Local Post-Goth Band Married A Dead Man Takes Over Littleton’s Toad Tavern
July 6, 2017[slideshow_deploy id=’6905′]
Photos by DenverThread
Perched behind her Roland keyboards, clad only in black , save for a shock of platinum-blond hair, Megan Kelley belted out an impressive litany of lyrics about nightmares, abandonment, death, fear–all the standard goth fare–albeit with a beautifully trained voice and an imposing poise at Littleton’s Toad Tavern last Friday night. Kelley has multiple degrees in music, teaches vocals privately, and teaches music classes around Denver, when not composing – or de-composing – for her young band Married A Dead Man. Including Gwyneth Rose on guitar, Travis Rosen on bass, and Anamatria Anatra on drums, Married a Dead Man has been a band for a little more than a year now, and is currently recording original songs for release later this year.
Could there be a new goth scene crawling into Denver? At least, maybe, in the suburbs?
To create their loud, gushing, post-punk shoegaze sound, talented guitarist Gwyneth Rose built tapestries of sound with her Telecaster, forcing chords and squeals masterfully through a modest selection of pedals. Meanwhile, Anatra and Rosen laid a rocky, treacherous road of hard, droning bass and pounding drums to pull the whole sound together. Overall, though there are definite winks back to bands like Bauhaus or The Teardrop Explodes, they owe more of their sound to local legends like 40th Day and Twice Wilted, if we’re honest. Kelley’s powerful, trained voice sometimes comes across as a tad overwrought, atop the instrumental beauty – but it makes for a great juxtaposition. With titles of songs like “Valkyrie,” “Abduction,” and “Shadows Falling,” I’d say they’re in the right genre, and doing well. Maybe a real goth renaissance is starting in Denver – who knew?
