After five years, Ideal Fathers are calling it a day. For that all-too-brief window of time, the Fathers offered something special to fans of smart, fun, and uncompromising post-punk. Over the course of a single EP (which we loved), a handful of singles, and regular shows around town, the Fathers carved out a legacy of punchy and hook-filled post-punk angularity, clever song titles, and songs the punk rockers could dance to (plus a few chiptune experiments, just for fun). Before packing it in forever, the band is playing one final show, Saturday, Sept. 3 at Larimer Lounge—an EP release show for its brand-new EP, Retail Eyes, at that—and The A.V. Club caught up with guitarist Adam Rojo to reflect on the beginning, why it ended, and what’s next.
On the first show
“The first official gig would have been at this bar on Leetsdale, east of the Glenwood area. I can’t even remember who we played with, but it was a Halloween show. The bar absolutely hated the fact that bands were playing there. It was a place a little smaller than Sputnik or Hi-Dive, and the bar was an island in the middle of the room. You had to go around a narrow portion either way to get to the back. I think the owner didn’t even tell anyone there was a show there, so it was a hostile environment to play in—no one wanted us to be there. The regulars who were there to get their drink on weren’t too happy. The bartender tried to tell me a whiskey and Coke wasn’t a well drink. He told me to pick something else, so I was like, ‘Uh, gin and tonic?’ and he said, ‘You’re getting a can of PBR.’ That was a well drink in that bar.”
On the band’s most memorable gig
“Probably for me [that would be] the time we opened for The Giraffes, about two years ago, I think it was. It was right after or right before [Mike] Perfetti started playing drums with us, and one of our first gigs playing with Lion Sized, [which] was a band I really liked before I got a band in Denver, and The Giraffes are really crazy. A friend got a lit cigarette thrown into the hood of his hoodie and there were full, unopened cans of beer being chucked at the stage. I guess that’s a Giraffes tradition, to throw things at the stage—ramen, pies, whatever. It was a fun gig. The Larimer Lounge was kind of a mess afterward.”
On the breakup
“We’ve been through a couple of lineup changes. We lost Vinnie [Wray, original bassist,] to an injury, so Mike King played bass for us. Paddy [McDonough], our original drummer, did the family thing: Got married, didn’t really have time for us. [Singer] Jesse [Hunsaker] moved to Iowa to get married. I didn’t want to be the last original guy in the band. We recorded a new EP in the fall, and we thought we’d have a few fun shows, play with the bands we like, and put it to rest.”