In 1992 Jesse Woods and Conrad Kehn were playing in a band called Ghost Town. The music was very guitar heavy and not the bass driven minimalist rock that was influencing the two at that time. One night at rehearsal, in the old garage door style storage unit the band suffered in for hours each night they rehearsed, Jesse announced to Gordon and Bill that he was not happy and had decided to leave the band. There was a brief discussion, but the other two were cool about it and seemed to understand. Moments after the announcement, Conrad spoke these words: “I’m going with him,” and thus the band that would become Skullflux was born.
Conrad and Jesse would spend the next few weeks scouring the local music scene for musicians. They also held several psychedelically enhanced writing sessions in the tiny basement of the blue house on Fox street. The formula of simple, driving, riffs started to take shape there. One night, at a performance by Body of Souls, a newer band from Kearney, Nebraska whom Conrad knew from his undergraduate studies at Kearney, Greg Stretton was introduced to the guys. Greg was formerly in a band called Strange Parade who was one of Jesse’s local favorites. Jesse asked Greg if he would like to meet up for a jam and they agreed to meet at Jesse’s town house in Arvada.
The session was brief. The two discussed the album “Gish” by Smashing Pumpkins as being of mutual interest and proceeded to the basement to jam. Jesse showed Greg one or two of the ideas he had been working on with Conrad. The tepid response prompted Jesse to ask Greg if he had any song ideas they could jam on. Greg ripped out the two riffs that would become the first full song for the band, “Nailed to the Floor.” Jesse told Greg he needed him to play guitar for the band and he agreed. Jesse was soon followed by regret for his arrogance and called Conrad to tell him of these events. Conrad was agreeable and the two became three.
For reasons unbeknownst to a more discerning perspective, they began operating under the name “Plaid Breakfast,” and acquired a rehearsal space in the old Olympic auditorium at 26th and Curtis. After trying a couple of drummers, which just didn’t feel as ‘right’ as the other combinations of musicians had felt thus far, Conrad met someone while working at Wedgle’s pawn shop. His name was David Hesker. Dave came for his audition with an old, and almost toy-drum-set small, CB-700 jazz kit from the 1970’s. This was a concern until the foursome began playing together. Dave was their guy. He had incredible hand work and a great sense of how to push and pull a song. He was asked to join and immediately agreed. The chemistry was perfect and felt like it had been preordained. David brought the improved name Skullflux, a palindrome, to the project. It was July of 1993.
Songs exploded out of the following sessions and they were playing their first gig within three months. They pasted the city with flyers of the pope while his holiness made his visit to Denver. They didn’t have much else to do back then. The fliers joked: "The Pope Likes it" and "Your Mother Likes It."
The first gig was standing room only in October of 1993. They opened for a band called Sick Em Fifi and rarely played to less than a full house after that. Ironically, the band met a bass player by the name of Steve Millin, of the band Day N Age, at that first gig.
The band developed their sound and played to ever increasing crowds in the year and a half that followed that first performance. The old prog-metal scene that had dominated Denver for a decade was dying and Skullflux joined a movement that was to replace it. This movement likely began with bands like the Fluid and Warlock Pinchers and was culminating into something significant, the likes of which Denver had not and has not experienced since. Clubs were opening up all over the city and live music was embraced as the thing to do on weekends, and even Thursday nights. One of Skullflux’s favorite places to play was Alibi’s in Glendale. It was here that, in 1994, Jesse grew weary of some of the tensions within the band and decided to leave. The band attempted to alleviate his frustration and change the mind of the band’s founder and composer of approximately half of the riff’s that formed their songs. The youthful, barely 20 years old at the time, bassist could not be reconciled with. Conrad’s parting words to him were “Don’t you see it man? Don’t you see what we have here?” With that the original lineup was gone.
Steve Millin was a natural fit to replace Woods. He knew the songs from attending a majority of the performances and had tremendous talent. With him the band went on to record their first lp, “Ophelia,” which contained material composed with Woods and a couple of newer songs. They continued to grow in content and context and enjoyed success locally as well as Nationally, with the inclusion of one of their songs on a distributed compilation, “Dim View of the Future.” They began to transition from bars to theatres and started work on a second album of material composed with Millin. Differences of every kind created irreparable rifts between the four and they disbanded in 1999. The second album never left the tracking phase and is sampled here in rough format. Skullflux would like to thank all of our friends, fans, and one another for those great times. Peace.
Skullflux (live dvd) June, 1994...the show with Soul Bender and Twice Wilted at the Skyline cafe under the 20th street viaduct. Unfortunately, the performances of the other bands are not available, to my knowledge.
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