Former Members of Slobberbone Regroup As The Drams
Posted: August 25, 2005 10:28 am
http://tinyurl.com/cnd3n
Best Friends
Members of Slobberbone return to do bigger--and
perhaps better--things as The Drams
By Sam Machkovech
On March 13, 2005, Slobberbone was done. Singer Brent
Best, guitarist Jess Barr, drummer Tony Harper and
bassist Brian Lane finished their decade-plus run with
a three-hour concert at Dan's Silverleaf in their
hometown of Denton, and a remarkably international
crowd visited to say goodbye to fan favorites like
"Billy Pritchard," "Pinball Song" and "Dunk You in the
River."
The end of the roots-rock quartet's run, though sad,
wasn't the most unexpected news in town. Lane had
moved to Florida more than a year earlier, and the
band had made it clear that no members of the group
would ever be replaced. Fewer gigs with the original
lineup played a part in the breakup, but something
else was afoot.
Last year, Best put the finishing touches on a home
studio and began running the boards for projects by
Budapest One and Baboon bassist Mark Hughes, among
others. Downtime from those sessions (and lack of
Slobberbone gigs) gave Best time to fool around with
solo demos of his own.
"I needed to back away...just write tunes and stuff,"
Best says. "Now that I have a studio, I can try stuff
out before taking it to the band. Once I knew we were
shutting Slobberbone down, I thought about what kind
of band that could be."
Best's new material may have started as a lonely
affair, but his new songs were designed to branch much
further beyond Slobberbone's guitar-bass-drums
formula, and Barr and Harper made it clear that they
weren't done making music either. After announcing the
band's final concerts late last year, Best invited
longtime friends and Budapest One songwriters Keith
Killoren and Chad Stockslager, who had filled in on
older Slobberbone gigs when Lane was absent, to join
his new venture.
"Those guys are just great to be around," Best says.
"We have very similar aesthetics about what turns us
on musically. It just seemed real natural."
Stockslager immediately boosted the group's sound with
backing vocals, pianos and organs; what had been a
cursory portion of Slobberbone's studio output was now
a central element of amazing new songs like the
heartbreaking, coming-of-age "Robert Cole" and the
lush "Humalong." Killoren was forced into a new
position--the bravado-filled lead singer of Budapest
One switched to bass and backing vocals, but he
welcomed the change.
"Right now, all I can think about is playing the
bass," Killoren says. "I love being that part of the
band--shoveling coal in the engine and not being the
engineer."
Only a week after closing the door on Slobberbone, the
new quintet debuted at Austin's South by Southwest
festival, under Best's name (the band's name later
changed to The Drams) and playing only new songs.When
the venue quickly reached capacity, fans crowded
around windows on the street to watch the show.
"I couldn't believe the response from the crowd that
night," Stockslager says. "You'd have thought we were
playing the old Slobberbone favorites, but they were
freaking out over all the new songs. I'd never seen
anything like that before."
"To be honest, it wasn't like, 'Hey, we're gonna put a
band together, make records and tour like
Slobberbone,'" Best says. "But songs came together
really quickly once Keith and Chad were on board, and
then we played a few shows and I realized I was having
a shitload of fun onstage, which I hadn't in a while."
Slobberbone had become a situation where "you're still
going and going because that's what you do," Best
says, though he is adamant that even if Lane had
stayed in Texas, the original foursome would've
evolved with extra members and an emphasis on more
fleshed-out songwriting. But with new members and a
new name, along with a forthcoming European tour and a
deal with New West Records, Best calls The Drams a
chance to start over.
Even with age and experience, a new recklessness is
evident, especially on rockin' new single
"Shortsighted": "Let's buckle under to the pressure,
let's fail miserably / let's play the s*** joints,
let's just make up the songs as we go along."
"Slobberbone fans have already made a big deal about
[The Drams] being markedly different, but really, I
still love the same things I've always loved
musically," Best says. "I'm just finally able to
incorporate the other aspects that weren't really
incorporable [in Slobberbone]. I've been writing songs
and touring and doing this for a pretty long time. As
you keep growing that sort of stuff, some things
become less important and you have to...no, you just
naturally begin digging in areas where you didn't dig
before."
Best Friends
Members of Slobberbone return to do bigger--and
perhaps better--things as The Drams
By Sam Machkovech
On March 13, 2005, Slobberbone was done. Singer Brent
Best, guitarist Jess Barr, drummer Tony Harper and
bassist Brian Lane finished their decade-plus run with
a three-hour concert at Dan's Silverleaf in their
hometown of Denton, and a remarkably international
crowd visited to say goodbye to fan favorites like
"Billy Pritchard," "Pinball Song" and "Dunk You in the
River."
The end of the roots-rock quartet's run, though sad,
wasn't the most unexpected news in town. Lane had
moved to Florida more than a year earlier, and the
band had made it clear that no members of the group
would ever be replaced. Fewer gigs with the original
lineup played a part in the breakup, but something
else was afoot.
Last year, Best put the finishing touches on a home
studio and began running the boards for projects by
Budapest One and Baboon bassist Mark Hughes, among
others. Downtime from those sessions (and lack of
Slobberbone gigs) gave Best time to fool around with
solo demos of his own.
"I needed to back away...just write tunes and stuff,"
Best says. "Now that I have a studio, I can try stuff
out before taking it to the band. Once I knew we were
shutting Slobberbone down, I thought about what kind
of band that could be."
Best's new material may have started as a lonely
affair, but his new songs were designed to branch much
further beyond Slobberbone's guitar-bass-drums
formula, and Barr and Harper made it clear that they
weren't done making music either. After announcing the
band's final concerts late last year, Best invited
longtime friends and Budapest One songwriters Keith
Killoren and Chad Stockslager, who had filled in on
older Slobberbone gigs when Lane was absent, to join
his new venture.
"Those guys are just great to be around," Best says.
"We have very similar aesthetics about what turns us
on musically. It just seemed real natural."
Stockslager immediately boosted the group's sound with
backing vocals, pianos and organs; what had been a
cursory portion of Slobberbone's studio output was now
a central element of amazing new songs like the
heartbreaking, coming-of-age "Robert Cole" and the
lush "Humalong." Killoren was forced into a new
position--the bravado-filled lead singer of Budapest
One switched to bass and backing vocals, but he
welcomed the change.
"Right now, all I can think about is playing the
bass," Killoren says. "I love being that part of the
band--shoveling coal in the engine and not being the
engineer."
Only a week after closing the door on Slobberbone, the
new quintet debuted at Austin's South by Southwest
festival, under Best's name (the band's name later
changed to The Drams) and playing only new songs.When
the venue quickly reached capacity, fans crowded
around windows on the street to watch the show.
"I couldn't believe the response from the crowd that
night," Stockslager says. "You'd have thought we were
playing the old Slobberbone favorites, but they were
freaking out over all the new songs. I'd never seen
anything like that before."
"To be honest, it wasn't like, 'Hey, we're gonna put a
band together, make records and tour like
Slobberbone,'" Best says. "But songs came together
really quickly once Keith and Chad were on board, and
then we played a few shows and I realized I was having
a shitload of fun onstage, which I hadn't in a while."
Slobberbone had become a situation where "you're still
going and going because that's what you do," Best
says, though he is adamant that even if Lane had
stayed in Texas, the original foursome would've
evolved with extra members and an emphasis on more
fleshed-out songwriting. But with new members and a
new name, along with a forthcoming European tour and a
deal with New West Records, Best calls The Drams a
chance to start over.
Even with age and experience, a new recklessness is
evident, especially on rockin' new single
"Shortsighted": "Let's buckle under to the pressure,
let's fail miserably / let's play the s*** joints,
let's just make up the songs as we go along."
"Slobberbone fans have already made a big deal about
[The Drams] being markedly different, but really, I
still love the same things I've always loved
musically," Best says. "I'm just finally able to
incorporate the other aspects that weren't really
incorporable [in Slobberbone]. I've been writing songs
and touring and doing this for a pretty long time. As
you keep growing that sort of stuff, some things
become less important and you have to...no, you just
naturally begin digging in areas where you didn't dig
before."
