3 Kings Tavern, July 23 2000-
"If Widowers’ early Thursday set is any indication of how this festival will roll, my expectations have already been surpassed. Widowers played to a full crowd at 3 Kings Tavern and Mike Marchant
& his mates’ harmonies sailed out onto the South Broadway
sidewalks. Marchant’s well-constructed melodies routinelly broke into
messy, distorted instrumentals. As smooth as it was rough, as pop as it
was noise."
John Hendrickson
http://blogs.denverpost.com/reverb/2009/07/23/ums-13-widowers-snake-rattle-rattle-snake-more/------------------------
Larimer Lounge, April 24 2008
"There’s a lot of emotion tied up into a CD release party, and
sometimes that tightly wound ball of feeling – the love, the stress,
the passion and the kind of eagerness that leads to utter drunkenness –
makes for one fantastically weird night.
Like any other band,
Widowers had to deal with all of that at their CD release show at the
Larimer Lounge on
Thursday. But the physical manifestation of all that madness was a
celebratory and raucous set that explored their new self-titled record
from beginning to end, in that order.
It wasn’t weird at all. It’s was one big love-in for Widowers, who
were releasing their debut full-length to their friends and fans.
Playing as a six-piece, the group took to the crowded stage with
confidence and barreled through 11 songs (plus encore), stopping only
to tune their instruments, thank specific people and ask for a pitcher
of beer from the bar.
“We’ll pay you back,” one of the players bellowed from the stage.
The set started with singer-songwriter-guitarist Mike Marchant
awkwardly telling the crowd via his too-short mic stand that they were
going to play “Widowers” from front to back, and seconds later he
launched into the reflective first moments of “Shine a Light,” track
No. 1 on the CD. Marchant is the voice of Widowers, and while his
crooning isn’t as clean in performance as it is on the record, it was
full of a nervous energy that filled the room with electricity.
It helped, too, that his band has been working on their harmonies.
From the “Whoas” in “Shine a Light’s” chorus to the more complex
harmonies in the CD-closing “Space Never Strays,” the group’s
collective vocals sounded tight and practiced. Kudos, too, to the
Larimer Lounge, which sounded abnormally dialed in, and soundman Andy
Wild, who was attentive to the mix throughout the set.
The band played a tight set, and they sounded great – and not
everybody gets that lucky. “Interstate Eighty,” for example, was a
spacey, contemplative exploration of thoughtful pop. Marchant’s uncanny
ear for melody was there, and the band’s dense atmospherics were, too –
and you could hear it all.
“Titaness” was a triumphant pop affair that killed its recorded
counterpart. “Pistol” was a noisy romp, and “Space Never Strays” is my
new favorite song on the record after seeing the band tear it apart in
the live setting.
-Ricardo Baca
http://blogs.denverpost.com/reverb/2008/04/25/widowers-the-larimer-lounge/------------------------------------
Bluebird Theater, Sept. 27th 2007-
"The Widowers, a local five piece, followed with their own brand of 60's psych pop; sounding like a more pastoral version of Broken Social Scene. They incorporated the necessary, light hearted and repetitive guitar riffs and synths, which moved their songs along and made them easy to hum and bounce to. They looked happy on stage, as if they enjoyed playing together and their enthusiasm felt infectious, as evidenced by the audience's slow dancing, as well as their desire to nod their heads in unison, during the down beats. They also looked busy, fiddling with effects pedals and using power-poses and bouncing from one part of the stage to another, giving them credibility, as if the audience needed to watch them, since they were working so hard. A conglomeration of two older bands - Constellations and Women Gathering Gems - the new lineup felt like the perfect platform for these budding stars to show their musicianship, while still remaining poppy and fun to listen to."
-Will Paterson
http://denver.yourhub.com/Boulder/Blogs/Arts-Entertainment/Music/Blog~370260.aspx--------------
3 Kings, Sept 7th 2007-
"Without swinging the mood too far, Widowers turned the volume back up. This relative newcomer to the Denver scene just keeps getting better. With one eye on 90s shoegazers like Ride and Spacemen 3, one on the radio-friendly indie rock of the Shins and their ilk, and a third eye (that's right) zeroing in on the psychedelic pop of 60s groups like It's A Beautiful Day, the quintet offered a little something to everyone and was a clear crowd pleaser. While two guitars, a bass, a Rhodes and one amazing drummer occasionally swirled off into space, Mike Marchant's catchy, colorful and relatable songwriting kept the sound firmly anchored to a reliable rock."
-Eryc Eyl, Westword
http://blogs.westword.com/backbeat/2007/09/this_weekend_the_goddamn_gallo.php------------------
Hi-Dive, Sept 4th 2007-
"It's fun to have your expectations shredded, so I have to thank the Widowers for the fun. They were surprisingly accessible for a band made up mostly of members of experimental freak-out rockers Constellations, a band I really like. I expected something similar, maybe weirder, from Widowers, but I got something else entirely: smooth, moody pop sounds, atmospheric and melodic. The songs were call-the-CDC catchy, the sound was accomplished and familiar in the right ways while injecting twists and turns in perfect places to surprise and delight. Taking some of the best moments of pop history, spicing things up with some krautrocking grooves and chaotic, noisy guitar breakdowns and filtering the resulting mix through some hip, indie sensibilities marks the Widowers as a band to remember."
-Cory Casciato, Westword
http://blogs.westword.com/backbeat/2007/09/last_night_the_widowers_bad_we.php-------------------