Musically Colorado in the seventies allways seemed more tied into the very popular California sound of the time. That means bands like The Eagles, The Doobie Brothers, and Fleetwood Mac (L.A. transplants) were the most popular groups of the day. In the early seventies Zephyr had emerged as a local group with a major label contract, but they never enjoyed widespread national popularity.

Going back to the sixties Colorado had allways had strong ties to the California rock scene. Even San Francisco's Family Dog briefly opened a Colorado club in Denver at 1601 West Evans in 1967. Many of the early California hippies relocated to Colorado after leaving the Haight-Ashbury in the late 60's. However you could speculate that very few of them moved to Colorado's cities and supported local rock bands and clubs. This was during the heigth of the "back to nature" movement.

By the time the mid seventies had arrived live rock and roll was hard to find in Colorado. Disco began to emerge as a popular musical style. Discos sprung up all over in Denver and in the college towns of Boulder, Ft. Collins, and Colorado Springs. In 1976 the Boulder/Denver/Front Range area was still tuned to the rock music of local bands like Zypher and country bands like Woody and the Peckers. Aside from the occasional touring band who performed in Denver at clubs like Ebbets Field (at 1030 15 St. in downtown Denver) or the shows put on by Wax Trax! Records' there was very little live "punk" or "new wave" music in the area. Until the arrival of Capitol Hill's Malfunction Junction there was no regular new wave rock venue in the state.

One Colorado punk band that originated in Boulder in '76 as a reggae band were The Ravers. The group eventually relocated to New York City in the summer of '77. Their single for a local label Screwball Records is quite possibly the first Colorado punk rock record ever. Shortly after moving to NYC they changed their name to The Nails. They went on to record two LPs for RCA Records and are still known for their song "88 Lines About 44 Women", most recently used in a Mazda commercial.

Was the Ravers Colorado following a bunch of pogoing safety pinned youth? Probably not. This was Colorado not London in the "summer of hate". There were a lot more down vests than spiky hairdos. During their birth and incubation in Boulder (before moving to New York) the Ravers were never able to find a sizable audience despite good local press and great word of mouth. Never mind that they were one of the few original rock bands on the Colorado scene. Never mind that they were a great live band. They were on their own in playing original "punk rock" in the rocky mountain state. When a group like the Ramones passed through town what other Colorado band at the time could have been the opening act? Virtually no other local band was playing original "punk rock" at that time. At their farewell performance at Boulder's Free School in May of '77 the other bands on the bill that night — Boulder's Driver and Denver's The Front were cover bands playing the punk "hits" of their day.

By the time of their departure from Colorado for New York in the summer of '77 the Ravers musical style had almost totally evolved from it's reggae roots to a punk sound that embraced the spirit of 60's punk rock. Marc Campbell's (the group's lead singer and primary songwriter) original songs like "Rockers in Revolt" and "Cops are Punks" exemplified this new approach. 60's punk favorite "Psychotic Reaction", originally recorded by The Count Five was one of the groups live show highlights. Ultimately the band outgrew Colorado and it's limited punk rock music scene. The band had great difficulty in finding live work though for a while in '77 performed regularly at Ebbet's Field in Denver. In the summer of '77 the Ravers along with their manager and roadies moved to the "mecca" of punk rock at that time New York City. Within a few months they were performing regularly at clubs like CBGBs. Later, after a brief ska period, the band's sound changed again to the "88 lines" version it is best know for.

The biggest force in the state in the mid-seventies influencing music listeners and record buyers towards "punk" rock was undoubtably Wax Trax! Records store. From their retail outlet on Denver's Capitol Hill the tastes of the owners (Jim Nash and Dannie Flesher) and their staff were significantly against the grain of the average commerical rock listener. The store became (along with Malfunction Junction and Sisko's Cafe) for a brief time the center of a small Capitol Hill community whose musical tastes were defined by the new sounds of British and American punk rock. Wax Trax! allways had the most recent British punk records before they were available anywhere else (and I mean anywhere else for a thousand miles east or west!). They also had a large stock of American indie punk records. Their weekend afternoon radio show sponsored by Wax Trax! exposed new listeners to the new sounds from Europe as well as some classic American rockabilly. The store was the vision of Nash— a Topeka, Kansas transplant— who along with his collegues Fliesher and Englishmen Mike Smythe were huge influences in the Denver music community. They were serious rock and roll enthusiasts and record collectors who shared their passion for the music with many other Denverites.

The Ravers live April 1977 Denver (opening for The Nerves)

In 1977 Wax Trax! begin throwing parties at their store which featured DJs playing new wave and punk music. Many of these parties also featured the punk cover band The Front. The singer in this band was teenage Wax Trax! employee Steve Knutson (later singer of the Young Weasels in the early 80's). The Front went through a couple of incarnations during their two year lifetime and in the early days of Colorado punk rock were the Wax Trax! endorsed band. In the April of '77 Wax Trax! promoted one of their first punk shows. The lineup consited of The Nerves from Los Angeles and Boulder's Ravers. Legend has it that the show was closed by the police! In early '78 Wax Trax! was instrumental in presenting The Front live at the gay disco The Broadway. Two "punk disco nights" were held in February and March of that year. For many Coloradans this was their first introduction to punk rock. Also that spring New York's Tuff Darts peformed for two nights at The Broadway with The Johnny Three as opening act (one of their first shows). Later that spring another Wax Trax! sponsored music event was held at the Oxford Hotel. That lineup consisted of headliners The Suicide Commandos from Minneapolis, Littleton's Johnny Three, and Laramie's Wyoming's notorious Dirty Dogs. The Commandos made several appearances in Denver that year and later in '78 brought The Johnny Three to their hometown in Minnesota to perform at the legendary punk club the Longhorn Bar. The Dirty Dogs made their first Colorado appearance at the February 1978 Elvis Costello/Joey Vain and Scissors show at Boulder's Glen Miller Theatre. Not as musicians but as hooligans purportedly pulling knives on other audience patrons.

Later that summer Wax Trax sponsored another punk rock show at the Capitol Hill gay night club Pearl Street. For two nights the Long Island, NY band Man Ka Zam headlined with The Johnny Three opening. By this time The Johnny Three were gaining a large Colorado following and at this period (with The Front having disbanded) were Denver's only New Wave rock band. This would all change in late '78 with the emergence of Boulder's Corvairs and Dancing Assholes. By early 1979 many new bands were on Colorado's New Wave/Punk Rock scene. These included The Guys, The Violators, and Boulder's Defex.

Eventually Nash and the original Wax Trax! owners grew bored of the lack of rock and roll in Denver. The sold the store in late '78 and after throwing a bon voyage party at the Denver Turnverine moved to Chicago and set up a new Wax Trax! store and a soon-to-be successful record label. The new owners continued with promoting punk and new wave music. To this day Wax Trax! continues to be one of the best and most popular record stores in the state.

While Wax Trax! was ground zero for Colorado punk rock in Denver the only other record store in the state even acknowledging the new rock music was Trade a Tape Records in Boulder. In particular one employee Rick Stott (the manager of the Ravers) was the most knowledgable man in the city regarding the new rock movement. A visit to the store when Rick manned the counter meant hearing some of his favorite discs on the turntable while a cluster of Boulder High students (including a teenage Jello Biafra) many of whom were Ravers roadies made Trade a Tape their hangout.

By the early 80's the punk scene in Colorado had grown profoundly from it's origins and virtually none of the original bands were around having either left town or broken up. Colorado new wave rock hit it's peak of popularity in the early 80's but the years from 1976 to 1979 were exciting times for a handfull of musicians and music fans who witnessed the birth of a rock and roll culture. At the forefront of these times were Denver's Wax Trax! record store and the Boulder band The Ravers.