The Denver City Saltlicks

The Denver City Saltlicks play on Sounds on 29th with host Sid Pink and comedian Sam Tallant. - PBS-Sounds on 29th

Friki Fest II - Friki Fest

Friki Fest II - Friki Fest

"Like The Denver City Saltlicks, you wouldn't think tabasco sauce and ice cream work, but it does." - Metromix-"Like The Denver City Saltlicks, you wouldn't think tabasco sauce and ice cream work, but i

"The Denver City Saltlicks bring nostalgic folk-inspired rock." - UCD Avocate-"The Denver City Saltlicks bring nostalgic folk-inspired rock."

"The Denver City Saltlicks bring nostalgic folk-inspired rock." - UCD Avocate-"The Denver City Saltlicks bring nostalgic folk-inspired rock."

"The Denver City Saltlicks bring that good old twang." - The Rocky Mountain New-"The Denver City Saltlicks bring that good old twang."

Voted: Song of the Day - Steampunk Forum

Voted: Song of the Day - Steampunk Forum

This is the part where I am supposed to introduce the band to you. However, you don't need me to tell you this four-piece band is from Denver. And frankly, the band members give a much better description of the band than your humble narrator ever could. Ladies and gentlemen, Denver City Saltlicks.

Complete the sentence. Denver City Saltlicks is...

A four-piece band that takes the flavours of yesteryear, electrifies them, shows them a skin mag centerfold and then tells them to melt faces or else they’re getting salt rubbed in yer wound motherfucker!

What is essential to every DCS show?

Electricity, sweat, spoons, twang, cheers, booze, dancing, aggressive dancing, Cate Hate’s bloody splinter filled knuckles, ‘Bama Slim’s Don’t give a Fuck outfits, an electric ukulele, Bullseye's striking good looks, George’s devastating upright bass grooves, booze, an A-Hole attitude, family, friends, drunkards, some guy who hates us, some chick who loves us, flash bulbs, booze, and an olde yellow gas can with Denver City Saltlicks painted on it and the taste of a dirty water hot dog with NO relish.

Describe how your sound is familiar, yet something people have never heard.

Well, all of DCS songs are rooted in Olde Tyme traditional sounds. Be it Bluegrass, Spirituals, Doo-Wop, Classic R & B, Honky Tonk, Surf, Blues and Country. We try to keep to the heart of the band and its focus...classic sounds, but it becomes something new when you factor in that you have a brother/sister vocal duo, electrified ukulele, a home-made Didley Bow, punk’d out washboard, a Rock style drum kit, Upright Bass and a Punk Rock aggression, attitude and treatment. We hope people walk away feeling like they think they knew what was going on but will have to hear it again to really get it.

If you could write and record a song with one artist, who would you choose? Why?

‘Bama Slim: Sweet Sunny South from Paonia, Colorado. This traditional olde tyme Bluegrass band was one of my 1st inspirations to create a sound like ours. Of course they’d have to “amp up,” but their energy, songwriting and style is somewhere I could be and rawk.

Cate: Well, I would love to record with some of my musical idols, but it might be too risky. I mean, I don't want my idea that Greg Graffin is the coolest mother fucker in the world and I sit down with him and he might be a total asshole. I'd be crushed. We just finished recording our first album and I am still high on that because we had so much fun doing it. So, I would have to say the great cats in our band. I can't wait to get back in with them.

Bullseye Dray: It would have to be Johnny Cash. Just hearing the First American Recordings when they did that recording in someone's living room, sounds like a lot of fun. It was just brilliant. And, especially after reading his autobiography, it was like you were sitting across the table from him telling his stories.

George: Buddy Holly. He has been my all time favorite musician since I was a kid.

What would you be doing if you weren't making music?

Music IS our second job seeing as though the band is made up of career-minded family folk, but if we weren’t tied down and we were on the road making it happen and then the Apocalypse descended? Well, we’d probably be cannibalistic road warriors on the hunt while sing a jaunty tune about eatin’ brains…salt cured of course. - Fox Tracks

Coffin Killer-Feature Song - Americana Daily

Coffin Killer-Feature Song - Americana Daily

Denver City Saltlicks (DCS) have been through the wringer over the past few years in terms of personnel. Still fronted by brother and sister team ‘Bama Slim and Cate Hate on shared (often spat) vocals, ukelele and they’ve settled on a lineup that rounds out with bassist GE Wilson and drums by UncleDray – and the trip has proven more than worth it.

This record, their first full length, owns the distinction of being the first in a while that immediately became a part of our daily soundtrack, with tunes that branded themselves on our tune-soaked brains. From the opening cackle that starts of “Rattlesnake Women” the tunes beg you to avoid bouncing and gyrating while you slip into old-timey forms of brainwash. Cate and ‘Bama’s plpay off of one another id alternately hilarious and brilliant – as when she quickly contradicts her brother’s hopes for a sleep over as “Boil That Cabbage Down” gets rocking. Equally enticing is their pairing for “Fuck Workin,” “Why’d You Take My Love” and the over-the-top fiery “Baby Jesus Wept.” ‘Bama pulls off a velvet, super-powered croon that’s unmatched – at least in Denver at the moment – in “…Dreams of You,” and plays a damned good spirit behind “Ghost of a Murdered Man.”

Besides their old-fashioned, jug-band-meets-surf sound, DCS portray the best of The Gun Club and some other solid punk roots on this disc. Well worth checking out – and they’re even better live. - denverthread.com

If you’ve been a denizen at Denver venues over the past near-decade in search of wild, homegrown roots music, chances are you’ve run into a performance or two from Denver City Saltlicks, one of the best punkabilly/surf/blues/jugbands around.

Denver City Saltlicks – or DCS – pack a musical punch with tunes that explode out of their private backwoods still and into your face with the force of a moonshine firehose. As it finds its way down your throat, it burns with a feeling like it’s removing most of the smooth lining, and then sits inside, warming while it generates a small nuclear reaction that powers unstoppable hips, cheeks and ankles. I defy you to avoid dancing next time you see them live, without suppressing an inevitable and overwhelming full body twitch fit.

” . . . the guys in this band are righteous people. I mean the best people I’ve ever known. I just want to hang out with them all the time.”
- Cate Hate

And their repertoire isn’t only jet fueled, actually. The four-piece, currently fronted by ‘Bama Slim and Cate Hate, a brother and sister team that covers vocals, ukelele, washboard and the “Blue Spruce” Johnson (look below for more on this fabulous home-grown piece of music history) and joined by bassist George Wilson and Bullseye Dray, the drummer, can just as easily croon any packed bar into a teary singalong with vocal stylings akin to a duette between a young Elvis and a punkier, grittier, Supremes’ Diana Ross. And they fill in the spaces everywhere in between with solid delta blues, smoking surf guitar and frenzied, scathing punk rock – it all depends on their mood, and possibly the heat in the room at the time.

DCS has recently gone through some major lineup changes also, as longtime bandmates (and husband and wife) Fish (on standup bass and rockabilly gymnastics) and Rev. Spooner (on vocals and spoons, sticks, castanets, and just about anything else she can bang out a rhythm with) left the band in January of 2010. As close a family feeling as they exhibit onstage, it seemed it would be difficult to replace the pair and move on, but the band has done just that, and is now producing their first full length album, which should drop sometime this fall (if all goes according to plan).

The group is also set to play a wicked show THIS FRIDAY NIGHT, April 16, at Andrew’s on Lincoln, along with Marty Jones & The Great Unknowns and Denver faves The Hollyfelds.

I recently corresponded with some members of the band for DenverThread about the new record, lineup changes and the state of the Denver scene. Read on for more:

DenverThread – How goes the new album? I know it’s your first full length – congrats! After about six years, obviously plenty of material, how did you decide what to put on it, and what to leave off?

Cate Hate – The album is running smoothly. We are currently recording at Motaland Studios and it is phenomenal to work with Bart McCrory, and we hope to drop the album in early fall. It’s going be a fucking great album. I really think it’s going to bring something different to the table.

“. . . ‘Bama is a great song writer. I don’t hear a lot of memorable and great songs being written out there in Denver.”
- George Wilson

Bullseye Dray – With the album content we wanted to create a gumbo of Saltlick flavours, so we threw in a Surf tune, some traditional Americana, Olde Tyme Roots, 50’s R n’ B, and of course some D-Town twang!

Cate – It was hard to sift threw our songs and find which gems we wanted to polish on our first full length. Because, we’ve been together so long and with ‘Bama turning out songs like a Denver City Madman, it was hard to keep it limited to just one CD. I wish we could’ve put out a double disc. Doesn’t that sound great guys?

George Wilson – I have to say ‘Bama is a great song writer. I don’t hear a lot of memorable and great songs being written out there in Denver.

DT - Saltlicks has a strong band personality – more a family than many bands – all united in the kick ass and take names punkabilly style. I know you and ‘Bama are sibs, but it seemed the whole band lives comfortably together. What do you attribute your closeness to (or am I way off base)? Does the new lineup feel as close so far?

Cate – Well, you hit that right on the head, we are that kick ass and take names kinda people, but we are all really laid back. And, we’ve all been friends for years. My bro I’ve known all my life, right? And, the guys in this band are righteous people. I mean the best people I’ve ever known. I just want to hang out with them all the time.

‘Bama Slim- We are all like minded assholes, so we get along well with each other.

Bullseye Dray- I’m just glad to be here.

DT – Speaking of the family – what about the lineup changes – with Fish and Rev. Spooner aloft, how are you finding the [new] aesthetic? Any progress on a new bassist?

Cate - Well, the trio lasted about a weekend. Luckily, we picked up a close friend, George Wilson - denverthread.com

If you’ve been a denizen at Denver venues over the past near-decade in search of wild, homegrown roots music, chances are you’ve run into a performance or two from Denver City Saltlicks, one of the best punkabilly/surf/blues/jugbands around.

Denver City Saltlicks – or DCS – pack a musical punch with tunes that explode out of their private backwoods still and into your face with the force of a moonshine firehose. As it finds its way down your throat, it burns with a feeling like it’s removing most of the smooth lining, and then sits inside, warming while it generates a small nuclear reaction that powers unstoppable hips, cheeks and ankles. I defy you to avoid dancing next time you see them live, without suppressing an inevitable and overwhelming full body twitch fit.

” . . . the guys in this band are righteous people. I mean the best people I’ve ever known. I just want to hang out with them all the time.”
- Cate Hate

And their repertoire isn’t only jet fueled, actually. The four-piece, currently fronted by ‘Bama Slim and Cate Hate, a brother and sister team that covers vocals, ukelele, washboard and the “Blue Spruce” Johnson (look below for more on this fabulous home-grown piece of music history) and joined by bassist George Wilson and Bullseye Dray, the drummer, can just as easily croon any packed bar into a teary singalong with vocal stylings akin to a duette between a young Elvis and a punkier, grittier, Supremes’ Diana Ross. And they fill in the spaces everywhere in between with solid delta blues, smoking surf guitar and frenzied, scathing punk rock – it all depends on their mood, and possibly the heat in the room at the time.

DCS has recently gone through some major lineup changes also, as longtime bandmates (and husband and wife) Fish (on standup bass and rockabilly gymnastics) and Rev. Spooner (on vocals and spoons, sticks, castanets, and just about anything else she can bang out a rhythm with) left the band in January of 2010. As close a family feeling as they exhibit onstage, it seemed it would be difficult to replace the pair and move on, but the band has done just that, and is now producing their first full length album, which should drop sometime this fall (if all goes according to plan).

The group is also set to play a wicked show THIS FRIDAY NIGHT, April 16, at Andrew’s on Lincoln, along with Marty Jones & The Great Unknowns and Denver faves The Hollyfelds.

I recently corresponded with some members of the band for DenverThread about the new record, lineup changes and the state of the Denver scene. Read on for more:

DenverThread – How goes the new album? I know it’s your first full length – congrats! After about six years, obviously plenty of material, how did you decide what to put on it, and what to leave off?

Cate Hate – The album is running smoothly. We are currently recording at Motaland Studios and it is phenomenal to work with Bart McCrory, and we hope to drop the album in early fall. It’s going be a fucking great album. I really think it’s going to bring something different to the table.

“. . . ‘Bama is a great song writer. I don’t hear a lot of memorable and great songs being written out there in Denver.”
- George Wilson

Bullseye Dray – With the album content we wanted to create a gumbo of Saltlick flavours, so we threw in a Surf tune, some traditional Americana, Olde Tyme Roots, 50’s R n’ B, and of course some D-Town twang!

Cate – It was hard to sift threw our songs and find which gems we wanted to polish on our first full length. Because, we’ve been together so long and with ‘Bama turning out songs like a Denver City Madman, it was hard to keep it limited to just one CD. I wish we could’ve put out a double disc. Doesn’t that sound great guys?

George Wilson – I have to say ‘Bama is a great song writer. I don’t hear a lot of memorable and great songs being written out there in Denver.

DT - Saltlicks has a strong band personality – more a family than many bands – all united in the kick ass and take names punkabilly style. I know you and ‘Bama are sibs, but it seemed the whole band lives comfortably together. What do you attribute your closeness to (or am I way off base)? Does the new lineup feel as close so far?

Cate – Well, you hit that right on the head, we are that kick ass and take names kinda people, but we are all really laid back. And, we’ve all been friends for years. My bro I’ve known all my life, right? And, the guys in this band are righteous people. I mean the best people I’ve ever known. I just want to hang out with them all the time.

‘Bama Slim- We are all like minded assholes, so we get along well with each other.

Bullseye Dray- I’m just glad to be here.

DT – Speaking of the family – what about the lineup changes – with Fish and Rev. Spooner aloft, how are you finding the [new] aesthetic? Any progress on a new bassist?

Cate - Well, the trio lasted about a weekend. Luckily, we picked up a close friend, George Wilson - denverthread.com