Unlike what you may have gleaned from American Idol or Guitar Hero, music is not a competition. There is not just one record contract and if you get it, then I won't. If I write a good song it doesn't mean you can't. And if someone becomes a fan of your band, doesn't mean that can't also be a fan of ours too. Music isn't like NASCAR, where everyone is trying to do the same thing (go in a circle) in the same way (as fast as they can). Music can do all sorts of amazing things using a wide variety of techniques. I picked up the guitar because I love good music and wanted there to be more of it. So anything I can do to help facilitate the creation and dissemination of good music is alright by me, whether that music actually has me playing on it or not. That is what we are trying to do with this collective. There are no hard and fast rules here. There is no strict membership guidelines. We don't kick anyone out. You'll know if you are a member. There more you put into the collective the more you get out of it.
WHAT IS DENVER?
Denver is the capital and the most populous city of Colorado, in the United States. Denver is located in the South Platte River Valley on the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Southern Rocky Mountains. The Denver downtown district is located immediately east of the confluence of Cherry Creek with the South Platte River, approximately 15 miles (24 km) east of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Denver is nicknamed the Mile-High City because its official elevation is exactly one mile (5280 feet or 1609.344 m) above sea level. The 105th meridian west of Greenwich passes through Denver Union Station, making it the reference point for the Mountain Time Zone.
A SHORT HISTORY OF D.A.R.C.
"So, What kind of music do you play?"
This is usually the first question someone will ask you when you tell them you play in a band. And for most people this is a fairly easy question to answer. But what of those few disgruntled souls whose music doesn't fall easily into any one category or even categories (trance-gangsta-bluegrass)?
What of those who are trying to carve out unique and unqualified new sounds? How do they answer the question? It can test the patience of even their closest friends and family; but the real problem is when you are talking to a club owner or booking agent. They don't care what kind of music you play -- as long as you bring in the bodies that buy the booze; they just need to know what other bands to put on the bill with you.
The last thing that they want is a supporting act who will scare off the headliner's entire audience the moment they step on-stage (and vice versa).
After a while of playing with rowdy audiences and non-complimentary stage-mates, a small cadre of these "genre-less" bands discovered that their respective demographics overlapped and complimented each other phenomenally well. This "island of misfit toys" decided to form their own group: D.A.R.C. - The Denver Art Rock Collective.
Why did they chose to call themselves "art rock"? Perhaps the term was just as accurate, yet as vague as they needed. See, unlike those organic musical labels that get assigned to you, "art rock" does not have one a single unified sound that they are trying to achieve.
Which is good, because as much as the members of D.A.R.C. don't sound like anybody else, they don't sound like each other either. Sometimes they don't even sound like themselves from song to song. Instead, what bonds the self-selected members of this classification is a commitment to quality, experimentation, diversity, artistic ambition, and a sense of humor.