Dead For Denver Head to Los Angeles for Sumerian Records Battle Grand Finale

by Tim Wenger

Dead For Denver have been representing the Mile High City throughout the Sumerian Records Battle of the Bands and will be performing in the final round at the Whiskey A-Go-Go on November 19 after taking first place in the regional semi-finals in St. Louis.

The band saw an ad for the battle and contacted Soda Jerk Presents for more information about entering. Round one took place at the Marquis Theatre, and Dead For Denver took the first place prize and advanced to the round two in St. Louis.

Fans of Dead For Denver have become accustomed to their wild stage performances, and the guys feel that their presence on stage had as much to do with their success in the competition thus far as the music itself. “We put most of our concentration into, is being able to play our music as tight and precisely as possible while still putting on a good show,” says bassist Isaac Archuleta.

“I think a lot of it too is originality,” keyboardist/sequencer Tristan Lucerne adds. Where many metal bands place a heavy emphasis on screaming, Dead For Denver uses it only when the band feels it will add more character to a song. “Our music is really heavy, but we still have singing vocals. We scream where it’s needed.”

Front man Jason Lebaron started writing music for Dead For Denver over six years ago, but the current lineup has been together since mid-2012 with Archuleta being the most recent addition. “Once Isaac joined the band, that was when we started getting more shows and pushing the band out as a band and not just a project,” says Lucerne. They have been hard at work ever since, making a strong name in Denver and are proud to carry that name around the country. “Every show has gotten better than the last. We’re honored to play the shows that we play, that’s for sure.”

Following their opening spot at Dissonance in Design’s cd release party November 1, the band is keeping their schedule open until the results are in from the competition in LA. This final round will be performed for the owners of Sumerian Records (Asking Alexandria, I See Stars), with the winner being signed by the label with support for an album. Each band will perform three songs. This would, as it would for any independent band, be a huge kick for Dead For Denver, allowing them to not only record a top-level record but hopefully have some support to tour on the album as well. “To have label support, that’s a game changer right there,” says Archuleta.

They are certain that they have as good of a shot as anybody to take the whole thing. “I feel really confident going into it,” says Lucerne. “I think the judges see our confidence on stage.”

“The stage is nowhere to be timid,” says Archuleta. “We’re picking songs that we can play really well, and that can showcase the level of open mindedness that we have as far as music writing. We want to show them that we can cover many different genres.”

Online: deadfordenver.com

Tags: Dead For Denver, Sumerian Records

Category: localnews2