really influenced by Burt Yanch from the band Pentangle, he has a great acoustic finger-picking style. I still love love the rock movement, it really influenced me, but I had this idea about using just a guitar, with no synths or anything, and recording on tape. Lyrically, I think I lost interest with the psych-rock movement. I mean, I’m not slamming that movement, I’m not going to name bands or anything like that. But, I was really interested in seeing how a guitar driven band with confessional, heartfelt lyrics could sound. I mean, if you think about it it’s kind of an oxymoron, if you think about someone who like, shreds the guitar singing about their feelings. That was my main interest or intent. I didn’t hear an artist and think, oh, I’m going to rip that off. It was very much just trying to use the skill set that I had, organic and raw as possible without hiding behind production.
 
KENDALL: How did you get started playing music and writing songs?

KYLE: I started playing guitar when I was twelve, and shortly after that I just started writing. I was never good at covering songs accurately. I found the more creative I got the more fulfilled I was. It eventually lead to me learning to sing and writing lyrics. Some people can say, ‘I remember my first song,’ but for me it wasn’t like that. One day I just felt like I had been doing it for awhile. It felt naturally therapeutic. It was almost a cathartic way of dealing with things. I didn’t set out to be a songwriter, but I guess I’ve been doing it for ten years now.

KENDALL: What was the first album you listened to as a kid that convinced you to start playing music?

KYLE: My older sister introduced me to The Doors and Led Zeppelin once I picked up the guitar, but I think the first may have been The Arctic Monkeys. I saw the music video for ‘Bet You Look Good on the Dance Floor’ and for some reason I really identified with it. But, I remember getting into bands like The Beatles and Led Zeppelin and learning those songs, and realizing how fun it could be to make music with friends. Making music with friends has always been a big part of it all for me, so it’s kind of funny to me now when people say that I’ve ‘gone solo’, because I still very much associate my music with the people play with. There’s a lot of camaraderie.

KENDALL: 'Off the Road' (a play on Kerouac’s On the Road) is a quick-tempoed end for Worth It, and evidence of more serious, stringent training in classical fingerpicking. Where did you learn to play guitar? 

KYLE: I don’t know, I’ve never been super into guitar solos. Once I heard Nick Drake or even Chet Atkins, the idea of being able to play guitar in that way was way more interesting than learning an Eddie Van Halen solo or something like that. But I don’t have any story about being a guitar prodigy as a kid. I never had a guitar teacher or anything like that. It’s just been what I’ve pursued, and for some reason it’s developed more quickly than other things, musically, for me. 

KENDALL: Can you tell us a little more about where the track 'Post Ego-Mania' came from, and the meaning of it’s title? 

KYLE: I don’t normally like to tell to much about the meaning of a song, but it’s exactly what it sounds like. 'Post-Egomania' is about going through a bit of an egotistical phase, with your head up ass, and then you come out the other side and you realize like, ‘Wow, that wasn't worth it. That wasn't a head space that is easy to live in.” But I think more than anything, it’s about phases that you go through, and the lessons that you learn. You have to eat humble pie at some point. The song is a reflection on these last few years and my realizations of what is meaningful in life, versus what you pursue when you’re trying to make it. 

KENDALL: Plum made the move to L.A., but you’ve returned to Colorado. What ultimately brought you back to Denver?

KYLE: I think that song, Post Ego-Mania kind of explains it. I started to realize what really mattered. Denver’s vibe, the amount friends I’ve made here, and the local music community brought me back. I know that there are certain downsides to the Denver music scene, and I could probably talk about that for awhile. But, at the end of the day, it’s a very inclusive, friendly, and helpful scene. I mean, LA’s scene has those qualities too, but I kind of just wanted to return to form, come home, and start this project from the ground up here in Denver, more so than any other place I’ve ever been to.  

KENDALL: Did living in L.A. alter your perspective of the modern music scene?

KYLE: Definitely. It was the first time that I had been exposed to people who were very successful in the music scene. I met a lot of people who were making a living off of their music alone, and I began analyzing their lifestyle, and the choices they made to get where they are now. It was eye opening to see the steps to take and the decisions to make to get there. Growing up in Ohio, it was nearly impossible to meet people who were either like, really successful with music or seriously dedicated to it. Living in LA opened my eyes to certain things about the industry, and the fact that life as a professional musician is not abnormal. Half of the people I met, it was just what they did to earn a living. For them, it wasn’t important that they were famous, or that they had gotten their big break so to speak, it was just their lifestyle. It was almost like debunking a myth for me; I realized that they were just normal people, it didn’t have to be this lofty, mountainous sort of thing. 

KENDALL: Favorite Beatle? Favorite member of The Byrds?

KYLE: I have a hard time picking a favorite Beatle. I identify with John and George the most, as far as their songwriting goes, but I also love Paul and Ringo. I love David Crosby, especially what he did with CSN and CSNY. Even these days, he puts other people to shame in terms of artistic credibility. 

KENDALL: Any words for your Denver friends and fans?

KYLE: This is kind of heavy, but, I recently found out yesterday that one of my friends in the Denver music scene committed suicide. I won’t say who, but it really dawned on me how important it is for music to bring people together, especially the people who feel like they don’t have a place in this world. I think it's easy to get into what's cool, and what’s exciting and flashy in the moment with music, but my main goal with this EP is inclusivity. To make music that feels warm and welcoming to all the kinds of people who connect with music. The world’s a pretty gnarly place right now, and maybe it always has been, but it really feels like that way now. I hope the Denver music scene, and my contribution own contribution to it, is welcoming to all. It's really sad when people feel like they don’t have a place here, and I really hope that my own music could give them a headspace to live in that feels a little bit better. 

Stream Worth it here. 

Interview written and conducted by Ultra5280 writer Kendall Morris.
 


 

Denver Are You Looking For This Year's Summer Anthem? Look No Further

Since the beginning of time there has always been that Summer Jam we constatly blast in our cars, shower, home, club, you name it. There have been some classics over the years. Our all time favorite would probably be DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince's "Summertime" ironically named. Other classics would be "California Love" from Dr. Dre and Tupac, The Beach Boys "Good Vibrations" (basically anything by The Beach Boys) our Managing Editor Mcclain's fave "Summer Girls" by LFO. Castro's favorite "Summer Love" by Justin Timberlake also makes our list.

This year as we prepare to fire up that grill (it sparks up nostalgia) and break out the Mike's Hard Lemonade, we have begun to search for this years winner. Early favorite would be DJ Khaled's new "I'm The One" featuring Justin Bieber (i know), Quavo, Chance The Rapper and Lil Wayne. 

That was until we ran into this gem by local boys OptycNerd called "Uncool". The video is catchy with incredible visuals, pretty ladies and cotton candy. The perfect ingredients for what we will already dub the Summer Anthem of 2017, sorry Biebs! Denver take notice this one is sitting right in our backyard! Stay Woke!

Get To Know Ultra5280: An Interview With Founder/Editor-in-Chief, Robert Castro

Tacos not twins

Tacos not twins

Curious about how your favorite local publication started? Founder and Editor in Chief, Robert Castro gives us a personal, inside look at how our little music blog turned into the accredited, thriving, local publication it is today.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Kelly: Can you give the readers an introduction on who we are and what we do?

Castro: We are a music, lifestyle and film, online publication. We write about Denver’s community and other events around the country relating to the specific genres that we cover.  

Kelly: What inspired to you establish the publication initially?

Castro: Music has always been a big passion of mine. I was never brave enough to get an instrument and actually play but you can thoroughly enjoy music without being a musician. I was always the guy at parties with my mix CDs getting the party started. As I grew older, I got into photography. I wanted to combine both passions of mine. I started doing freelance for a large magazine out of LA called Filter Magazine. I was basically their Denver rep. I would do promo for touring artists in Denver, go to record stores and put up posters, do giveaways, etc. I had great perks. I would get tickets to these shows. That was great but it didn’t give me a lot of experience with photography. After, I started freelancing for a couple of local publications like The Denver Post and Westword. I did that for about a year and a half to two years. I got to meet a lot of people, network and gain experience. One day I thought it would be cool to do this on my own , have my own deadlines and be my own boss. One year I was down at SXSW and got to see these amazing artists before they blow up. Artists like Bon Iver, Ellie Goulding, Big Sean, Future, etc. SXSW provides an outlet for all of these record industry professionals to gather great artists and see who the next big discovery is. When I came back it really sparked my creativity and the start of Ultra5280. I was very passionate to kick off the company when I came back that year. For about two years I was doing everything myself which was very challenging. I wasn’t able to go to every show myself. I had to strategize and decide what readers would like as well as myself. At first I would have to pay for every show I went to. They don’t start to give you press passes until you’re an accredited publication. I did that for about two years, building Ultra’s reputation. The most important thing was networking and getting to know as many people working in promo, like AEG and Live Nation, as I could. Networking is thankfully a strong quality I have. We started growing and I needed more help. At first it was just freelancers but a lot of the time they turned into staff. We started back in 2011 with just myself and today we have 10 people on staff whether that be photographers or writers. We’re able to post a lot more content and cover a lot more shows. We added our lifestyle section about two years ago. In this great city, music branches into a lot of other things. Everywhere you go whether it be an art show,  restaurant opening, or a brewery on a Friday night, there’s always music happening. We started seeing growth from the booming events, not necessarily concerts, and decided to add a lifestyle section. Our traction in the last few years has doubled, almost tripled. There’s always something to do in Denver. You can find us everywhere: wine festivals, The Great American Beer Festival, concerts, music festivals. We’re able to send more of our staff out to cover more ground. I’ve kind of taken a step back and let our staff take over more events. I wanted to give the opportunity for them to do it and have that experience. It’s a labor of love but there are plenty of perks included with being a member of the staff. I want them to network, branch out, and possibly start projects of their own. I want them to take something from their experience at Ultra to showcase their own talent.

 

Photographer, Texan, Boss-man

Photographer, Texan, Boss-man

Kelly: How do you think the publication has an effect on Denver as a community?

Castro: Our number one priority has always been supporting local music which, in turn, for a lot of these bands, they’re not used to getting a lot of press. For us to write about them and cover their shows is a pretty big deal. For one, because they know what kind of traffic we have. Two, they know that they’ll probably reach people that haven’t listened to them before. Again, our number one goal has been to support local music. We do that in a lot of ways: We cover local artists and go to the shows, conduct interviews. One of the biggest things we do is encourage artists to reach out to us if they have a new video, single or album out. We want to promote local musicians. Ultra has a pretty significant fan base that will get to hear new local music before anyone else. We get our most traffic when we write about a local band. It gets shared on social media and it’s like a domino effect.

Kelly: What’s been your favorite part about your job as founder and editor in chief?

Castro: For me it’s been the extension of the photography side of the company. I’ve photographed some amazing artists. We get approved for about 90% of the shows that we apply to, whether it’s a local show or a sold out concert at the Pepsi Center. I’ve photographed artists like Justin Timberlake, Madonna, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Outkast, Radiohead, The Weekend, LCD Soundsystem. These are the awesome things that present itself when you run a publication. The most amazing experience I’ve had this far is an opportunity I got after shooting Alt-J a few summers ago. I was contacted by their team. They told me they wanted to put out an LP vinyl set based on their Red Rocks performance and asked if I could send a few of my pictures to potentially be included in the set. I sent them about 10-15 photos. They ended up choosing five of them. They paid me for my photos and sent me a free box set. That’s probably been my biggest highlight of my live concert photography.

Kelly: How have you seen the community grow in your time with the publication?

Castro: When I moved to Denver over 10 years ago, I wasn’t really that familiar with the local scene but if I could compare the Denver scene then to what it’s developed into now, it’s grown drastically. People would ask me where I’m from after I told them they would say things like “Oh, Denver! I know The Fray and Flobots." Now it’s amazing there’s so much more hidden talent that doesn’t at all get the same kind of press that the bigger bands do even though they’re just as talented. Nathaniel Rateliff is a good example of growth. He’s been playing music in Denver for 10 years. The first time I saw him perform was in a backyard at the UMS. Now he’s headlining major festivals. It’s interesting to see where that scene is kind of shifting. One of the cool things about Denver compared to other cities is that there’s not a lot of competitiveness in the scene. Everyone supports each other. I just wish they had more means to promote their music outside of Denver. The ones that are doing it are touring and doing it right. Take a band like In The Whale that’s been touring non-stop for the last five years, they just announced their European tour. This is a band that never stops. I’ll use those two guys as an example. They spend more time on the road then they do at home. If you wanna get to where you want to be as a musician, you gotta put in the work.

Kelly: Would you ever consider moving to print? Do you think there’s a market in Denver for print?

Castro: Yeah it’s something we’ve talked about. There is a cliche that print is dead which I can believe. You always hear about these news papers that are closing down. The thing with print is that it’s a huge start up cost, it’s a huge cost to maintain. Everyone’s online now. You can check everything from a mobile source. I’m not gonna walk a few blocks to get a paper if I have access to it on my phone. We’ve talked about doing print kind of quarterly. It would be a recap of everything we have on our website, very eye catching and appealing. I would like to think of it as a coffee table book. It’s still on our agenda down the road. We also have to figure cost, advertising, etc. I don’t want it just to be full of ads, I want it to be content heavy focused on Denver. I’ve been messing around with that idea the last 6 months. We’ll see where it goes.

Kelly: Where do you see the publication going in the next 5 years? What are you overall goals? How do you see the company growing?

Castro: I want to continue what we’re doing now. I don’t anticipate changing a whole lot because it’s working. If it’s not broke, don’t fix it. But at the same time, how do we get more readers? Like I said, adding lifestyle was huge for us. It doubled our traffic. What else can we cover aside from music and lifestyle? I think there’s a lot of untapped resources out there. I would love to focus more on restaurants, theatre, art, fashion, and definitely one that’s on our website that we really don’t touch, film. I think that’s where we can get more readers. Our staff is always growing. Right now we add about 2-3 people every year which is awesome because we get to cover more events.

Our fearless leader

Our fearless leader