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by Gale McGaha Miller |
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The Visitors was a new wave band from Fort Collins that played in Denver and throughout Northern Colorado in 1980 and 1981. Although there was a revolving door of drummers and lead guitarists, the longest standing configuration was Glenn Miller on rhythm, Gale McGaha on bass, John Ulvang on drums, Paul Schmeltzer on lead and everybody on vocals.
Most songs were originals and were biting social commentary about uncontrolled growth, nuclear warfare, and serial killers Glenn wrote most of the songs, others contributed originals as well, and there were a few snarky covers like amped up versions of "Cowgirl in the Sand" and at Christmas "Little Drummer Boy."
Among various gigs throughout Colorado, The Visitors played at Denver's Walabi's, Four Mile House, and art events at Pirate Art Gallery; Boulder's anti-nuke protests, the Blue Note and Toad Hall, and one gloriously mis-booked cowboy bar in Longmont where the customers kept yelling "Play Freebird!" They also went on "The Great Tour of the Midwest," playing in Milwaukee and Detroit, but were upstaged by one Wendy O Williams and her amazing chainsaw.
The Visitors often played with Zebra 123, The Varve, Lunch, Curtains, The Aviators and many others mentioned on this web site. They enjoyed trash talking with the Trouble Boys, who they called the problem children, and the Young Weasels, who they called the little squirrels (all in good fun).
As with many bands of that era, they only made one recording-studio demo with four songs, and a few live recordings still exist in a box collecting dust somewhere.
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