While virtually all of the bands on the lineup for Denver Comes Alive 2025 at Cervantes‘ (Friday, 1/7 and Saturday, 1/18) are rarely-seen collaborations featuring familiar players, many of them have a well-documented history as a unit. Ross James & Goo Bros—featuring Ross James, Jeremy Salken (Big Gigantic), Bill Nershi (The String Cheese Incident), Garrett Sayers (The Motet), and Adam MacDougall (Circles Around The Sun)—do not.
As James, the veteran Phil Lesh sideman, explained to Live For Live Music, the project’s only prior performance—a Dead & Company late-night in Boulder, CO—was largely lost to the ether: “I went to repost a video after Boulder Theater and couldn’t find any,” he said. “Everyone was too spun-out after two days of Dead & Company to take videos at the late-night.”
The mission of Goo Bros—named, James explained, by the promoter of the Boulder show as a “heady spin on Wolf Bros“—matches the malleability of their moniker. Conceived as a way for James and Salken, the drummer for high-profile electronic duo Big Gigantic, to get together and get loose, the pair tapped keyboard wizard Adam MacDougall (Circles Around The Sun) and bassist Keith Moseley (The String Cheese Incident) to round out the lineup at their debut show.
Related: Denver Comes Alive 2025 Band Spotlight: Poppa Funk & The Night Tripper
For their second-ever gig as part of Denver Comes Alive at Cervantes’ on Friday, January 17th, James explained, “Keith [Moseley] wasn’t around this time but Nersh [Bill Nershi] was,” Added Salken, “It’s a different member of String Cheese in there but [we’re] still keep it cheesy.” The Denver Comes Alive Goo Bros lineup also features powerhouse bassist Garrett Sayers of workhorse funk outfit The Motet, a versatile collaborator with both Salken and James.
Adam MacDougall, the Circles Around The Sun keyboard wizard, adds another exciting set a variables to the sonic goo. As Salken recalled of the first Goo Bros show, while MacDougall and James had collaborated on many occasions, “That was the first time I had played with Adam … and I remember I really loved digging in with him. … We were able to stretch out and get into some really weird psychedelic textured spaces. Because that’s what that dude does.”
He added, “I feel like it’s gonna get even weirder this time—even gooier—because of the makeup of the band, having Garrett there and Billy, as well.”
When asked what sort of music fans can expect from Goo Bros at Denver Comes Alive, Ross James explained with a laugh, “Last time we played, we ended up playing stuff that we hadn’t even talked about. It’s definitely an exploratory kind of thing, plus now Nersh is in the band so it’s even more of a wild card. We’ll probably play some of Billy’s songs, some of my songs, and some covers everyone will have fun playing. We’ll definitely play a Grateful Dead song or two.”
“I think Jeremy likes it because it’s a lot different than Big Gigantic,” James estimated. “He can kind of stretch out more than he usually gets to with that project.” Salken agreed, “It’s something that’s a little more fluid, that lets me stretch out and get to play some styles of music that I don’t normally get to play but that I love and grew up playing.”
While all of the players in Ross James & Goo Bros at Denver Comes Alive have played together individually, this will mark the first time the five of them have played in this configuration—something new, organic, unexpected, and in-the-moment. Plus, with so many talented artists on the bill, the Goo Bros lineup also promises to stretch well beyond its listed core with surprise guest sit-ins.
“You gotta be there to witness it,” Salken warned, “so get there.”
Grab your tickets here to see Ross James & Goo Bros at Denver Comes Alive at Denver, CO’s Cervantes’ on Friday, January 17th and Saturday, January 18th.
The rest of the Denver Comes Alive is similarly filled with unusual combinations of well-known musicians, including members of The Meters, Dumpstaphunk, Soulive, Wilco, Lettuce, Galactic, The New Mastersounds, and many more. Click below to view a full list of participating musicians and band lineups. For more on each act, head here.
