Trio brings edgy, wall-busting sounds to the stage

By Kyle Kirves

Think Colorado music is all faded jeans and dusty felt hats? Think again. The Boulder-based Velveteers bring the black leather, shiny metal, fishnets and, well, velvet to stages along the Front Range. Their edgy/fuzzy sound makes them stronger inheritors of the CBGB legacy than candidates for the next headlining gig at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. And that’s just fine.

New Album
The Velveteers will release a new album, “A Million Knives,” on Feb. 14. Their album release party that night at Denver’s Hi-Dive is sold out. The band also will play an in-store show and sign records at Twist & Shout Records on Feb. 15. They also play at the Aggie Theatre in Fort Collins on Feb. 28.

Comprised of Boulderites Demi Demitro (vocals, guitar) and Baby Pottersmith (drums and occasionally guitar and/or keys), and now joined by Jonny Fig (drums – often the second set), the Velveteers have compiled an impressive collection that wanders from the old smoky motel hallways of straight-up rock and roll to darkened noir dancehalls on the moon – each song somewhat more enigmatic than the next.

“I kinda like keeping us mysterious,” Demitro says cryptically about the Velveteers and what fans should know about them. Odd then, that their latest release is called “See Me,” a song Demitro counts among her current favorites from their catalog. It’s a song that’s moody, ethereal, a little spooky, perhaps confessional, and certainly more restrained at the outset than a lot of other Velveteers tracks. It starts simply, progressively adding more sonic layers before capping with Demitro’s voice imploring you to see the storyteller (whomever that may be) as they really are.

While “See Me” is a current favorite, Demitro is quick to point out that her favorites change all the time – sometimes daily. “Yeah, it absolutely always changes. That’s kind of the fun thing is I have a different song that’s my favorite, like, every week – and some of those are unreleased songs.” Even that answer, baited as it is with the notion that there are unreleased tracks out there for fans to look forward to, is a bit mysterious.

What isn’t a secret is the Velveteers songwriting process, one driven by daily discipline and ritual. “I kinda like The Beatles idea of bankers hours with songwriting,” Demitro says. “I really like to make it like an everyday thing that I do. I sit down every single day and force myself to write songs. Songwriting is the one thing in my life that if I don’t do it, I feel depressed. And for me that’s just the best way for me to be creative because I’m always kind of making something and then putting my time into that.”

From there, the compositions come to the band for fleshing out and bringing it to a more realized state. “They are constantly changing. That’s the fun thing about writing an album is I’ll start out with this idea or this song and then by the time you record the album it can be completely different,” Demitro explains, “That’s just a matter of collaborating and just sometimes we’ll take the song in a completely different direction than I originally intended for it to go. It’s kind of just a spur of the moment thing.

“Sometimes the song just takes us where it needs for it to go,” she says, describing songwriting like an out-of-body experience.

When asked about favorite venues to play, Demitro hews closely to the indie aesthetic that seems woven into the very fabric of the Velveteers both musically and visually.

“I started performing out when I was 15, and my favorite or most memorable shows that I’ve played have been at DIY venues,” Demitro says. “The special thing I think about is that these places don’t always stay around forever. It’s kind of lightning in a bottle. You know sometimes they end up getting shut down. But some of the best shows and the most intimate shows I’ve had have always been at DIY venues or house shows.”

Despite those indie creds, the Velveteers are a local radio fixture, perhaps most readily recognized as the band behind “The Charmer and the Snake.” It’s the lead track on Nightmare Daydream (the 2021 album worth seeking out), produced by The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach.

“Charmer” is an appropriately slithering and seductive song full of witchy bravado Demitro seems to relish crooning. Public opinion of the song seems to skew towards comparisons to Led Zeppelin or White Stripes, but this listener hears a bit more T. Rex in there. Still, the Velveteers are fully a 21st century act full of modern sound, imagery, lyricism, and artistry that is all their own. Comparisons miss the point.

This year promises to be big for the Velveteers, though Demitro, ever mysterious, won’t give anything away. “I’m not gonna make any promises, but we’re working on new music right now. And then in January we’re headlining the Bluebird and the Fox Theater.”

On paper, the band is one vocalist on guitar and two drummers, but the trio is more than capable of room-filling, wall-busting, sound. How they do it is just another Velveteers mystery you’ll have to try to solve for yourself.

Find the Velveteers at their official website, (including tour and ticketing info), check out their videos on YouTube, or find their music online wherever you get your streaming music. Vinyl fans rejoice that their album Nightmare Daydream is available on wax from their website.

Kyle Kirves drinks beer, plays guitar, runs trails, and manages projects – all with varying degrees of success. While not a craftsman himself, he is quite content writing about the Colorado artisans who create such wonderful things and memorable experiences.

This article appeared in the January-February issue of our print magazine. Click here to read the full magazine online.