Altopalo @ Convergence Station (Meow Wolf)

What an honor!!! We got to cover the Altopalo show on April 13, 2023 at Convergence Station @ Meow Wolf (Denver). Shouts to our photographer, Kimberly Aguirre, for capturing da show.

Altopalo

Altopalo consists of members Mike, Rahm, Jesse, and Dillon, who have all been best friends for over ten years. This has made them incredibly comfortable with each other, to the extent that their friendship has become more like a brotherhood.

In the wake of George Floyd’s murder in 2020, drummer Dillon Treacy decided that he needed to take a step back from the band. This lasted a couple of weeks and wasn’t something that they publicly talked about on social media. Afterward, this led them to realize they needed to be with each other in order to make music.

Rahm describes altopalo with the image of a four-headed chimera with wings and legs, each head pulling in a different direction. “Being in a band is constantly navigating wanting to let people burrow or fly in the way they want to, but also knowing that the whole thing is compromise and you have to move together. The main dynamic shift was making sure that everybody feels heard or feels ownership.”

pulled from Outer/Most Agency -edited slightly for purposes of this post

Covet

Covet was formed in 2014 by California guitarist/composer/multi-instrumentalist Yvette Young. Young grew up playing piano & violin & eventually applied elements of technique for both instruments to guitar. From this, she came up with a two-handed tapping style that incorporated different approaches from classical music and math rock. While living in Los Angeles in 2009, Young began uploading videos of herself playing online, slowly gaining attention & fans for her virtuosic playing.

In early 2014, she released an EP called Acoustics under her own name, but eventually started the band upon moving back to her home of San Jose that fall. Covet’s original lineup included Young on guitar, bassist David Adamiak, and drummer Ben Wallace-Ailsworth. Unlike Young’s gentle acoustic material (which sometimes included vocals), Covet’s instrumental sound was derived from post-rock composition and math rock intricacy. The group played around San Jose for about a year, with Wallace-Ailsworth leaving the band, replaced by Keith Grimshaw.

pulled from their Spotify bio

Scarypoolparty

For much of the past few years, Alejandro Aranda, aka Scarypoolparty, has lived in near- constant motion. Consequently, he’s barely paused to catch his breath as he rocketed from playing bars and backyards to sold-out headline tours and massive festival stages. And while the widespread critical acclaim and tens of millions of streams he’s racked up along the way would seem to suggest that Aranda thrives on the chaos of the road, these past two years at home have seen immense buildout.

Fresh off his ‘The Acoustic Tour’ in June 2021, Scarypoolparty released his ambitious sophomore album, The Act of Forgiveness, in August 2021. The 21-track double album–featuring twelve songs with Emmy Award and Tony Award-winning composer Rob Mathes’ orchestral arrangements–further proves Scarypoolparty is a true “renaissance artist” (Alternative Press). Last fall, Scarypoolparty joined X Ambassadors as direct support on their The Beautiful Liar tour. Scarypoolparty is currently working on new music.

pulled from his Spotify bio