DIY punk scene grows in Boulder as young musicians fuel community and an underground movement

As the lights dimmed and musicians tuned their instruments, vocalist Ava Weiss, 20, told the crowd at The Coffee Stand in Boulder to grab earplugs so “you can hear tomorrow.” She then urged everyone to step closer to the makeshift stage before launching into the first song of the band’s set. 

Weiss sings with When the Sun Explodes, an alternative shoegaze band and one of four groups on the mid-September lineup. The show was the sixth in a series of grassroots concerts of punk and related genres held at the Boulder coffeeshop.

Maya Reisel, 18, was catching one of these shows for the first time.

“The mosh pit here was sick. The crowd was really respectful. I fell over twice in the pit, and people picked me up,” Reisel said. “I didn’t know that there was a lot of stuff in the Boulder punk scene. So it’s super cool this is here, and I’m loving it.”

While Boulder might not be the first place that comes to mind for punk rock, a small but passionate DIY scene is quietly growing. Spearheaded by young musicians like those behind the concerts at The Coffee Stand, local artists are putting on punk shows at unconventional venues, creating a space for loud, cathartic music that’s filling a void in Boulder’s live music scene. With a mix of punk, shoegaze and hardcore bands, the movement is drawing fans eager to build a community around alternative music outside of Denver.

“When it comes to Boulder, there’s this interesting mixture of strange experimental bands, some metal bands, and then a lot of CU indie bands,” said Zane Manning, 20, one half of the Boulder punk duo Chair Bomb, which also performed that night.

Chair Bomb, also made up of 20-year-old Cody Townsend, co-organizes the biweekly concert series with their friend, barista Nate Shepard. After breaking off from another group earlier this year to focus on punk, the duo discovered a strong community of local fans. Despite Boulder’s storied venues like eTown, The Fox Theatre and Boulder Theater, they found few places for young artists to play louder styles. From house concerts to DIY series like The Coffee Stand’s, Boulder County’s punk musicians are working to grow the scene beyond Denver.

“This is something we definitely both wish we had growing up here, like a space to meet other people that aren’t in the [Boulder] archetype and to just express yourselves and have fun,” Townsend said.

The Chair Bomb musicians have been playing music together for several years. It was Townsend who got Manning turned onto punk music when they were about 16. 

“When I met Cody, we’re doing stupid crap as teenagers, and he starts playing this music, and I’m like, this is right. This makes me want to laugh. This makes me want to go crazy. I feel things,” Manning said.

“I think catharsis is like the word when it comes to punk,” Townsend quickly added. “For me, that comes with the way things are clashing with the way things are sold to you. [The music] is feeling those things and getting it all out.”

Boulder hardcore band GAUNT is also invested in growing the local punk scene. They’ve played The Coffee Stand as part of the DIY series. Once, when the power went out mid-concert, GAUNT vocalist Coletrain Dragon, 20, and Townsend dashed to Home Depot to rent generators and keep the show going.  

“It was this cool thing because everyone stuck around, having fun hanging out with people they hadn’t met,” Manning said.

Dragon, who grew up in Boulder County, was also under the impression there wasn’t much happening in punk and hardcore locally. Then, after starting at CU Boulder, he went to a punk show at a now-defunct Boulder space, which solidified a goal for him and his bandmates “to bring that music into Boulder more.” Since then, GAUNT has helped to put on local shows. For Dragon, punk and hardcore are more than just “loud music” — they’re about building community. 

“Despite the perception of punk, metal and hardcore as aggressive genres, that [this music is] negative and violent and scary, I want to show people that it has a lot of benefits for young people or anyone who needs a community and might be struggling,” Dragon said. “It’s cool to have somewhere where everyone is kind of on the same page, and I think that we need more of it around here.”

Bob Medina, aka “Bob Rob,” a moniker given to him by members of Colorado’s punk scene, can relate. Now 55, Medina started going to punk shows, mostly in Denver and occasionally Boulder, in early 1983. He found the scene then to be “very inclusive.”

“It was a space for people that were very quiet, people that were obnoxious, people that didn’t fit in, and, for the most part, people were pretty tolerant of each other and got along,” he said. You kind of came as you were, and it was not a lot of judgment.”

Medina soon formed a band with friends, and, in 1987, became a promoter. He felt Colorado punk and hardcore had its own trajectory in Colorado, which he documented in his 2015 book called “Denvoid and the Cowtown Punks,” followed by a sequel in 2019. Medina loves hearing about young Boulder artists breathing new life into the scene.

“I’m stoked that they’re passionate about their music, their scene: making fanzines, finding spots for bands to play, getting generators if the power goes out,” Medina said.

Rick Sonkin, 67, was a member of Boulder’s punk band The DefeX, formed in the late ‘70s and featured on a Colorado punk compilation called Rocky Mountain Low. As bands like The Ramones were making waves and amplifying the genre’s sound at the time, Sonkin remembers Boulder being laid back, with a “dungaree jacket” vibe.

“But when we played, we would bring in a big crowd. There was a real hunger,” he said. “At the end of the gig, people would be dripping in sweat from dancing and knocking into each other. It was remarkable.” 

For Sonkin, punk “reaches into my body with two hands and it tugs on my lungs,” and he’s thrilled to see younger generations discovering it. His advice: “Go for it. Everybody has a voice when it comes to creativity. Just make sure you’re having fun.”

The members of Longmont punk band injury! are having fun. 

“Punk music draws me in because of the political, angry and fun nature of it,” said Ash Corp, 19, who plays bass and sings. Corp grew up with punk music and ideals, thanks to their father, and is proud to be a part of the growing Boulder County scene. They hope to see more efforts like the DIY concert series at The Coffee Stand.

“It’s important to keep the scene alive. The music is so therapeutic. It gives us a place to exist and share what we think is important,” Corp said. 

injury! drummer Alice Stewart, 18, wants to see more local bands take off, “getting out there, branding themselves and playing their own shows.”

“It shows talent if you’re able to do all of that on your own, and the community will support,” she said.

As for Chair Bomb, they’re in the process of changing venues for their DIY concert series. But they plan to keep momentum going and hope others will do the same.

“This is our dream, and this has been our dream since being teenagers,” Townsend said. “It’s felt like there hasn’t been a space like this in a long time. So that’s really what we’re striving for is community space and sick music.”