Mile High Makeout: Guerrillas in the mix

Last night, while at the Boulder version of Everything Absent or Distorted's CD-release show, I had the opportunity to chat with DeVotchKa trumpeter Shawn King. In addition to appearing with EAOD and his rock-star gig with DeVotchKa, King has a new project that he was excited to talk about: Boba Fett and the Americans.

Boba Fett and the Americans crash parties and venues with their guerrilla-style marching mayhem and a noisy nod to street theater. Like the Quee Quegs, another Denver band that played unannounced (and sometimes uninvited) around town, this gang relies on word-of-mouth and the element of surprise to find its audience.

Where Quee Quegs is pirate-themed, however, Boba Fett organizes itself around that dastardly bounty hunter from the Star Wars franchise. The frontman wears a Boba Fett helmet while screeching into a megaphone, followed by King, Everything Absent member Joe Grobelny, soundman and drummer Xandy Whitesel, Paper Bird's Tyler Archuletta and a rotating cast that sits right around an even dozen. King told me, "It's one part art project and one part mobile dance party."

To me, it's a credit to the irrepressible creative spirit of the folks involved - most of whom have plenty already going on - that they'd want to be involved in something like this. According to King, it started out as a joke concept but took on a life of its own that sucked in like-minded sickos until it became real.

On Saturday night, this merry band of marchers will be making the rounds, hitting the Old Curtis Street Bar and Bender's before ending their night around 11 p.m. at Forest Room 5. They'll only be playing each venue for about ten minutes, so it'll pay to keep tabs on them. Ultimately, the armada plans to create a Twitter account that will enable them to update followers in real time as they roam. For now, you'll just have to get resourceful if you want to catch these nomadic all-stars. As Grobelny told me, "There's nothing like 'Hava Nagila' or 'Tricky' as brought to you by a brass band of Denver hipsters."

You've got your marching orders.