Community Blooms at DOGTAGS' First Headlining Show Supporting ROSEWORLD
On the Thursday Night Jazz Odyssey, Michael Merola and Regi Worles of DOGTAGS join Abi Clark in the 10 p.m. MT hour in celebration of ROSEWORLD and the community coming together around it. Tonight’s playlist includes music from the album alongside a few of the band’s musical favorites and more.
On the heels of their first headlining show at Bluebird on December 5, DOGTAGS is getting the final pieces in place for an experience that embraces Denver with music, warmth, love, and color. In June of this year, they released their debut album ROSEWORLD, something the group’s founders Michael and Regi believe transcends this already 9 piece collective into something even bigger:
Regi Worles: We want people to be able to drop in and feel like they're somewhere else. We've been saying for a while, ROSEWORLD is like a real place in our hearts, like Oz, where there's this certain spirit about it.
Michael Merola: You know, it's not just the album, it's not just the music, but it's like the way you feel when you're with friends. It's the way you feel when you're listening to great music, or the way you feel when you're in a place like Disney World or Oz, and you feel the whimsy, and you feel like sort of a kid again, and you get to live through that moment. And yeah, that's the experience that will be at the Bluebird Theater on Friday.
For a band that already takes up the stage, they still keep an open arms policy when it comes to inviting others in on the fun. From spontaneously breaking out the giant colorful parachute a lot of us collectively share an elementary school memory with to posting singalong videos to their socials, welcoming as many voices as possible to their sets, DOGTAGS brings all who are willing into the spirit and wonder of music.
Regi Worles: I spent a lot of time in my life feeling alone and feeling lonely and so when I finally found not just one person, but eight people, nine people, ten people to be in relationship with, it's important that people don't feel left out. And I don't think that means you don't have to have boundaries, but I think that it's when you can extend a handout especially in these times where everyone is feeling that isolation, everyone is so cautious, I think that handout, that gesture, that invitation in is very, very special. And so, it's really important to me that we find interesting ways to get everybody to feel like they're a part of the moments that we're creating.
The Bluebird is set to transform into a garden of larger-than-life flowers, what has become their signature whimsical touch, with a slice of some of the best in Colorado talent on stage to support, adding even more magic to the evening. DOGTAGS has invited the femme-fatale trio May Be Fern, Latin-Alt Icons Fruta Brutal, and MC for the movement Monica the Great to the bill, affirming the connective power between creatives in the Colorado’s music scene.
Michael Merola: I think DOGTAGS isn't just a nine-piece band, just as in, like that's not already big in itself. DOGTAGS is Denver, you know, DOGTAGS is Colorado. DOGTAGS is the people that come to our shows. But it's really like a family effort. DOGTAGS is a huge production to put on. Regi and I are pretty ambitious, I think, with our goals and with the things we want to do. And we want to involve our city with that and our community with that. We want people to feel like they're a part of it because we truly believe that they are. In our careers, we want to take Colorado with us, and we want to take Denver with us. And so, what better way than our first headline show to involve everyone in that?
DOGTAGS at Bluebird Friday, December 5 - details at DOGTAGS.
For a deeper dive on the album, check out the last time DOGTAGS was in the KUVO Studios here!
Photo credit: Will Ornberg, Radio Multimedia Producer
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