Dressy Bessy, The Gothic Theatre, Englewood, 5/25/12
I started the day getting to the gigantic avant-garde Gothic Theater in Englewood, located just south of Denver, way early for a show that I knew would be a very special occasion for the Mile-High scene. The iconic late-90’s Denver-based Indie Rock outfit Dressy Bessy was making a return to the scene, after many years of dormancy, to form an epic party with their hometown fans. They were an essential part of the Mile-High city’s music boom of the late 90’s that I just began to enjoy before leaving my job at Wax Trax and moving out East to go back to school. After working their way up through the EP and singles world, their first full-length release Pink Hearts, Yellow Moons (1999) became a celebration of Beat Group pulsations, super-catchy songs, and bursts of rocking pandemonium. That sound matured through the next few years with the California EP (2000), Sound Go Round (2002), and 2003’s self-titled Dressy Bessy, which incorporated a much harder punk sound. After switching drummers, they recorded their catchiest album to date, Electrified in 2005, which featured a shift in sonics to a hook-driven ultra-addictive sound closer to that of girl-band greats like Luscious Jackson, The Breeders, and The Yeah Yeah Yeahs. The change worked and they were propelled to heavy airwave play although the following Holler and Stomp in 2008 didn’t seem to get much play. Now, Dressy Bessy has gotten back to the essentials of party Power Rock with an bodaciously awe-inspiring new single “Hey, Alice!,” and the promise of more to come with a Summer Singles series.
