Fort Collins’ Pep Squad
For all of the great musical innovations coming out today, the scene in Fort Collins, Colorado is absolutely worth paying some attention to. And even the most jaded and critical listener might find themselves turning off their cynicism when they find themselves dancing uncontrollably to Pep Squad. Much of the innovation these days is coming from a media revolution. Software for electronic sounds are much cheaper these days, and with computer platforms that are easy to negotiate, anyone can write a new song.
It still takes a little brilliance and a lot of connections, however, to get people to actually listen to it. It’s still a question mark whether Pep* Squad has the connections, but with their brilliance, those should be coming any day now. They finally got a chance to play outside of Colorado earlier this year, at Austin’s SXSW Festival , and that’s a great start.
It’s already a pretty great start, however, and one listen might convince anyone to go ahead and book the hotel. Fort Collins is fun. Even without the music scene, it’s some of the freshest air in the country, and the quality of life is very high, even more so for people on vacation.
A Pep* Squad concert will be a mix of many things, but the first thing that might strike a new audience member is the level of performance. This isn’t an ordinary rock and roll show, it’s dance music, and it’s meant to get the crowd up and moving. The way they succeed at this suggests that irony is not dead. And celebrating the irony is a great hook, because the music will eventually take over.
They are masters of quotation, taking in all the tropes of glam bands of the 70s, and performing a level of fake angst that is fun, but also tugs at the heart in the most delightful way. When the singer starts to sound like he might be using a fake accent and riffing on the worst anthem rock singers, it’s because he really is, and it’s not long before one realizes there’s a genius at work somewhere.
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