MUSIC scene
Jazz, indie-rock, metal, country...Meat Loaf—is the Denton music scene suffering from a major personality disorder?
o, that’s just the Denton music scene being the Denton music scene—defiantly diversified, pointless to pigeonhole, obstinately eclectic. Denton is, after all, home to the impossible-to-categorize Brave Combo. The best description anyone can come up with for them is “nuclear polka.” Brave Combo perfectly epitomizes what makes Denton’s music scene so important—and so vibrant: its diversity and history.
Several name brand artists have ties to Denton: jazz chanteuse Norah Jones, Eagles singer Don Henley, and the late Roy Orbison were all, at one point or another, University of North Texas students/superstars-in-themaking. And, let’s not forget, back when he was known as Marvin Lee Aday, Meat Loaf called Denton home.
More recently, the town has unleashed upon the world Bowling for Soup, a Grammy-nominated punk-pop quartet that is equal parts fun and ferocity, and Midlake, a studious indie-rock outfit that has made it big in the states as well as Great Britain.
The current Denton band du jour is Record Hop, says Josh Baish, owner of indie-rock hot-spot Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios. “They’ve been around for a while, but every time I see them, they are more and more focused,” he says. “They have a new [selftitled] album out that was recorded by Steve Albini (Pixies, Nirvana, Chevelle) and that’s a big deal. If there’s a buzz about anyone right now, it’s Record Hop. They’re pretty different than anything else around here.”
Denton has a long-standing reputation for championing musicians that think out of the box.
“Musically, Denton has always been of the forward-thinking mindset,” says Dan Mojica, owner of Dan’s Silverleaf, a long-running haven for scruffy alt-country performers. “I honestly think the musicians here, many of whom are UNT students, always have their hands on the pulse of what’s going on, or what’s about to happen.”
Such foreshadowing has been evident for years. In the early ’90s, just as grunge was getting going in Seattle, Denton’s “school of noise” was in session. Baboon, Brutal Juice, and Caulk were teaching classes in how to be as relentlessly noisy as the Denton Police Department would allow.
A few years later, again coinciding with a national music trend, a crop circle of spacerock bands materialized in Denton. Groups like Mazinga Phaser and Thorazine Dream played trippy, atmospheric melodies and sang through distorted microphones—kind of like so many bands do nowadays.
Despite the indie influx, Denton is still known as a hub for great jazz. Case in point: the acclaimed UNT One O’Clock Lab Band, one of the most well-known jazz/big-band ensembles in this part of the country.
Most nights, you can hear Denton’s live music heart beat. Pick a club, any club: Rock venues Hailey’s and Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios are places to hang to hear local and national up-and-comers and buzz bands. Over the years, the clubs have hosted shows by Vampire Weekend, The Hold Steady, Dirty Three, Modest Mouse, and Death Cab for Cutie.
For a more laid-back atmosphere, try Cool Beans, where singer/songwriters play amid roasting coffee beans and the soft chirps of students tinkering around on their computers.
The more rambunctious side of Denton’s live music community can be seen, heard at the R Bar, a rowdy roadhouse that caters to the college-country crowd and hosts performances by Texas roadhogs like the Eli Young Band. Andy’s Bar and J&J’s Pizza keep rock ‘n’ roll alive, while the newly opened The Boiler Room has its hands in rock, pop, jazz, and experimental music.
BY MALCOLM MAYHEW