About three months into the lockdown, Merz, who performs as Timmy Flips and Timmy Stinger, decided that there were more constructive ways to spend his time, so he sobered up and started writing along with guitarist and fellow Red Stinger founding member Fredman. Merz hit a massive creative streak he says he’s also written an entire hip-hop album and two dance musicals over the past year and the future of the band seemed bright, even with the ongoing pandemic.
“I just couldn’t stop writing,” Merz says. “Between me and Fred, we wrote thirty-plus songs, and it just doesn’t die.”
As I stood in a short queue at the Oriental Theater, I almost couldn t believe I wasn t dreaming. After over a year of not being able to attend any concerts, I was waiting to see local psych-folk band the Copper Children perform.
I ve spent much of the past year alternately kicking myself for the shows I chose not to see before the pandemic put the kibosh on live music and making a never-ending wish list of acts I’d like to see when I have the chance again. So when I got the offer to write about a live show in Denver, I jumped at it, though a big part of me was hesitant. Was it really safe or responsible to see live music when people in Colorado are dying each week because of COVID-19?