The Donnybrook Writing Academy

Dan Deacon loves a good DIY venue. Especially when aforementioned venue is booming with local music, colored Mexican ponchos (on sale by Deacon himself), and 300+ inebriated fans (I was #27, hah).

On an incredibly snowy October night, Deacon’s bus was parked behind a warehouse in the ever-inviting atmosphere of Denver’s North Broadway. This section of Denver, mostly reserved for sketchy empty warehouses with broken windows, is home to DIY venues’ Rhinoceropolis, and Glob. These venues literally house many local musicians, including Denver’s’ own goth/house/dub favorite, Pictureplane (Travis Egedy). On this dreary blizzarding evening, I managed to drive all the way from Boulder to 26th and Brighton in Denver. No easy feat, but my crew and I survived and were about to experience the show of a lifetime.

After procuring my ticket, I missed the first two bands due to a slight detour to an establishment that was serving cheap booze… but before long we were on our way back to see the two headliners!

Nuclear Power Plants is comprised of five members dressed as lizards, three lady backup singers in the style of 40s and 50s R&B, and two flamboyant, fur-clad lead singers. They took the stage with backlights, neon tape, and giant lizard companions. Their single “Got Soul, Need Body” inspired the crowd to dance uncontrollably, so much in fact, I had to shield my camera with my body from the flailing limbs of those nearby. A few of the lizards got really into it as well, dancing with the crowd and climbing up on speakers.

Dan Deacon is a man who takes much pride in his equipment, so he set it ALL up himself, tacking on an extra hour to the bill. Once he had fine-tuned his wall of JBL speakers, and tested each of his colored lights (each of which were masked in different scary masks!), he dimmed the lights and started the show. For the following two hours, we danced to the light of his well-known “Trippy Green Skull” and became subjects in a few different “Dan Deacon games,” which can only be described as kooky dance-offs and group activities that would usually be a part of a wedding reception. It was quite a night with DD. [see pictures]