Is it the Devil or is it Tokyo Rodeo?
It’s dark outside as I’m parking on the side of the street. I was told to go to the garage door on the side of the building and someone would meet me there. I was a few minutes early but decided to head that direction, I don’t want to miss my connection. The air is brisk with the smell of winter brewing in the air. As I walk passed the dimly lit loading dock there were a few guys hanging out. Seemed to be the musician type, probably taking a smoke break. I avoid eye contact and continue walking toward the open garage door. As I approach, everything is quiet. All I can hear is the dead leaves scruffing underneath my feet. I look inside but no one is to be seen. Looking around I can’t help but have a sense that these walls are talking to me, telling the thousands of stories that they have witnessed. I close my eyes and can hear the boxing matches that took place here mid-century, I can hear soldiers bantering back and forth during the times the Colorado Armory occupied this building. I can feel the grand history of this building chattering as I gaze around.
It’s been a few minutes and I’m intrigued, I can’t stop myself from walking in. I head toward a staircase to the basement. Why not? Dark, empty, and I feel the building inviting me in, “come in, you will not regret this”. I asked myself, “is this the beginning of a criminal minds episode? Am I about to be tortured by a creepy, sadistic human being? Or am I about to be enlightened by the natural state of true consciousness?” I’m willing to take the risk of the unknown. I have to know what the fuck is in that basement. The only light I see is coming from the bottom of the staircase. Loud music starts to play as I approach the staircase. What is this music and where am I? I start to lose track of time as I step onto the stairs. Something has taken over my being. Maybe I’m having an out of body experience or maybe it’s the devil taking my soul. As I start walking down the stairs the music gets louder. I hear a soulful voice whaling into the microphone, I hear a guitar shredding bluesy punk guitar riffs, the bass is grooving powerful yet elegant notes that is interpreting the drums that sound like the engine in a 1969 Chevelle. With each step the music gets louder and I start getting a sensation the devil is watching. My sexy red head wife is with me. We are walking down into the fiery pits of hell and the devil is wanting to watch us make love. It’s so warm and it feels so good. I can’t stop myself, I don’t want to stop myself, I don’t mind if the devil is introducing himself I just want to keep going, one step at a time.
Eternal time has passed as we approach the bottom of the stairs. The flames are so hot, that without the devils protection, we would incinerate. The music is loud, I’ve lost contact with my conscious body, I know I came to do an interview but no one is around. I lost thought and at this point am running in the shadows, full of passion and full of compulsion. I start photographing my stunning wife in the nude while she dances to the music and that’s when I hear a voice, “you guys must be Burning Bright Media? I’m Eric with Tokyo Rodeo.” Everything stops, I snap back into consciousness and my purpose of being here once again becomes clear to me. Tokyo Rodeo, interview, and yes I still feel the heat of the devil. Let’s dance…
Band introductions
Corrine Williams - Vocals
Kurt Moore - Bass
Lou Sanfacon - Drums
Eric Slater - Vocals and lead guitar
How long have you guys been a band?
Eric gets this started…”We’ve been a band for about 3 years. We started in 2015 as a 3 piece.”
Corrine adds “Eric and Kurt were the original.”
Eric “So we recorded some songs in the studio about a year into it and then we wanted to get Corrine to come work with us to do vocals on this 5 song EP we were working on.”
Eric and Corrine had met each other while working on a side project called “Deep Cover”.
Eric continues on about working with Corrine “She’s a great singer and we wanted her to come work with us. We started writing songs with her and about a year and a half later, actually 2 weeks ago, we finally went and recorded her back up vocals on the first five songs we recorded 2 years ago.”
Kurt “Which we’ll share with you soon I’m sure.”
Corrine, are you writing songs with the band?
Corrine “Yeah, Eric and I both do.”
Kurt “Corrine has been bringing in some really cool lyrics and song ideas, she can play some guitar. She’s bringing in her songs, Eric brings in his stuff, it’s a very fun, collaborative process.”
Eric “I had a half dozen songs or so that were shit kicker punky tonk kinda stuff and got together with Kurt and Jason (the original drummer) and had a 3 piece thing going with that. Corrine is a little more soulful and punk at the same time so we try to write songs within that.”
What would you say your genre is?
Kurt “we are really struggling with that and have for a while.”
Eric “Rock and Roll seems to be a good place.”
“yeah, rock with soul with a punk vibe to it.”
Kurt “And a weird little layer of that blues swampy thing in there.”
“Yes, you can play a set one night with a punk band and the next night with a Stevie Ray Vaughn type band.”
Eric “Thank you…is it a blessing or a curse?” Both Corrine and myself assure Eric that it’s a blessing. “We can pretty much transition through all the genres.”
Lou “I said to the guys and the girl (lol) we’re versatile, we can get on stage with a lot of different bands.”
Kurt “Sorry but philosophically I’m just reminded of a conversation I had with Paul Barker many years ago from Ministry.” Eric jumps in with laughs “Do you want me to help you pick up that name?” After we stop laughing Kurt continues “He’s a smart guy who made a lot of money in the business. He said you have two choices, there are two paths. Either you latch onto a genre, a thing that’s going on already or you try to plow your own field and that is a long hard path that’s going to take a while. I think we’ve wildly succeeded at neither one of those.” This comment gave us all a good laugh!
Lou is new the new drummer in the band. He just played his first show with the band and still is learning the intricate details of Tokyo Rodeo. I ask Lou how he is adjusting to Tokyo Rodeo coming from 15 plus years playing heavy metal.
Lou “It’s been a struggle, it didn’t come quite natural out of the gate to be honest. Eric has worked with me quite a bit on the side getting me ready for the first show we played. I believe I’m coming a long very well and it’s starting to feel good, I’m starting to feel I’m in the pocket with this band.”
Eric “I can see how that would be challenging but Lou’s picked it right up, if you’re a good drummer that’s the right place to start from, Lou kicks ass!”
What’s the biggest difference from playing metal to coming into this rock band?
Lou “The structure and dynamics, there’s specific changes, there not only specific but they change dynamically, there’s a wave to it, it’s not just hard edge CRACK! Sometimes there is but most the time we move as a unit in and out of our changes. It’s important to be on the ball with that, there’s a lot to remember. There’s a whole lot more to remember to playing this music than there is metal cause there’s usually like three parts, you know.”
Corrine “That’s one thing we really appreciate about Lou, we’ve gone through a couple drummers, There’s some that keep a beat and they have really good rhythm but when you say hey get a little personal here, play it a little slower here or quiet it down a little through this part they say o.k. and then they just do their own thing.
They don’t have any sense of the emotion of the song?
Kurt “yeah, yeah”
Lou “There is emotion, definitely emotion in what was built here.”
Kurt “A great drummer plays the song, not the beat but the song.”
Corrine, at what point in life did you realize that you were a singer and wanted to be on stage?
Corrine “I feel at home on stage, it’s kind of an addiction if I’m not onstage for a couple months at a time. I really need that energy I really want to be up there. I mean I do my own thing whether it’s in my bathroom dancing around or I’m on stage. It’s the same deal, I take my shoes off and I just feel it. It’s all emotional and it’s a mindset. When the crowd is really into it it’s amazing.”
Eric, you’re also a great singer…
Kurt jumps in “ yeah he is…that’s how we got started, Eric had 4 songs recorded in his basement and he sent them to me. I was like this guy can sing, this guy can write a song and he can sing with heart and passion, let’s make this a band.”
Lou “That’s what caught my attention was the vocals right away, I was like wow, finally a band that can sing. If you’re throwing a product out there as a brand new band the vocals have to catch you, they have to drag you in. They say in the restaurant business the food brings in the customers and alcohol keeps them there. You bring the customers in with the vocals and then you start to get in tune with what’s going on back there on the back line.”
Kurt “Eric and Corrine work incredibly hard, you got to give them credit for that. They’ll do extra rehearsals to work a song. They’ll spend hours fine tuning how they sing together.”
Kurt, you as a bass player, who are some of your influences and how do you approach the bass?
Kurt “For me playing bass is sort of an exercise in humility. I’ve been playing guitar since I was seven.”
Both Eric and Corrine quickly jump in to say how great of a guitar player Kurt is.
Kurt continues “Thank you, I’ve been playing guitar for a long time and I’ve been playing bass for a while. It serves me better to try and serve the song as a bass player, um, I like to get the ego out of the way and give the song whatever it needs.”
Eric “He’s such a great musician, you can tell when he’s playing bass he’s knows, oh the bass part would be perfect if I did this, he thinks like a guitar player, he’s just got a rock & roll brain.”
Kurt “I think of the bass as interpreting the drums for the guitar player in some ways with the vocals, you’re the interpreter. I choose to play bass because it’s my favorite instrument to play.”
After hanging with Tokyo Rodeo for a while, listening to their rehearsal and the banter back and forth between them, I can’t help but see a strong future for this band. A group full of incredible musicians and all willing to work together to get better. They all are fun to be around and it never hurts that it’s a band full of sexy people. As I wrap this up I’ll leave you with a quote of Kurt’s that I think describes the mindset of Tokyo Rodeo.
“It’s worth pointing out, playing small shows, in cool bars, in Denver Colorado, which is probably as cool of a music town as there is in America right now. You may be playing to 20 to 30 people, this may be the first time or only time they see you so you have one chance with them. You either sound great and they love you or you have an off night and they decide you suck.”
