The Next Era of Indie Rock Starts in Fort Collins: Meet Heliotrope
Heliotrope is a four-piece straight out of Fort Collins, Colorado, redefining what it means to be versatile in sound and spirit. Blending melodic indie pop, dynamic alt rock, and sprinkles of jazz, the band radiates a rare kind of authenticity that feels both intimate and expansive. Each member brings their own musical background and emotional lens to the mix. Josh Kates (guitar, bass, keys), Gail Beauregard (lead vocals, bass), Isaac Salsberry (drums, backing vocals), and Nick Salis (guitar, bass, backing vocals), create a soundscape that’s as diverse as it is cohesive. Formed in 2024, Heliotrope embodies the essence of true artistry. They are unafraid to experiment, evolve, and blur the lines between genres. Their debut single, Goose Song, captures that spirit perfectly. It offers a glimpse into a band that plays with not only precision, but raw emotion. Starting with rooftop gigs and sets inside vintage shops, they’re rapidly transforming into something much bigger. Heliotrope is making waves across the Colorado music scene, set to open for the nationally touring act WILLIS at Fort Collins’ largest venue, The Aggie Theatre. With their debut album on the horizon, Heliotrope stands at the edge of something special. They embody a new era of Colorado sound defined by sincerity, experimentation, and soul. I sat down with Heliotrope to dive into their origins, creative influences, and what it means to be part of Fort Collins’ evolving and inclusive music scene. Catch them live at The Aggie on November 15th, and stay tuned for upcoming releases and show dates at www.heliotropefoco.com 
How did you all meet and what originally inspired you to start creating music together?
“Mainly just the thriving house show scene. I (Josh) originally met Nick at a house show, and he was already pretty good friends with Gail, and I met our drummer Isaac through school. I was honestly kind of jealous when I first started going to these house shows because they were so cool, so I was like, ‘Guys let’s get a set together and just hop in’. So we started playing covers at house shows and realized we were all pretty talented so we started making our own originals. Then we started to reach out to local venues and were able to get some gigs. I remember talking to Nick because I wasn’t too sure if I actually wanted to start the band, and he told me, ‘The more musicians there are in the world, the better place it is.’ So, the house show scene really inspired us. To add onto that, I (Nick) played in a few bands in high school so when I came to Fort Collins I was looking to start a band. I already knew Gail, but then Josh reached out to us and we all got acquainted and that’s when we really started focusing on Heliotrope. It was never a question of, ‘Can I do this?’ because I’ve always had a ‘keep going, keep getting better’ mentality. I always tell people it’s not hard to learn an instrument, you just have to get into it, everyone starts somewhere.”
How do your individual tastes or backgrounds blend to shape Heliotrope’s sound?
“Our song Hannah is the best example of that. It’s very indie pop and we experimented with a lot of different chord progressions, and it worked out super well. There’s a lot of aspects about indie music we don’t necessarily align with, so we decided to do something different and exciting. There’s a certain level of freedom that comes with creating your own music. We all have our own tastes, Nick is super into 90’s/2000’s alt- rock and shoegaze, whereas Josh is more into that pop indie scene. Isaac listens to a lot of jazz, metal, and alt-rock, and Gail is big into indie folk-rock. So, there's a lot of different bands like Sonic Youth, Queens of the Stone Age , and Big Thief, that we take inspiration from. We try to take all the styles of music we listen to and distill them into our own unique sound. There’s never been a time when we were ‘doing things wrong’ because we all have different flavors. You can usually tell the difference in our songs because we all take on different roles for each song. But, there’s still a cohesive vibe that you can pick out from all our songs. We aren’t necessarily going for music that all sounds the same.”
What makes the Fort Collins music scene unique compared to other cities in Colorado?
“It’s very open and active. It seems like there’s always something going on. Whether its house shows or FoCoMX (2 day music festival in Fort Collins with local artists playing at 30+ venues) It’s extremely unique and there’s all types of music ranging from Indie to Afro Funk. They also pay all the artists equally, it doesn’t matter where you're playing or what time. So, just the diversity, openness, and activeness of the scene. There’s never someone telling you, ‘You can’t play here’, you could walk into any house party and see a band perform. If you’re walking down the street, you can hear bands playing and just join the party. There may not be posters up or you may not know anyone, but you can still have a good time. There’s also an instagram account called FocoHouseShows that give exposure for a lot of the gigs out here. It’s also cool because it stretches beyond the college students and it’s open for the whole community. There’s just a big music culture in the city and it helps promote community, boosting the scene in general. It’s really an incubator for fresh bands and I don’t think that's very common in a lot of cities. I can’t think of a lot of other places that match up to our local scene except maybe something like Nashville, just because there are so many opportunities and music so accessible. There’s also so many unique venues, like we played in a bar that’s underneath a coffee shop and also this store called Collective Vintage. So, there’s a lot of unique hole-in-the-wall places which are great for bands who are trying to get exposure, as well as touring bands.”
