The Drams

Band History

RIP Slobberbone. In 2004, in the town where it began, Slobberbone ended a ten year-plus run at Dan’s Silverleaf in Denton, TX. To an audience that had converged from the four corners of the United States, not to mention those who had come from other countries, Singer Brent Best (guitar), Jess Barr (guitar), Tony Harper (drums) and Brian Lane (bass) said good-bye with an amazing three hour concert.

Slobberbone’s demise wasn’t completely unexpected. More that a year before Brian Lane had married and moved to Florida, and the band had decided to take a break from touring. This left Best with time on his hands and a home studio in which to work. He began recording projects by Dallas bands, Budapest One and Baboon bassist Mark Hughes, among others, and in the downtime from those sessions, Best began to fool around with solo demos of his own.

“I needed to back away – just write,” 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 might be.”

Welcome The Drams. Although Best’s new material started as a lonely affair, his new songs were designed to extend beyond Slobberbone’s two guitars-bass-drums formula. Once again calling upon Barr and Harper, Best invited longtime friends and Budapest One songwriters Keith Killoren and Chad Stockslager to join the 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 natural.”

Stockslager immediately enhanced the band’s sound with backing vocals, piano and organ. Killoren, on guitar and lead-vocals in Budapest One, switched to bass and backing vocals, but 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.”

So now, with new members and a new name, Best calls The Drams a chance to start over.

“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. I’ve been writing songs and touring and doing this for a pretty long time. As you keep some things become less important and you have to –no, you just naturally begin digging in areas where you didn’t dig before.”

Information from the band's site

Members

• Brent Best guitar, lead vocals, vocals
• Tony Harper drums
• Jess Barr guitar
• Chad Stockslager organ, piano, vocals
• Keith Killoren bass, vocals