Colorado Rocks

Excerpt from Rock On, by Denise Vega
COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL

Okay, so Alli’s been bugging us about getting this page up, so we had to cheat and check out the FAQs of other bands on COLORADO ROCKS to decide what we were going to include here. We’re new, so sue us.

How did you get started as a band?
Orion’s been playing since he was in the womb. Okay, maybe not that early, but early, dudes, seriously.
Nick and Ori have been friends since forever and when they were about twelve, Nick got his first drum set. Next thing you know, they are jamming together after school and on weekends. When they got to high school, they saw Troy in the school talent show. He played guitar and did some vocals, and a band without a name — YET — was born.
Nick is the “mastah drummah,” as he calls himself. According to his mom, he was banging on pots and pans as a baby. He still takes lessons and plays as much as possible.
Troy got his first guitar when he was ten, after trying out the violin, oboe, and ukulele. He still has his ukulele and pulls it out every so often to drive Nick crazy, who claims it’s a sissy instrument.

Do you write all your own material?
Orion writes most of the songs, with help from Nick and Troy. He started writing when he was in eighth grade during a poetry unit in school. Everyone thought poetry was boring, but we (O and N) had this really cool teacher who mixed in song lyrics and said that they were poetry too. We ended up doing an original song for our final project that eventually became “Suburban Nightmare.” Back then it was called “Eat Your Wheaties.” We got an A.

Which bands influence your sound?
Our music is a weird mix of folk, Southern, and hard rock, largely due to parental influence. Orion’s and Nick’s parents are totally into classic rock and own practically all the songs on every version of Guitar Hero either on their original vinyl, CD, digital download, or all three. Yes, GH Encore: Rocks the 80s is a parental fave. As Orion says: When you’ve been lulled to sleep to the sounds of Jeff Beck, Petty, the White Stripes, Skynyrd, Zeppelin, Big Head Todd, the Indigo Girls, and more, your tastes tend to run the gamut.
Nick likes to drum to a lot of different rock and heavy metal bands.
Troy’s into some classic rock, but also likes some of the new bands and less well-known ones, like Green River Ordinance out of Texas. They opened for the Goo Goo Dolls at Red Rocks and it was love at first chord.
And we love to support the locals who have made it big or are on their way: the Fray, Big Head Todd and the Monsters, Flobots, 3OH!3, Tickle Me Pink, kosmøs, and more.
If we think of more questions or you have some, we’ll add them. Otherwise, this is it.