After 17 years, it’s safe to say the Fort Collins Music Experiment is an experiment no more. The weekend festival better known as FoCoMX, slated for April 18-19, features more than 400 (that’s not a typo) Colorado acts across 35-plus venues in Choice City.
The best part? Wristbands are $60 in advance or $75 on the weekend of the festival.
That’s a lot of bang for your buck, so we thought we’d help you fill out your dance card with a rundown of some of the artists we’re looking forward to most.
Doom Scroll
Elliot Lozier didn’t plan to start a new band when he branched out from his previous group, We the Heathens, to focus on solo music five years ago. But he had a cool name in his back pocket just in case: Doom Scroll.
“I had never heard it before,” he says of the first time his bandmate and partner Taylor Dittman, who plays the washboard, mentioned the now-common term. “But I kept it in my brain, and it started popping up everywhere.”
Looking back, it feels like fate. Lozier and Dittman, both veterans of the Front Range folk-punk scene, recruited fellow pickers Marissa Sendejas (percussion), Micah Butler (bass) and Jon Pizarro (guitar) to round out the Loveland acoustic five-piece known as Doom Scroll.
The music embodies the band name, according to Lozier.
“All of our songs are pretty depressing, but I try to make it seem like there’s a light at the end of the tunnel,” he says. “It’s not all sadness.”
The lack of electricity is made up for by the vigor of the five Colorado musicians.
“I really like weird time signatures, weird rhythms and tying that into the tempo of the music and the energy with how fast we’re going,” explains Lozier, who handles both mandolin and guitar.
That’s why Doom Scroll, signed to NOFX frontman Fat Mike’s label Bottles to the Ground, is a must-see act this year.
ON THE BILL: Doom Scroll. 8 p.m. Saturday, April 19, Aggie Theatre, 204 South College Ave., Fort Collins.
Dominique Christina
Denver artist Dominque Christina does it all. As a writer and actress, she worked on the HBO series High Maintenance. As a poet, she’s published four books, including Anarcha Speaks: A History in Poems, which won the National Poetry Series in 2017.
Most recently, Christina showcased her music chops on her 2024 debut LAWLESS: A Love Story— a collaboration with her partner, veteran Denver hip-hop artist DNA Picasso, who is also performing at FoCoMX this year.
Christina’s whispery, spoken-word delivery on such tracks as “Luv U Always” and “4L” is seductive yet comforting, influenced by years of sharing her written works live.
She says FoCoMX attendees can expect “some sort of raspy contralto soul, alternative, and funk-inspired set that remembers the past from the future.”
They can also expect a duet with DNA Picasso, who plays Magic Rat Saturday night.
“I’m looking forward to seeing DNA Picasso and performing a couple songs with him, of course,” Christina says, adding she’s just grateful to be amongst so many talented local artists. “I’m excited about the whole festival really and feel very honored to be a part of it.”
ON THE BILL: Dominique Christina. 9:45 p.m. Friday, April 18, Wolverine Farm Publick House,
316 Willow St.
Bitchflower
If rowdy rock ’n’ roll is your thing, you don’t want to miss Bitchflower. The name kind of implies it, but the Fort Collins five-piece isn’t afraid to get in your face and turn shows into a “Full Moon Fight Night” if the mood is right. (Don’t worry, there won’t be a full moon during FoCoMX).
“We cannot be more hyped to be playing the Aggie,” vocalist Brooke Van Buiten shares. “This festival means a lot to us. It’s one of our favorite weekends of the year.”
Armed with debut album Please Don’t Be Evil to Me, released May 2024, Van Buiten, guitarists Steven Davis and Zack Hill, bassist Nick Perich and drummer Miles Mercer are all scene vets and friends who decided to team up a year ago and kick out the jams.
Bitchflower possesses raw punk power amplified by Van Buiten’s antagonistic stage presence and impressive vocal range, not to mention an affinity for loud-and-proud classic and psych rock punctuated by the dual-guitar attack of Davis and Hill.
Listen to songs “Error in the System,” “Bury the Hatchet” and “Die for a Grapefruit” to get a grasp on what Bitchflower is bringing to the Front Range scene before you catch their set at this year’s fest.
ON THE BILL: Bitchflower. 9 p.m. Saturday, April 19, Aggie Theatre, 204 South College Ave.
The Cody Sisters
The Cody Sisters are quintessential Colorado musicians.
Picking up their instruments in elementary school, Maddie and Megan Cody grew up in the fertile bluegrass scene surrounding Boulder — including yearly pilgrimages to the annual RockyGrass Festival just up the road in Lyons.
After graduating from the Denver School of the Arts, the sibling duo started playing the local circuit more seriously. They began putting out music under the moniker The Cody Sisters with their 2017 debut Strings, featuring their father, Steve Cody, on upright bass.
But the trio, which has included bassist Will Pavilonis since 2020, really came into their own on sophomore album All The Quiet People, released this February.
Maddie calls it a “coming of age story” told through the tenor and twang of old-time string music.
Inspired by the group’s first foray on the road, a mini-Midwest tour, the latest record is a snapshot of small-town America and the people at the heart of it. They saw themselves as “Collectors on the Run,” as the song explains.
“We want our listeners to understand that their stories should be heard no matter who they are,” Maddie says. “We’re all collectively just interested in making a small difference with our music — to add a little bit of joy to this chaotic world.”
ON THE BILL: The Cody Sisters. 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 18, Equinox Brewing Outdoor Patio, 133 Remington St.
Taylor Sims
Music has been a linchpin of Longmont couple Bonnie and Taylor Sims’ relationship ever since they met at South Plains College in Texas for the first time. Both won end-of-semester awards for best vocalist and were assigned to perform a duet together. The rest, as they say, is history.
“I’m from West Texas, and Bonnie is from North Dallas,” Taylor told Boulder Weeklyin a 2021 interview. “We had classes together. We had ensembles together. I lived in a house with three other guys who were also musicians, and we’d end up hanging out there and picking most of the time. In West Texas, there are a lot of dry counties, and that happened to be one of them. She started coming over because she played mandolin.”
The duo eventually settled in Colorado and have been making music for nearly two decades.
Originally known as Bonnie & The Clydes, the husband-wife tandem has amassed quite the resume together, including sweeping the Telluride Bluegrass and RockyGrass festivals‘ band competitions in 2007. No artist or band had ever done that before, or since.
Side project Everybody Loves an Outlaw also produced the viral hit “I See Red” after it was featured on Netflix film 365 Days in 2020. Bonnie also plays mando and guitar for bluegrass supergroup Big Richard, while Taylor previously picked in the popular folk outfit Spring Creek. So the two certainly know how to cook up some catchy country tunes.
Rebranding as Bonnie & Taylor Sims in 2020, the group, which includes bassist Bradley Morse and drummer Kevin Matthews, put out a self-titled record in 2023, the first under the current moniker, and have kept busy by performing it as much as possible since.
Taylor will take the stage solo during this year’s FoCoMX performance, as Bonnie wraps up a U.S. tour with Big Richard in support of their debut album, Girl Dinner. But don’t expect half a show from this Front Range mainstay. With support from Liz Barnez, Darryl Purpose and Rhonda Merrick, it’s sure to be a full-throated expression of Front Range folk.
ON THE BILL: Taylor Sims with Liz Barnez, Darryl Purpose and Rhonda Merrick. 4 p.m. Friday, April 18, The Neighbor, 144 South Mason St., Fort Collins.