BY SAM DESTEFANO

Denver musician Anthony Ruptak doesn’t just write songs, he channels lived experience into visceral, soul-searching soundscapes. His latest record, “Tourist,” is a raw reflection of years spent as a paramedic, bearing witness to addiction, grief, and resilience in the city’s shadows. But it’s also a love letter to wilderness, wonder and survival. With lyrics rooted in humanity and performances that teeter between a whisper and a scream, Ruptak reminds us: art is how we make sense of chaos.

You’ve been described as a musician who “writes songs with intent.” What’s been the most meaningful intent behind your recent work?

My new record Tourist is a collection of experiences and ruminations from the past 3 years of my life – I have been working as a paramedic in Denver and have had a very unique vantage to American suffering, poverty, addiction, suicide and loss. Several of these songs are me processing these experiences I’ve had on the ambulance. I have found songwriting to be a terrific tool for coping and sifting through trauma. Having this front-row seat to so many people’s worst days is a powerful and enlightening opportunity to connect more to the human condition and to understand and make peace with death. Other songs are about attempting to find joy and peace in the wilderness. Others are about the horrific, apocalyptic times we’re living through. I guess the intent overall is to bring these heavy emotions and experiences forward and to shine light into the dim, often unseen corners of humanity. 

Colorado has long shaped your sound and storytelling—how does place influence your music today?

I’m inspired by the imagery of everyday life. Some of the songs on this album capture the feeling of being physically cradled by a mountain pass, while mentally being relegated to the gritty, bloody streets of the city. It’s absolutely bewildering to me how I can find myself in the center of an emergency warming shelter one night, attempting to reverse a fentanyl overdose, and then the next night place myself in utter silence, surrounded by trees and stars and nightbirds. Place is volatile and ever-evolving. 

Tourist was written during your early years working as a city paramedic. How did witnessing suffering up close—and seeking peace in the wilderness—shape this album?

I think the wildly different counterpoints of these two realities, both immediately accessible if you take the time to really track them down, formed the spectrum of sounds on this record. The songs that deal with the human experiences I’ve encountered on the ambulance are loud, raw, almost desperate sounding – while those counterpoints of nature, innocence, wildlife, and companionship are wrapped in orchestral, swooning acoustic textures. The juxtaposition of these realities is unsettling and complex. 

Your live shows are known for their emotional depth. How do you prepare—mentally and musically—for that kind of vulnerability on stage?

I simply love making music with my friends. I love whispering lyrics to the audience one moment and then screaming my guts out the next. Mentally, there is no specific preparation ritual. I feel anxious right up to the point where it’s time to start singing, then I just commit and jump into the ice water. Also, I’m celebrating five years alcohol-free this fall. Getting sober has helped me regulate my emotions and come to appreciate more the collective and organic act of performing music with and for people.

Your lyrics feel deeply personal but also communal. Who are you writing for these days?

One of the greatest rewards as a songwriter is hearing how my lyrics affect strangers. The story I am writing about is often so different from the story a listener will pull from the words and I love that cosmic game of telephone. I’m writing to acknowledge the suffering of my fellow human beings. I’m writing to acknowledge the love and support and camaraderie of my wife Angela. I’m writing to process the grief and helplessness I feel while watching the world fall apart. 

You’re not only a performer but a producer and multi-instrumentalist. What’s something people might not realize about the work that goes on behind the scenes?

I am always hustling, writing, working and scheming behind the scenes. It’s incredibly difficult to be a creative these days while also learning to market your work, produce so-called “content”, participate in social media, etc. Lots of blood, sweat, tears and money goes into this, and that’s something the average listener may not understand. That’s why the support of the greater arts community is so invaluable. 

Tourist blends themes of grief, addiction, awe, and escapism. Was there a track on the album that came to you all at once—or one that took longer to wrestle into being?

Every song on this record is reactionary. Most of my songs that survive long enough to make it onto the stage or onto a record are. Tourist was written in a state of childlike bliss, wandering aimlessly around San Francisco. Trauma Naked and Is This Real Life were written the mornings following very traumatic and eye-opening night shifts on the ambulance. XONM was written the day Russia invaded Ukraine and the threat of nuclear war was again renewed. Lenny’s Rest was written while hiking the Colorado Trail. Each song is my hasty, gut reaction to significant events – both traumatic and joyful. Phantasmagoria (my personal favorite tune on this new record) took a bit longer, as it showcases the various insanities of human behavior, technology, climate change  and politics – our voyeurism of the chronic chaos of our times. “Phantasmagoria” is defined as “Horror theater or shifting, dreamlike imagery” – a perfect descriptor for our world today. It’s just me screaming “what a crazy goddamned hell of a mess we’ve made!”

With so much happening nationally and globally, do you feel a shift in the responsibility or role of the artist?

Art has always been at the center of periods of great change. There have always been protest songs and artists fighting for the rights of oppressed peoples. Often these songs/paintings/poems  have been made by those facing the most discrimination. The responsibility shift needs to be on those with privilege (such as myself) to step up and participate. 

So yes, I believe that every artist should strive use their platform to effect change. Art is resistance, joy is resistance. Our ability to create art, invoke emotions, strike fear and anger and hope into hearts and minds is the most powerful tool in our arsenals, and it can never be taken from us. Your eye, your ear, your intellect, your voice – these are yours and yours alone. Use them.

Have you been able to collaborate with other musicians in the Denver scene over the years and on the new record? How would you describe this experience?

I am grateful to be backed by the best band in the world. Everyone who plays these songs with me is an incredible musician in their own right – Caleb fronts the band Holographic American, Eric plays in Ramakhandra, DreamCast, Dead Eye Dojo, Daniel plays in a Mouthful of Thunder, Matt is an incredible DJ, drummer and producer, Katy plays for the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Jakey plays in Witches and Science and Gamelan, Jacob Russo is an incredible songwriter, Leif plays cello in King Cardinal – I’m blessed beyond belief to get to share the stage with these terrific musicians, they’re my family, they make me feel so loved. Full stop. 

What can listeners expect from you this year—new music, collaborations, or performances we should mark our calendars for?

Outside of our first-ever vinyl release of Tourist, I’m playing three shows as a legacy artist (I’ve been honored to play something like ten years) this UMS season. Friday at the Shindig (DM me on instagram for the address), Saturday playing a special, stripped down set at Baere Brewing, then Sunday with the full band at Club 404. More shows in late summer and fall TBA. 

We’re all so excited to catch so many live local acts at UMS this year. Are there any bands that you’ve got your eye on and that you’re excited to check out?

Absolutely. I’m honored to share the list of “Legacy Artists” this UMS. Some of the groups I’m stoked to see are Los Mocochetes, Bluebook, Izcalli, Kid Astronaut, Porlolo, Venus Cruz, The Still Tide, Wes Watkins, Big Dopes, Indigenous Peoples, Lines of Drift, Nina De Freitas, Rubedo, Sunstoney, the Trujillo Company.. You can’t swing a dead cat without hitting some insane talent during the UMS.

Be sure to check Anthony’s new record and tour dates at anthonyruptak.com. And definitely join us at UMS to catch him live!