| Interview
by Tom Walsh, May 2010 |
Slopeside: A band
with a big heart
Slopeside
By Tom Walsh
Slopeside is not one of those bands that’s
afraid to bend, if not downright break, the rules. With influences
ranging from Pink Floyd to Crosby, Stills and Nash, there is a little
something in their music for everyone, if you will only give it
a listen.
Since the inception of Slopeside in January
of 2005 this five piece band has been working diligently, but at
their own pace, to put the Colorado music scene on it’s ear.
Line-up changes aside, this band has been pushing forward, most
recently playing in Westword’s Best Of The West contest at
Herman’s Hideaway. They have also created a benefit called
‘Rock The Cause’ which they performed at, raising money
for cancer care and have opened for Molly Hatchet.
Maingig recently had a chance to speak to keyboardist and guitar
player Cody Culver about the band and the future of the band.
Describe your sound for me.
We’re very eclectic. I would say from a Pink Floyd feel to
a Crosby, Stills and Nash kind of sound. We’re pop rock, alternative….almost
a jam band but not really. Covers wise, we do Eagles, Beatles, Led
Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac, Clapton. That kind of good stuff. No Cookie
Monster.
No Cookie Monster?
(Laughs) No Cookie Monster!
Your music, to me, sounds like it might have
a little bit of jazz influence, a little rock influence, basically
a little bit of everything. It seems like you integrate all kind
of genres into your music.
We are not afraid of any kind of genre. Right now we’re dabbling
in bluegrass and other stuff with our new album. Norris Jones, our
drummer, is very much into jazz. Arn, our front man is very into
Led Zeppelin and The Beatles. You know all that kind of stuff, and
I like the blues, jazz and rock. Somewhere it all meets in the middle.
When and how did the band form?
Arn Current had an open mic at a place called The Beach in Aurora.
It was a real dive bar, I mean it was just dirty. I was looking
for something to play. I had never played on stage before and I
thought I had my chops up to speed and thought I would try it out.
I went to this open mic and met Arn and he said, “Oh yeah,
we’re gonna have a rock band.” I was like, oh yeah,
your really funny. I never believed him. We found a bass player
that lasted a little while and we found a drummer. Then we found
out we needed a little more than what we we’re looking for.
So we scoped out other players in the scene and we found Norris
on drums. We pretty much stole him from On The Rocks. We had our
eye on him and it just happened somehow. We had our eye on a gal
by the name of Trish Bontz from Copper Switch out of Fort Collins.
Arn and Trish had played in a band together called Tempting Fate,
which was Arn’s old band. We just got Trish. This is only
her second gig with us. Karen Current is Arn’s wife and she’s
just a brilliant singer. Now we’ve got all the players that
we absolutely want and I really can’t wait for this year to
unfold. Karen Current is Arn’s wife and she’s just a
brilliant singer. Now we’ve got all the players that we absolutely
want and I really can’t wait for this year to unfold.
When did this all start?
January 2005.
Five years old in band years is really not
that old. You’re seasoned, but not that old.
No, and we’ve always had the saying in the band that it’s
going to take five years to get noticed, and this fifth year I think
we’ve had a lot of notice taking place. We’ve had a
lot of people come and ask to interview us, but this is the first
interview that we’ve got.
As far as your music goes you say you all
meet in the middle, but are there any big band names that you would
say you draw on as a band?
That’s kind of hard. Me personally, I tend to jump into the
Pink Floyd, Stevie Ray Vaughn and Coldplay kind of vibe. I really
just like all their sounds. As a whole I think we tend to draw back
to the Led Zeppelin kind of riffs and Fleetwood Mac sounds as far
as harmonies go I guess. I don’t think we really draw on a
particular band. Even if we play a cover we play it our way, everybody’s
heard the original. When we learn a song Karen will say, “I
don’t want you to listen to the original,” and that’s
just the way we learn it. We make everything our own, and I think
that’s what brings people to the shows. |
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How did the name Slopeside
come about?
Well, Arn and I were sitting in my apartment and he said, what are
we going to call the band once we get together? We’re both
skiers and we decided we should name it something to do with the
front range. Colorado is known for skiing and we can’t afford
tickets for skiing, so we said hey, we can get free tickets out
of the name Slopeside anyway. So Slopeside came about. Slippy Slop,
SloppySide…We’ve been named everything. But it all worked
out, and I think when we hit those mountain towns people think,
Slopeside, that should be cool. What kind of highlights have you
had since forming in 2005?
We were in Westword’s best of the west last year and we had
the highest turn out, but we didn’t make it too far. I work
down at Rocky Mountain Cancer Center with cancer patients, so I’m
very involved with cancer benefits. So in 2008 we put on a cancer
benefit called ‘Rock The Cause’ and we raised forty
seven thousand dollars for cancer care. We’re trying to do
it again this year at the Paramount, but this time we’re trying
to raise two hundred thousand dollars. That may be held on September
18th, but it’s still in the works.
What can people attending a show expect
from a slope side show?
A very diverse range of music that would please all ages. Classic
rock. You’ll always see a lot of energy on stage. Great stage
sound, we hate being really loud. You can expect a lot of dancing.
On every stage we play we always get the same comments of, you really
get the crowd dancing. Like the Island Grill up in Loveland. We
had the whole restaurant dancing and they hired us back on that
note.
Where is your favorite place to play?
We love playing Little Bear, we really like playing Connor O’
Neill’s in Boulder. They’ve always treated us good,
that’s where we started. We love playing Winter Park at Hideaway
Park, that’s probably our favorite.
How about upcoming shows?
I think we have twenty five ahead of us. In May we’re playing
all the Baker Streets. I think we’re playing five shows at
the Baker Street Pubs in Boulder, Lakewood, Westminster and DTC.
The ‘Rock the Cause’ show has a definite date, but not
a definite venue. Dotsero is confirmed to play at the show. For
more info on the status of the show please visit the Slopeside website.
At the end of the interview Cody informed
us that he is a cancer survivor and that Slopeside probably plays
over twenty benefit concerts a year. He told us this haltingly and
with some hesitation because he didn’t want to toot his own
horn.
Personally I wouldn’t call that tooting my own horn. I would
call that having a big heart and giving back. |
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