IDAHO SPRINGS — Front Range performers Brian Bucca, Steve Valente, Matt Martin, and Kevin Brown are no strangers to musical collaboration. Their new guitar-driven rock group, The Full Tilts, brings their strengths together in a brand new lineup.
Bucca, the frontman, lead singer, and guitarist of the group, has embraced the instrument since the age of fourteen. Raised mainly on rock and blues influences, he has also embraced funk and even metal influences.
He remembers as his introduction to music the songs his parents played driving through the Mississippi backwoods as a family.
“We used to have these bucket seats in my dad’s Ford truck,” recalls Bucca. “We would ride around unbuckled, and I would just carelessly sing the country music they listened to.”
Growing up in South Mississippi, he took the full brunt of the state’s weather for his instrument, taking his father’s bike (against his father’s wishes) just to replace a broken string.
“By the time I rode into town and rode back, it must have been eight miles or something in the summer Mississippi heat and humidity,” recalls Bucca. “I probably had a heatstroke; I didn’t have any water and I laid down on my floor.”
That drive and passion has carried through Bucca’s life. Moving to Denver in 2007, he’s supported and fronted many groups over the years, including as the guitarist and vocalist for The Whisky Dogs.
In this group, he collaborated with drummer Steve Valente, who has toured with the Detroit rock group Electric Six and studied under Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Working to find a way to collaborate with Valente again, the two started The Full Tilts, with Valente bringing guitarist and bassist Matt Murkin (bass player in the new lineup) and multi-instrumentalist Kevin Brown (guitarist and backing vocalist) to form the lineup in early 2026.
“We’d love to get into the originals scene and go back and forth between the cover band scene and the originals scene,” says Bucca. “That’s something that we all really want to put our efforts in more than anything, is creation, see what that does for people.”
“With my bandmates, it brings us closer,” continues Bucca about the connection the group shares through their music. “It’s almost like going to war with your band of brothers.”
More than anything, the group wants to create an environment that encourages crowd interaction, foot-stomping excitement, and a joyful environment for audiences to resonate with their music and shows.
“Music is the language of the world, and it speaks to people in different ways, to their hearts and their minds,” says Bucca. “I believe it’s a healing medicine; I want to communicate with people.
The Full Tilts will perform their first public gig at Two Bears Tap and Grill, located at 33295 Highway 6 in Idaho Springs, on Saturday, August 1, 2026, starting at 1 p.m.
