Rawtune

Rawtune:

Banana guns, Billy the kid and awesome reggae, Fort Collins’ newest reggae band is quickly making a name for themselves. Rawtune describes themselves as “raw and rotten dudes” which is largely reflected in their music. They take classic reggae/rock and add their own flair to it. Their first album Pull the Trigger was released at the beginning of this year and has catapulted them into Fort Collins fame. Although the boys don’t take themselves too seriously, their music is seriously amazing. - Scene Magazine

by Mikaela Antonelli

Only forming at the beginning of this year, Rawtune has made quite the impact on the music scene in Fort Collins. Sebastian Lawrence, Zach Goplen, and Matt Pintauro started jamming together in Matt’s living room before Karl Robison came into the mix and they became Rawtune. Rawtune is vocalist Sebastian, guitarist Zach, drummer Matt, bassist Shane Smith, and Karl their producer. The name came out of a long brainstorming session with many interesting names when they finally landed on Rawtune because “we are all rotten…raw [guys]…and we’re all about the tunes” Sebastian said.

The group works well together and you can see that from the way that their songs are put together, to the way that they interact on and off stage. Sebastian is the main songwriter, but they all come together to work on the songs that he creates to make them work with the sound of the whole group and work with everyone. Once they get on stage they are all about having fun together as a band, “we are always getting into something…sometimes we will forget the crowd is there,” said Sebastian.

Being relatively new to the music scene in Fort Collins they have experienced how welcoming it can be. “ It is awesome…it is a great market for new bands” Sebastian said “Fort Collins is the new Seattle”

Their first album can be found on their website and was completely produced on their own. They started recording their album in Zach’s apartment, “we made a lot of noise… I’m surprised that we didn’t get a noise complaint” Karl said. They soon moved to Matt’s basement to record the guitar and drums simultaneously. Although when listening to their album you would never guess that it was recorded in a basement and a living room. The sound quality on the album is amazing and crisp.

Not only have they recorded their own album, they have also recorded other local artists. Karl and Zach have co-founded a record label with Samuel Swegart called Millennia Records. The label is completely independent and has a few local artists signed onto it, including Drinking With Charlie, LOS, and DJ Full Metal but they are always looking for new bands to come record with them.

They will be performing a couple shows around Fort Collins this month that you wont want to miss.

Banana story - Scene Magazine

Fort Collins is the home to some great local music.

I am definitely guilty of not taking advantage of this, so I was excited to see self described “blues, funk, reggae” band, Rawtune at Krazy Karl’s on Saturday.

As a transfer student, I have been getting to know the area for the past year and when I heard the venue was my favorite pizza place, I was both excited and perplexed, as I had no idea that they put on shows there. As a venue, it’s lively and intimate, with the tables and bar allowing people to mingle and hang out with friends while they enjoy the music.


The house was packed by 8:30 and everyone was rocking out to the Denver-based band, Mindstate. The “Reggae/Rock/Hip-hop” group had a really great set. Hurley Sammon on bass and vocals, Zach Borunda on guitar and vocals and Favi DeBotia played the drums. Their music was laid-back, but fast-paced enough to keep the crowd going. You could tell that they were passionate about the music they were playing and excited to share it with others. It was an awesome way to start off the night.

Rawtune took the stage right on schedule and immediately the crowd went wild. Sebastian Lawrence on vocals, Zachary Goplen played guitar and did back-up vocals, Matt Pintauro played drums and Karl Robison played bass. All of the band members were sensational at firing up the crowd and each one had a sensational stage presence.

Their performance of Sublime’s “What I Got” was particularly rousing; everyone that knew the words (myself included) was singing along at the top of their lungs.

If I hadn’t known any better, and if the venue had been any bigger, I would have thought I was at the concert of a relatively well-known band. The atmosphere was energized and fun, and everyone was excited about their music and some could even follow along with the words. I was very impressed by their performance and would not be surprised if they end up being a successful band.

I would highly recommend seeing a performance by either band, and at the very least, checking out their music online. They certainly gained fans in me and my friends Saturday night, and I don’t think you will be disappointed either.

Rawtune will be visiting the KCSU studio Friday, Feb. 6 from 1 p.m. – 2 p.m.

Collegian A&E Writer Aubrey Shanahan can be reached at entertainment@collegian.com or on Twitter @aubs926. - The Rocky Mountain Collegian