Colin Ward

Colin Ward

The subject of this archive. Colin Richard Ferguson Ward (August 29, 1990 – February 1, 2018) was a Denver experimental musician and visual artist. He released primarily under Killd By (sometimes styled K!lld By, originally Killd By Tha Groove) and alphabets, with additional projects under Pocket Dove, Tudaloos, Phonebooks, Snake Feathers, Bangplay, Sex Therapy, Chamber Joy, and Bodymeat. He was central to the Rhinoceropolis/Glob DIY scene in Denver through its 2016 shutdown and was working with John Golter on reopening the spaces when he died.

Posthumously honored through the Aquakota installation at Meow Wolf Convergence Station (opened September 17, 2021; memorial tribute February 22, 2022), and through the CRFW Fund at RedLine Contemporary Art Center, which has made annual grants to Denver artists since 2019.

Confirmed family

• Mother: jane anne ferguson
• Brother: dyl ward (steward of this archive)

Era overview

• alphabets (2007–2013) — 169 project folders in the archive; ~47 Bandcamp-era releases; peak MySpace-era output.
• killd by (2014–2017) — 57 project folders; 10 Bandcamp releases including Court Clothes, Recovery, Draw Blood, EMT.
• Voice memos (Sept 2015 – Dec 2016) — ~518 timestamped iPhone recordings preserved in the archive.

Online monikers / handles

In addition to project names above, confirmed online handles include @chi_swoo_ (Instagram, primary) and @legalizedmischief (Instagram, earlier). He also used the online alias Tokyo Drift (referenced by Tiny Mix Tapes as a prior project/moniker, and by Travis Egedy for the tribute song "Color Spectrum (Tokyo Drift)").

Key collaborators and visual artists

• **eriko tsogo** — Mongolian-American visual artist who provided album art for alphabets' BIEBER JERBOA (2010); planned a feature-length pseudo-documentary art film with Colin and Stephan Herrera set in Mongolia (~2015 per Westword). As of 2026-04-23, Eriko's own bio describes the feature project as still in pre-production, indicating it was not realized as a finished work before Colin's death in 2018; Eriko's completed 2019 short "Tears of the Sky" is framed autobiographically rather than as the original three-person collaboration.
• **stephan herrera** — Visual artist, co-curator of Fantasia (2012, 2014), and part of the Mongolia film plan.
• **ania urbanski** (@futurebones) — Photographer credited on CAVE RAVE (2014).
• **eriko tsogo** also contributed to Meow Wolf Convergence Station (same venue as Aquakota), making her one of a small number of people with connections to both Colin's active life and his posthumous memorial.

Notes on discography dating

Several alphabets Bandcamp releases use upload dates that differ from actual creation dates by 2–3 years. BIEBER JERBOA was uploaded in 2013 but the archive folder is dated 2010. When archive folder dates and Bandcamp release dates diverge, the archive folder date is more likely to reflect when the tracks were recorded.

Quotes on the record

"An immersive and visual artist, musician, poet, street performer, videographer … He called the now-defunct DIY venue Rhinoceropolis home and had been throwing his own DIY events for years." — Denver Westword, February 2022

"He had such a deep sense of love for humanity and the community. He didn't want to see people homeless, he didn't want to see trees cut down to make way for parking lots. And that came out in his artwork, in his music, and definitely in his relationships." — Jane Anne Ferguson, in the Meow Wolf Aquakota mini-documentary

"alien safari rainforest style" — Colin Ward describing his own sound (Bandcamp Daily feature, 2020)