• Colorado’s Own Filthy Children Get Down & Dirty

    B. Dutch Seyfarth Posted On April 5, 2011
    0


     

    Filthy Children first came across my radar about six years ago when one snowy winter night with no plans and a twenty dollar bill burning a hole in my wallet I asked my friend Lindsey what might be fun to go do.

     

    “Filthy Children are playing Herb’s. You gotta see these guys. They’re a blast!” she said. “Filthy Children? Huh? What kind of band name was that?” I replied.


    With nothing better going on and the city more or less a ghost town from the dumping snowstorm, I reluctantly agreed, rounded up our friends, loaded up the jeep, and headed downtown. What followed was an awakening of how truly diverse and talented Denver’s musician community really was. It’s like I died and was transported to an alternate universe where Stevie Wonder was President of the United States and dirty big ‘ole horn section powered Motown funk was the official language. I learned a lot that night about how diverse and talented Denver’s musician community really was. I was hooked. 

     

    Today, six years later, as Colorado’s own Filthy Children enter it’s seventh year, the band has never sounded better, or been more popular. Downtown Denver haunts like Herb’s routinely have a line out the door on weekend nights when Filthy Children are booked to perform. After being voted by their fans back to back in 2008 and 2009 as Westword’s Best of Denver Funk band, I figured it was way past due we catch up with Filthy Children’s band leader Bryant Walker and ask him a few questions. What followed was perhaps the funniest and perhaps most honest Q&A ever but, don’t let Bryant’s deliciously candid humor obscure the fact these cats throw down one of the most energetic live shows of any band to ever call Colorado home.


    Dutch Seyfarth: Where did the band name Filthy Children come from?

    Bryant Walker: The band basically started out as a drunken jazz quintet that served to keep some of us out of trouble on Saturday nights by keeping us busy and in one location for the evening. When pressed one night by a club owner, who needed to put our name on the marquis, about what we called ourselves, our trumpet player told him “Filthy Children” for some reason (we never asked him why). The name kinda stuck and has been the bane of our existence ever since. We often have to explain that the name is in no way intimating a penchant for pedophilia. 
    Often as well, we’ll be negotiating playing a corporate or festival-type gig and get the kabosh from some higher up that has a problem with the name. I don’t know where people make that association, but enough do. Get your minds out of the gutter America!  We’re just a nasty, dirty funk band who prefers mostly heterosexual sex with mostly consenting adults. Also quite common is people assuming that we are a punk or metal band. In fact, there is a metal band in Australia made up of a bunch of twenty year-olds called Filthy Children. We think that is awesome and hope we’ll maybe grow a fan base of angry adolescent males who accidentally come to our website thinking we’re them. They are much more handsome than we are with their long aryan locks of hair.

    When was the band formed?

    BW: This incarnation is about two years old. We changed out almost three quarters of the band in 2008 when our first singer left to pop out her second kid. The really romantic part is that she hand picked and insisted our current singer, Jenny Anderson, replace her. Jenny is tearing it up too! We like this lineup more than ever!  

    With so many people in the band, what’s the songwriting and arranging process like?       

    BW: Ha!! I’m (Bryant Walker, guitar) the principle songwriter. I often equate our group of seven trying to do anything collaboratively or democratically to a bunch of monkeys trying to fuck a football. 

    Monkey 1:”Here let me try!” 

    Monkey 2:”No, we should do it this way!”

    Monkey 3:”No, give it to me!”

    Monkey 4: “Why are we such disfunctional monkeys?”

    Monkey 5: “Maybe we should do electronic music” etc… 

    I believe in a rather facist approach to the creative process. “You play this song right now monkeys!”  Honestly, it’s myself and Jon Braddy (trombone, keys) who write the tunes. I come up with the raw material and Jonny writes most of the horn parts and arranges the material into some viable kick-ass tunes. Some other members have written some great tunes as well, but it’s mostly the two of us. Writing collaborativly with the seven of us in a room is a fast track to fisticuffs and karate chops.

    Filthy Children has certainly attracted a large and loyal fan base with virtually no mainstream media attention. What’s your band’s secret for getting noticed with hardly any mainstream media publicity?

    BW: Mostly by getting our girlfriends, parents, and best friends to keep coming over and over to every single show so it looks like we have attracted a large and loyal fan base. My mom says our music makes her horny (Holy shit! I’m making myself chuckle. Please don’t print that it you find it offensive. I’ve been day drinking.)  

    Truthfully, I think our fans come out for the fairly unique experience we provide. We can sock people in the guts for over three hours with our unique brand of humorous, high energy, hyper-sexualized, heavily horn-laden original dance funk.  That’s an audacious plug but it’s true. I think it must all be word of mouth. We have no management and have absolutly no sense when it comes to any sort of promotion, marketing, or business plan. 
    People drag new people out and say “you gotta see these guys!  last time they played I danced my face off all night and got laid afterwards!” In fact, I’m pretty sure I’ve seen people in the audience getting laid during the shows. There are probably someFilthy Children babies running around out there…

    What places does your band usually play across Colorado?

    BW: In Denver: Herb’s, the Bluebird, Pete’s Monkey Bar, Quixote’s, etc. In Boulder: The Fox mostly. Outside of Denver & Boulder it’s Ghost Ranch Saloon (Steamboat Springs), The Goat (Keystone), The Eldo (Crested Butte), and Ull’rs (Winter Park). 
    What are the pros and cons of having such a large band with so many members?
    BW: Pro’s: 1) More people to blame if we sound like shit. 2) It’s easier to run up drinks on the band tab without being suspected of being the person doing so. 3) You can behave like a huge bastard and there will always be at least one person to tell you that you were totally justified in doing so. 

    Cons: 1) Splitting money seven ways equally especially with members that are more dumb and lazy than you are. 2) Trying to get seven people to travel far away to the same place at the same time. 3) Romantic competition after shows. 

    What goals are left to be achieved for Filthy Children?


    BW:     To keep writing new original music and make enough money to get more free time to do so.




    • ADVERTISEMENT

    • SPOTIFY PLAYLIST

    • SUBSCRIBE NOW


    Enjoy this article? Support No Depression.

    Help us continue to keep our web content free and accessible to all – without paywalls or invasive pop-up ads.

    Your support is important because it helps us cover our costs so that we can continue bringing you the independent music journalism you know and trust. Please consider subscribing or donating to No Depression now.



    A Little Help Here?

    No Depression depends on reader support to bring you top-quality roots music journalism on our website and in our quarterly journals. Donations large and small are greatly appreciated, and will help us hit our goal of raising $15,000 by Dec. 31.

    Can you help us get there? Donate or subscribe using the buttons below. Thank you for your support!

    Please consider becoming a subscriber or providing a donation. With your help, No Depression can continue to grow and cover roots music the way it deserves.