Interview Ricardo Baca is bringing the Underground to light

It’s hard to remain anonymous in Denver, and it’s even tougher when you’re Ricardo Baca. We’re a large population with a small-town complex, and Baca, pop-music critic and organizer of Denver Post’s Underground Music Showcase (which begins tomorrow), is something of a local celebrity. But it’s not like the guy is looking for the spotlight; it really is just a small world, and Baca really is that ubiquitous. So much so that once you meet him, you’ll start noticing him (and his Pavement-era skater cut with a single blonde streak) everywhere, whether he’s covering a play at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House, dining at Mezcal, or taking out the trash in his west Denver neighborhood. The A.V. Club found the man at work in his flip-flops, and he talked to us about local talent, national-level exposure, and how one trip to Burger King changed everything.

The A.V. Club: How was the UMS born?

Ricardo Baca: The Denver Post Underground Music Showcase was started in 2001 by John Moore, our music critic at the time. From the beginning, the showcase has run in conjunction with a poll, where we ask local music fans, experts, and those in the community to rank their favorite local bands. Then we crown a No. 1 band and a list of top 20 bands, and we lump everybody together, not breaking the groups down into genres. Some notable bands like 16 Horsepower, DeVotchKa, and Planes Mistaken For Stars won in those early years. After five years of doing the festival at the Bluebird and Gothic theaters, John gave it to me, and I decided to move the showcase over to the South Broadway area.

AVC: Why South Broadway over, say, Colfax, where some of the bigger venues are?

RB: The idea of moving the showcase came about after a conversation I had with Matt LaBarge [owner of the Hi-Dive] one night at 3 in the morning as we were sitting on our scooters in a Burger King parking lot eating crappy hamburgers. [Laughs.] This was 2005. We were talking about the potential of a multi-venue festival, and sure enough, we brought it to the area. The festival then was one day, 20 bands, and went on at five venues. It was an outrageous success and ridiculous amounts of fun, and we realized Denver could handle it. When John first started the UMS, local promoters told him, “If you’re going to do a music festival of only local music, this will never fly.” Denver has changed a lot since then, obviously. By moving things over to South Broadway, it gave us the opportunity to grow. We’ve just been growing every year since, with four days and over 200 bands this year.

AVC: There are a lot of changes for the showcase this year. For one, you’re bringing in nationals.

RB: It’s not that Denver’s hurting for talent; last year we had more than 150 local musicians, bands, DJs, and comics involved with the UMS. But I think the showcase and Denver have more potential to be a South By Southwest-style music festival. Our hope is that the UMS can grow into a multi-day, walkable music festival that focuses on national talent, but also emphasizes local talent. Anytime you go to SXSW, there are thousands of bands, but 500-plus Austin bands. I think it’s a way to treat your locals right, those who have been treating you right over the years. It’s also a great way to draw attention to your local music community, by bringing people in from out of town to witness what Denver has, even if they are coming to see a band from New York or L.A. or Portland. 

AVC: SXSW is a big event. Expanding the UMS to that size could take a while.

RB: Absolutely. And who knows if we’ll ever be that big? I just want to be that style of festival. I want to have a good reputation for being a taste-making entity, so people know that if they come to the UMS, they are going to see the best in independent music. It’s obviously going to take a while to grow, since we are for the first time bringing national acts in. But we need them to go back to their home cities across the U.S. and tell their colleagues and booking agents what a great time they had, how nice the audiences were, and how well they were treated. That’s were things start to build. Come August, when we start pushing for the 2010 festival, I think we’re going to see the goodwill we put out into the world returning to the UMS and Denver.

AVC: People from Colorado are generally good-natured people, and it sounds like the festival aims to embody that.

RB: Sure. You go just about anywhere else and you realize that Coloradans really are good people, and we’re hoping to bring some of that state spirit to the UMS. We have great bands coming from places like North Carolina—Bowerbirds and Megafaun—and we hope to show them some of our own hospitality by giving bands green-room privileges, free beer, and all of that good stuff. We are true believers in giving the best experience to the bands and the attendees. And I mean, if we’re going to make a generalization about Colorado natives, that one is inevitably true.