Underground Music Showcase 2018: Photos

There’s too much to say about this year’s Underground Music Showcase, so we won’t say much. You’re here for the photos anyway. Let’s say this: it was three days of magic. With Two Parts taking over from the Denver Post Community Foundation and partnerships with Oskar Blues, 303 Magazine, and others, the festival really blew us out of the water. Local employees noted the uptick in business and bands were excited for performances and the turnout. The barista at Sugar Bakeshop told us they’d seen a boost of 1.5x the normal amount of sales, which is awesome for locals. BETS, who played Skylark on the third day of UMS and who has new work available here, told us that, “this was my first time playing UMS. I had a great time all around. So many good bands playing. And we had a big turnout at our showcase which was lovely.” It is lovely. Denverites really turned out, even if the walking area of the venue spacing went up a bit this year, making for sore legs at the weekend’s end. BETS also told us that a “couple brought their baby to our show because they wanted it to be his first concert,” which is the cutest report we had from the weekend.

On a sad note, we talked with Marie Litton from PrettyMouth and she expressed disappointment in the love she was given in terms of venue and timing. Her work is some of the best in Denver, arguably, and she’s been making music in Denver for almost two decades. This sort of “no love”, as she put it, is why her and her boyfriend are moving to Los Angeles. That’s right, Denver is losing amzing talent, and that sucks. Their move means four bands cease to exist here: PrettyMouth, Buffalo Party, Spyderland, and Grammar School.

We interviewed Tobias Krause, the Two Parts UMS Event Director (and former showcase manager under the previous administration), and he was enlightening, in case you want a longer read on what UMS was and what the goals for the future are. You can read that here. Shout out the volunteer staff and the bands for the diversity: the People of Color, the women fronted bands, the LGBT representation, and the increased diversity of genres. We appreciated that. But enough with the words. Here are the pictures. Shout out the YS team, Drew McClellan, Phong Nguyen, De La Vaca, and Palmer for the photos.