I usually reserve this blog to write about career-related things. But, I’m also involved in the Denver music scene, and I want to take a minute to share about the great people and the great music being made in Colorado.

I feel very blessed to get to be friends with other artists, so I’m starting a series of posts called Music That Moves Me. Each post, I will feature one local band and say a bit about them.

Strange Americans
I found out about these guys shortly after I started playing with The Belle Jar and Trent Nelson filled in on guitar for us for a show. I thought right away, not only is he a really nice guy, but he’s a fantastic guitar player. He comes up with just the right thing to play at just the right part of the song, and his solos are impressive but tasteful (which is a rare combination to find in a guitarist). Well, it turns out all the other members of Strange Americans share those same qualities: really nice guys and fantastic musicians.

What makes them stand out as a band is the synergy of their musicianship and friendships. When you watch Strange Americans play, you can tell – these guys are having a blast. And you kinda feel like they’d be doing the same thing even if there wasn’t an audience there.

I could go on and on about these guys – from Matt Hoffman’s powerful vocals that bring an emotional energy to the songs to Murry Mercier’s keys and guitar parts that punctuate key parts of the songs (and pretty much make you say, “Hell yeah”) to Trent Nelson’s aforementioned killer guitar riffs to Trevor Sinnard’s impressive and creative bass lines (seriously, this dude lays it down) to Scott Gunshore’s solid beats that bring the songs to another level (and he has some impressive arm muscles too).

Their new album A Royal Battle has a maturity in the lyrics and song structures that is rare to find, especially in a band that’s just starting to take off. The album also does a pretty damn good job capturing what I can only describe as the exuberant vitality of this band’s sound. Whether you go see them perform or listen to their album, you might just walk away inspired to live your life a little better.

For a limited time, you can stream their unreleased album A Royal Battle on their Bandcamp page.

And don’t miss their album release show at Hi Dive on June 30th!

photos by Dan Shargel