Guerrilla Fanfare to make its Whistle Stop Park debut

Brass, sass, and a party are coming to the Rock & Rails stage Aug. 3 as Guerrilla Fanfare plays the event for the first time. Made up entirely of Denver-area musicians, they impart a New Orleans-style funk to their concerts, bringing trumpets, trombones, a tuba, saxophones and drums to their audience.

The band's founder and manager Zach Brake is a 2016 CU Boulder alumnus and music education major who fell in love with brass band music while in school. He dreamed of starting a brass band at a time when, outside of expected areas like New Orleans, there weren't as many brass bands playing as there are today. "I'm a tuba player and it was one of the main ways that tuba players get work," Brake said about starting the band.

Reflecting his passion, Brake explained how he tries to infuse each show with demonstrations of the range of what tubas can do beyond simple oompahs and the kinds of things people see in marching bands. "I want the audience to experience how a tuba can sound, that they may or may not realize is possible," he said.

Guerrilla Fanfare received an invitation to play the event after Satir DeMarco, who organizes the band selection for the festival, had heard about them from one of Brake's former college classmates and was able to see them play at a company party just off 2nd Avenue.

"We're excited to have the chance to play Rock & Rails," said Brake. "We'll have a little something for everybody during the concert. Pop music covers, jazz standards, brass band music and things that we wrote that will get everybody moving."

At some point, Brake said that they will likely get off the stage and go into the crowd, in the style of the second line that can be seen in the streets of New Orleans. "That'll be really fun," he said. "But we don't know exactly when we'll do it. We'll feel it out. See how things feel."

Audiences are likely to experience a range of styles during the performance, each of which reflects the diverse interests that creatively inspire the musicians. Influences include both expected brass bands like Dirty Dozen and Rebirth Brass Bands, and unexpected ones.

"I'm really into the UK jazz scene," said Brake. "While that doesn't influence my work directly, I can also tell you who my favorite tuba player is - Theon Cross. He's a UK tuba player and his playing is really innovative and different. That's how I like to approach what I do."

In addition to debuting at Niwot and playing corporate gatherings, Guerrilla Fanfare has been featured in a number of area venues. They've played at the Bluebird Theater, City Park Jazz, Ophelia's Electric Soapbox, The Upslope Get Down, and Oskar Blues. They also won the Westword Music Award in the Brass Band Category in 2018 and 2019.

Brake expressed the group's excitement to be playing in the area. "I know that we're just a little bit different than other bands that play Rock & Rails, but we do like to party, to have fun. I just encourage everyone to come with an open mind, and I think they're going to really enjoy it."

Guerrilla Fanfare will take the stage at 6:30 p.m. Before that, the night's opener during the 5 p.m. happy hour will be The Beloved Invaders. Inspired by 1960s jazz and surf music, the three-piece band plays covers of much loved tunes including "Walk Don't Run," "Pipeline" and the "Hawaii Five-O Theme." They come to Rock & Rails after playing in multiple area bars and venues including The Tasty Weasel, The Gold Hill Inn, and The Louisville Street Faire.