The first thing we saw when we opened the door to the Black Monarch Hotel was the big tiled room on our left with a tall ceiling where White Satan would have played his darkly reimagined covers of classic country favorites like “Wichita Lineman” and “Hello, Mr. Jukebox” delivered with bite in an arch cowpunk tone if Arlo hadn’t canceled on account of an unexpected spill he’d taken the day before.

My friend Dynamita decided to drive up there and check out the haunted hotel high in the mountains of south-central Colorado all the same and I came along with her. I’ll narrate our hotel stay along with my email interview with White Satan, whose host, Arlo, isn’t a racist, but his last name is White and he’s fated to forever end up on the same search page as white supremacists because of it.

White Satan: “What we’ve seen is that 2026 is more like 1986 when it comes to Satanic Panic. Yes! Let’s address the name. The name is political, personal, literal, spiritual, antagonistic, racial but not racist! All of the above. There was some controversy in Victor, Colorado surrounding our unfortunately, indefinitely postponed CD release show at the Black Monarch. Some locals apparently questioned if White Satan was a member of the KKK or some other hate group.”

This old town had hosted prospectors and homesteaders for generations. Now it was falling victim to the perversions of modernity, with bars full of steam from dry ice right down the street if you like that sort of thing and rave culture nights on the regular. I admit we had visions of buying up all the properties and turning it into a nerve center for greater weirdness in the name of art. It was almost like we couldn’t help ourselves. We talked about wanting to put on a series of shows by local bands in that tiled room at the Black Monarch if the owner, who was apparently already under a lot of scrutiny from conservative locals objecting to his kitsch horror and/or possible Satanism, would let us in on the booking.

There was a giant stuffed wolf in the crook of the black staircase as I went up it. Dynamita and I were staying in the Nikola Tesla room, which was supposed to be the most haunted one in the joint, but I think the reason the door kept opening and closing on its own was because it was loose or something. It was a great big room with a black floor, a small tree inside and a giant plant and a couch and coffee table and black easy chairs and glass skulls and Persian rugs, stocked with books on Science Fiction and serial killers and Satanism and the Marquis de Sade. There were a couple of beds with beautiful gray ruffled blankets and chandeliers shaped like neutrons or atoms hanging beside a couple of Tesla-related posters, also a telescope pointed inappropriately right out the window at the house across the street, but it didn’t work. Our friends Anwar Cato from the band Little Fyodor and his girlfriend K were down the hall in the Lizzy Borden room, with had multiple axes arranged in a pattern and multiple exposures of that famous shot of Lizzy on its walls but was smaller than the Tesla.

White Satan: “It’s been a bumpy road to Arlo White and I (White Satan) becoming one. Arlo had the name floating around for a dozen years trying to force it on to a number of projects. It wasn’t until spring 2025, while attending the maniacally joyous Nice Cave and the Bad Seed show in Dever that Arlo finally had the epiphany. White Satan isn’t a band or a project. Arlo White is White Satan and White Satan is Arlo White. In that moment, I was birthed into the ether as the New Man in Black. I entered Arlo’s body like a lightning bolt of clarity, and we’ve been inseparable ever since. Unfortunately, on May 26, 2026, the road went off a cliff, Thelma & Louise style, as Arlo survived a traumatic brain injury and nine days in the hospital, which has obviously put the year of White Satan on hold.”

I told Arlo that was bum kicks about the unfounded accusations and the T.B.I. The same thing had happened to me about twenty-five years ago and I could relate. Not only that, but the mining folk were definitely staring at us city slickers that weekend, though nothing bad happened. I wished him well, and asked him how would he classify the band’s sound? Southern Gothic?

White Satan: “First thing, White Satan is a love group. White Satan loves all, except those who hate! Second, I’ve never heard of a racist or hate group with a sense of irony, and definitely not a sense of humor, so let’s put a nail in that coffin. As an artist in the current political and world climate, Arlo White would be embarrassed and frankly nauseated to play it safe. The name is the point!”

Earlier that day, Dyamita and her friend Cindy and I were taking a walk around Victor, Cindy wearing her tap shoes, and a gregarious local came up to us after hearing the sound of a little dance she broke into. His eyes were a strange blur of gray across the whole surface without any pupil or iris. Otherwise he looked normal. He was extremely voluble, telling us all about the three town dynasties controlling all the business and progress. He told us he owned the apartment building up the street his father had died in and slept on a cot in the basement. He went off and one of us said, “That guy might have been a ghost,” and the other two agreed. “Those eyes are a dead giveaway.”
“I attract them,” said Cindy.

White Satan: “What we’ve made together is Magic! Admittedly, with a lot of help from our friends Farm Toad (Gregory Hill and Maureen Hearty). White Satan and Farm Toad – wolf, our debut CD (streaming everywhere, physical copies available from www.hypnoticturte.com + White Satan, Bandcamp) was expertly recorded and produced by Gregory Hill and White Satan. The performers on wolf are awe-inspiring. Everyone was truly possessed.”

WE’D agreed to meet with the ghost later to perform a rendition of that one song “Baby Don’t Hurt Me” you know from that SNL skit with Will Ferrell and Chris Kattan and maybe another guy moving their heads side to side to its beat as they go down the road in a car. When we got there a little while later he was sitting at the bar. “You made it!”
“What do you mean, I made it? You made it. I’ve been waiting for you guys.”
Dynamita and Cindy each had an encounter like this with the same guy, who then mysteriously disappeared from the 1889 saloon, more evidence of his possibly being an apparition. The Black Monarch’s owner, Adam Zimmerli later warned Dynamita, “Stay away from that guy. He’s the most annoying guy in town.” Seemed like a nice guy to me.

White Satan: “Farm Toad has evolved into a dream of a backing band. The guest appearance by Arlo’s wife (Kim 9) is nothing short of other-worldly. All this allowed me to get lost in myself and dig deep into my soul for some truly spellbinding performances.”

Dynamita sang Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn’s “Mississippi Woman, Louisiana Man” in concert with a couple of helpful locals. Anwar Cato sang Devo’s “It’s a Beautiful World” (for you not me), The Buggles’ “Video Killed the Radio Star” and I think one by Public Enemy. I did a White Satan-esque non-Johnny-Cash-like version of “Ring of Fire”. We had a great time. Kept drifiing back and forth from the karaoke show to an EDM festival happening in a hotel up the street, where we saw some guests checking in who probably hadn’t counted on any of these pounding, driving beats disturbing their sleep when they booked their rooms. Dynamita and I had a great time climbing up the stairs and riding up and down in the beautifully preserved antique Otis elevator with thick glass outer walls, trying not to wake anyone up, Anwar and K came aboard one time too.
There was a full moon that night. I took some pictures of it with my cellphone, round and white, in a ring of haze.

<a href="https://whitesatan.bandcamp.com/album/some-velvet-morning-maxi-single">Some Velvet Morning (Maxi-Single) by White Satan and Farm Toad</a>

White Satan: “Again, the name comes into play. After listening, many people have been like “Some these songs are so beautiful; don’t you want them to be heard, or don’t you wanna hear these songs on the radio?” My answer will always be Yes! Yes! Yes! But, the name is the point!t! What I think is that when Arlo White emerges from this physical and mental cocoon he’s currently trapped in, the world will be put on notice!I think White Satan’s future’s so bright that you’re gonna need shades to shield yourself from our blinding light!”

The show was canceled that night. But we had a great time.

To Denver and the rest of the world: White Satan has emerged, newly tempered by the fire and reborn stronger, sharper, and deadlier. Plans for a rescheduled event at the Monatch are in progress as we speak, and I think it’s a good match.

Zack Kopp

White Satan Facebook / Instagram / Bandcamp