Denver’s up-and-coming party crashers extraordinaire

January 14, 8:13 PMIndie Rock ExaminerAlli Sands

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When it comes to Boba Fett and The Americans, forget everything you know about rock bands. Utilizing no lead guitarist, amps, or sound checks, this ensemble of 13 musicians playing a variety of horns and drums is changing the way Denver rocks out. Crashing parties and covering epic party anthems with a guy in a Boba Fett helmet belting out lyrics on a bullhorn, this art project/band combo is turning heads wherever they go.

Trumpeter, Shawn King, envisioned a vintage-style rock ‘n’ roll t-shirt with Boba Fett leading a band of Civil War militiamen. This initial spark of inspiration further coagulated as King went to visit a friend performing on 16th Street Mall and spotted a man dressed in a Boba Fett helmet dancing along with the music. From there, the band started picking up steam and adding members.

Drawing from the work of bands who can make a lot of noise without any amps, such as March Fourth Marching Band and The Infernal Noise Brigade, Boba Fett and The Americans are making a name as a guerilla party band. Whether they are bombarding a stuffy donor dinner at The Lab at Belmar or getting people on their feet at bars, the band proclaims to be “only serious about crashing parties.”

Besides being what King describes as a “sci-fi chic, mobile dance band”, Boba Fett and The Americans have connected with a group of local documentary filmmakers at their second crash at the wrap party for the Starz Film Festival. Exhibit A Pictures just happened to be working on The People vs. George Lucas, an investigation into the man, the myth, and the legend that is George Lucas. Having already done some shooting with them, King talks about hopefully being able to get the filmmakers to follow them around with cameras on one of their evenings out on the town.
 
With their trombones, sousaphone, trumpet, tenor sax, alto sax, glockenspiel, snare drum, ginormous bass drum, and bullhorn, Boba Fett and The Americans are just “following the party” with their own renditions of classic party songs, the element that King calls the band’s “unifying force”. The band even has a theme song about Boba’s life as a bounty hunter and working for Geroge Lucas that is set to Gwen Stefani’s immortal “Holla Back Girl”.

So put on your Moon Boots and come join the party as Boba Fett and The Americans take over Bender’s Tavern, Old Curtis Street Bar, and Forest Room 5 this Saturday, January 17.