A Look Back: Bass Physics Show At Cervantes PLUS Behind The Scenes With Cofresi
Saturday night turned into one big joint-effort between Megan Hamilton, Cofresi and Bass Physics. You don’t always get to see all the artists on a lineup participate in one another’s sets, but Cervantes is a venue where the evening spread is set up family style. The camaraderie between all the performers was certainly apparent, going on and off stage to jam out with one another all throughout the night. Despite it being a busy festival season, everyone came prepared to deliver brand new music and the crowd ate it up, always leaving room for more.
Cofresi hopped onto the stage confident, ready to rock and roll. Most people are not used to seeing drummers during a show because they are almost always sitting down and located towards the back of the stage. Not (Ben) Cofresi, he had his drum set forefront and center so that the audience had the chance to marvel at his impeccable crashes and drags. His self-built frankenstein setup has him standing throughout the show, allowing him more leverage and power with each swift motion. Consisting of three components; an acoustic focused side, a hybrid digital-acoustic side, and “the brains” nestled in between. A crowd favorite was his new track, Mr. Sandman, during which everyone sang along with the classic Chordette melody of bung, bung, bung, bung. As soon as he came in with his drum accompaniment, people went into a tizzy. Cofresi became our own Cervantes’ Sandman, delivering us the dreamiest remix we’ve ever seen.
Photo by Katy Jo Caringer - KJ Photography
As for Bass Physics, he spared no effort in creating an immersive experience for the audience and they ate it up. Nowadays, the aesthetic at shows is becoming more and more integral. Visual components, paired with live music, are exceedingly complementary and make it that much more memorable. Bass Physics worked with Rubikz Visuals to set up panels all around the stage that produced insane motion graphics, on top of the cascading laser display overhead. As he explained it in our pre-show interview, Bass Physics has been working to solidify the direction he is taking with his overall sound and wanted to bring the crowd at Cervantes a selection of his heaviest compilations. True to his intention, the crowd was bodybanging with every available limb. When Colby Buckler and Cofresi joined BP on stage we all praised what could be described as a signature sound of bass rock, epitomizing the mesh of electronics and instrumentation.
After Saturday’s show, we caught up with Cofresi to get his takeaway and see where he is headed on the next leg of his ongoing Blossom tour.
Photo by Katy Jo Caringer - KJ Photography
SV: How did you feel in regards to the success of the show?
Cofresi: “Overall, I was super pleased with how smooth everything went. Even early on in the night when we did our soundcheck, it was as good as can be expected and from there everything just flowed into the night. The crew and environment at Cervantes alleviated any pressure and it just felt right.”
SV: How did you gauge the receptibility from the crowd?
Cofresi: “Onstage, I was in my zone and sending good vibes so I felt like the crowd was really feeling it. People were really stoked!”
SV: Megan Hamilton came onstage to perform your unreleased collab track, tell me about the song and your upcoming mini tour.
Cofresi: “The track is called Patience but we are still touching it up so it won’t be released for another three or four weeks. Cervantes’ was the first time Megan had ever sang that song live, we actually had the vocals removed from the original recorded track so that she would be able to sing over it at the show. When we first organized this run of shows together, we wanted to be able to get a song out together before hitting the road. We have one upcoming show in Chicago and then we head to Texas for shows in Houston, Texas and Austin.”
SV: What upcoming releases or projects are you currently working on?
Cofresi: “I have been doing a lot of video performances lately, which have been a lot of fun. My most recent was the video for Sandman and I am currently working on making a new video for a mix I did of Kung Fu Fighting, so look out for that. I’m also in the process of working on a new album.”
SV: Lastly, did you enjoy your time in Denver and can we expect you back anytime soon?
Cofresi: “I love playing in Denver, my last time here I played at Cervantes Other Side so it was really cool to come back and play in the Ballroom, which has great acoustics and brings in a much bigger crowd. I’m super grateful to everyone who helped in bringing me out for the show. I will be back in December to open for Michael Menert!
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