{"id":2444286,"date":"2019-05-16T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-05-16T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=305964"},"modified":"2019-05-16T16:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-05-16T22:00:00","slug":"boombox-is-back-at-belly-up-aspen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/boombox-is-back-at-belly-up-aspen\/","title":{"rendered":"BoomBox is back at Belly Up Aspen"},"content":{"rendered":"
BoomBox will headline Belly Up on Friday, May 17.<\/strong>
Courtesy photo<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Every recent spring has brought something new to Aspen from BoomBox<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Two years ago around this time, the electro-rock duo debuted its new lineup for local fans at Belly Up in 2017 \u2014 with founder and songwriter Zion Rock Godchaux bringing new partner DJ Harry \u2014 to the club for the first time.<\/p>\n

A year later they returned to showcase new BoomBox songs from the new lineup. Those songs have since filled a new album, titled \u201cWestern Voodoo,\u201d which is the occasion of their return to Belly Up tonight. Colorado favorites, BoomBox also is hitting Steamboat for two nights and Denver\u2019s Spread the Word Fest on this swing.<\/p>\n

Released in October, \u201cWestern Voodoo\u201d is the first BoomBox record since 2014 and the first made with Harry.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis new record is the most musical and varied, yet it\u2019s tightly wound in respect to that syncopation,\u201d Godchaux said. \u201cThere are only a few rules: It should be heavy groove; it should make you want to move. Overall, I\u2019ve further developed the sound people are used to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, the band\u2019s chilled-out psychadelia and funky dance music aesthetic that the band established in its 2005 debut disc, \u201cVisions of Backbeat\u201d and early songs like \u201cStereo\u201d is intact on \u201cWestern Voodoo\u201d in new songs like \u201cRestless Too.\u201d But there\u2019s also a lot more organic instrumentation.<\/p>\n

The title comes from the Godchaux\u2019s sense of the American West\u2019s spiritual and magical traditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe West, in general, has its own voodoo influenced by the blues,\u201d Godchaux, who grew up in San Francisco, said upon the album\u2019s release. \u201cThat\u2019s what shaped me as a musician growing up in this country. It\u2019s hard to put in the words, but you know it when you hear it.<\/p>\n

DJ Harry also has helped Godchaux revitalize some older BoomBox songs and shape the new ones for live renditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cHarry brings a new energy to the show \u2014 he\u2019s an amazing DJ and an excellent musician,\u201d Godchaux said.<\/p>\n

The songwriter and multi-instrumentalist is the son of 1970s Grateful Dead vocalist Donna Godchaux Mackway and the late Dead keyboardist Keith Godchaux. So the freewheeling chill that is BoomBox\u2019s signature is in his blood, though nobody would mistake BoomBox for a jam band or lump the duo in with the current generation of Dead-derivative acts.<\/p>\n

Over the past eight years, BoomBox has become a local favorite and a regular at Belly Up Aspen, including these annual spring offseason shows that have reliably become a live music high point of the often-quiet mud seasons.<\/p>\n

Colorado is home to some of the Alabama-based band\u2019s most fervent and loyal fans and has been a touchstone for BoomBox since its inception in 2004. Godchaux plucked DJ Harry from Boulder to join the band.<\/p>\n

The original pairing of Godchaux and Russ Randolph split amicably after a 2016 New Year\u2019s Eve concert at the Gothic Theatre in Denver.<\/p>\n

Godchaux never considered ending the BoomBox project when Randolph left.<\/p>\n

\u201cQuite the contrary, I\u2019m ready to make \u2014 and am making \u2014 a lot of music these days for BoomBox,\u201d Godchaux said. \u201cWe need to be releasing lots of music. That\u2019s the reason Russ and I went our separate ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

Godchaux wanted BoomBox to record and release music more actively than it had been. He also wanted to grow the band\u2019s international audience.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoomBox needs our full attention,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s pretty much my mode right now: to record and make as much music as I can in my studio at home.\u201d<\/p>\n

After years of performing clad in the signature BoomBox feather boas, the duo began dialing back some of its familiar stage aesthetic in recent Aspen appearances, to instead focus on the music and creating the laid-back party vibe that connected with audiences immediately in Colorado and made BoomBox a regular at Belly Up over the past decade.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur music is about release and it\u2019s supposed to be healing and relaxing and freeing \u2014 very disarming by nature,\u201d he said. \u201cUltimately, it\u2019s a universal sound. Something anybody can cue into.\u201d<\/p>\n

atravers@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BoomBox will headline Belly Up on Friday, May 17.Courtesy photo Every recent spring has brought something new to Aspen from BoomBox. Two years ago around this time, the electro-rock duo debuted its new lineup for local fans at Belly Up in 2017 \u2014 with founder and songwriter Zion Rock Godchaux bringing new partner DJ Harry […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2444286","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-18 08:53:13","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2444286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2444286"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2444286\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2444286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2444286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2444286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}