A brief chat with Anthony Ruptak

Yellow Scene: When did you start playing solo, and what was the mission?

Anthony Ruptak: I started playing when I was 11 years old, playing acoustic guitar, and I started writing songs at about 13. I was the high school and junior high worship leader for my churches back when I was a kid, then I got out of the church system and started writing more of my own songs. I started playing out in Denver when I was 18, playing open mics.

YS: Describe the sound…

AR: My sound now, I guess I could quote some online reviews, but people have said that I’m a less spastic Conor Oberst, with touches of Andrew Bird. A bit like Me Without You.

YS: Have you played UMS before?

AR: This is going to be my third time playing UMS, and it comes right at the tail end of a tour that the band and I am doing. It’s going to be the grand finale of the tour. I only have good memories of it. It’s actually one of the best times of the year. It’s Christmas for alcoholics.

YS: What do you think of the current state of the Denver scene?

AR: The current state is incredibly fast moving at the moment, what with the influx of people into the Denver area and all the talent that it brings. I get a first look at that because I run an open mic. I’m constantly seeing new people that I haven’t seen before, and I like a lot of the flagship artists. Greg Isakov is a friend and I love what he’s doing. The state of the scene is thriving and flourishing.

YS: What can we expect from the set?

AR: From my set this year, you can expect very passionate, soul-filled, melodic rock ‘n’ roll scene-scapes, and we’re going to take everybody through the stories of the songs, and we’ll have just have gotten back from the road so we’ll all be super-on-point and on-song. We’re not going to let anything loose. We’re just going to give it 150 percent.