Young Coyotes, Bad Weather California, the Wheel @ the Hi-Dive

By brian carney | January 28th, 2009 | 2 comments

In the case of Young Coyotes’ Zach Tipton vs. The People at the Hi-Dive on Friday night, everybody won. Photos by Brian Carney.

Zach Tipton, Adam Halferty and Matt Wilcox sure make a lot of racket for three guys. The trio, otherwise known as Young Coyotes, have been steadily climbing Denver’s indie ladder the past several months with a knack for touring outside the state and a reputation for putting on blistering live shows.

Granted, Tipton and Halferty have spent time in bands like Moros Eros, the Axe That Chopped the Cherry Tree and the Chain Gang of 1974, so they’re no strangers to live performance. But the Coyotes’ bracing, acoustic guitar and glockenspiel-driven songs hew closer to the anthemic moments of Arcade Fire and storm full of howling, meth-addled cobras than any previous projects imply.

With a most shoulder-to-shoulder crowd at the ready, the Coyotes tore through a succinct set of percussion-heavy songs at the Hi-Dive on Saturday, with the Wheel and Bad Weather California as openers. Spare as they are in construction, it’s easy to imagine songs like “When I Was in the Fire” and “Momentary Drowning” (“The first song we ever wrote,” Tipton said from the stage Saturday) filling airwaves at college radio and beyond.

I was more there to enjoy the excellently-engineered set than write about it, so I’m going to let Brian Carney’s photo essay do most of the talking. Check it out below. –John Wenzel