By Monica Morones
The three words that come to mind when I hear local band Slipping Into Darkness are: Sex, Drugs, and Rock and Roll!
Young, talented, and no strangers to the social scene, these guys tore up the main stage at Coachella Music Festival in 2013, with an impressive performance that left the Coachella Valley proud and gained them many new fans. A good ole rock ’n’ roll sound mixed with psychedelic D-town blues puts this band from Desert Hot Springs on the map. With their album release party coming on up August 9th at local bar Schmidy’s Tavern, the new album Shurpedelic has created a buzz of anticipation and will produce quite a turn out. It is not a show to miss!
With an interview that had me laughing out loud, these guys let me have the scoop on how they met and where they plan to be in the near future.
MM: When did the band begin? All original members?
SID: The band started in 2007 with Michael, Larry and Nigel D. We all happened to know this big guy name Bad LeeRoy Brown, crazy and as mean as a junk yard dog. He had a party where we all met in his white continental. That night Bad Leeroy Brown got jumped at his party. When we picked him up off the floor, he looked like a jigsaw puzzle with a couple of pieces gone. After that we all started a conversation about what just happened and then we started talking about Black Sabbath and weed and instruments. The next day we ended up jamming for hours on 3rd street at Larry’s house. In December 2012 our drummer, Larry had stuff to take care of and couldn’t 100% dedicate himself to the band so we got another drummer from Thousand Palms, Nigel Carnahan. I met our lead guitarist Adrian Carreno in 2012 at a strip club in Mexicali called La Casona, all wasted drunk, throwing money at naked girls. Adrian and I started talking about music and I invited him to come to California to jam. A week later he was at my house, jamming and in the band.
Right now the band is:
Michael Durazo- Guitar, Vocals – The best city in the world, Desert Hot Springs, CA – He’s a mortician
Nigel Dettelbach- Bass – Chino, CA – Builds lowrider cars
Adrian Carreno- Guitar – Mexicali, MX – Works at a taco shop
Nigel Carnahan- Drums – from another bad ass town: Thousand Palms, CA – Construction worker and 4:20 friendly
MM: How did you get the name Slipping into Darkness?
SID: We all relate to the name because no one or life is perfect. When Michael was 18 he thought the name had a cool meaning.
MM: Tell me about when you got picked to play Coachella.
SID: Michael and Nigel C were at a friend’s house drinking and playing a Mexican board game called Pericaso all night, listening to Tucanes de Tijuana. Around 9 am, Michael got a phone call from Golden Voice who asked if we were available to play the festival.
MM: Since playing Coachella do you guys feel the pressure of success?
SID: No haha. Never. Although music is what we love, we feel the pressure for success because we want to be happy and living good. We want our family and friends to be happy with what we do. Everyone on this planet should feel pressure for success with anything they do.
MM: Does the Coachella Valley treat you any different since you played Coachella? Do you feel like it has changed you guys at all?
SID: Yeah… which is funny because people were treating us super good, sucking up to us like if we had a million Coachella Fest tickets to pass out. For a month we were all of sudden everyone’s cousin or best friend but our friends still treat us the same. After Coachella, attention poured in for a month. The motivation and hunger has been there and always will be. That’s the way to succeed.
MM: What opportunities have come your way since then?
SID: We have had a lot of fun crazy opportunities since then. We have played with bigger, well-known bands that we love, and have gotten to know them. My favorite show was playing with King Khan and the Shrines in San Francisco and playing with the Black Lips in Arizona. Lots of freaky tales!
MM: Your album release party is August 9th at Schmidy’s. Tell me a little about the vibe of the new album?
SID: This album is called Shurpedelic. It is our first album and has eleven songs. It took forever to record it due to drama, money issues, and songs being erased by mistake at one of the studios. We had to start over twice. So much drama! We have a guest guitar player name Jesse Williams on one of the tracks and we have our best friend Nataly aka Nattlesnake singing a track on the song too. We are extremely happy that it’s finally done and ready for the public to listen to and enjoy.
MM: The new album is called “Shurpedelic.” What is “Shurp” for those who don’t know what that means? Who started that saying?
SID: SHURP is a lifestyle. Everything that’s great and positive. Our close friends in Desert Hot Springs started saying shurp one night while partying with 3 naked girls in my old garage, playing the board game Pericaso. You can use the word shurp in any way that has to do with something great.
MM: What was the process for writing this album?
SID: Michael writes the songs and then he shows the guys what he came up with, then everyone else in the band makes their parts to the songs, and it works out perfect. Or someone will come up with a riff and we will all follow him and add our input.
MM: You released a video on July 8th, 2014 of the single “Mexicali”; a rock party track that keeps you moving. What is that song about?
SID: The song is 100% about going to Mexico and having sex with a Mexican girl, and the chorus is about the noises the girl makes as she’s moaning during sex. True story and you asked haha.
MM: Where can we buy/listen to your new album?
SID: After August 9th, the album will be on Spotify, Pandora, Band camp, Amazon, and Epidemic skate shop. It will also be at Michael’s house in Desert Hot Springs or Nigel the drummer’s house in Thousand Palms.
MM: With such a great opportunity such as playing Coachella last year, what is the band planning to do to keep that energy going?
SID: Staying out of trouble. Keep writing, recording, practicing, and playing shows out of town. We plan on doing a U.S. tour and a Southern Mexico tour. We also start recording our new album next month. It won’t be out for like a year, but we are going to start working on it early to keep the ball rolling.
MM: Any plans on being signed? Or what are your thoughts about that?
SID: We would love to be signed. We are actually going to shop out our album to labels.
MM: How do you feel about the Coachella Valley’s evolving music scene?
SID: I feel we need an all ages venue with a great sound in the middle of the Coachella Valley!!!!! Our favorite band from out here is FACELIFT!!!! Great punk band from Thousand Palms, CA. Those dudes are wild.
www.slippingintodarknessmusic.com
www.facebook.com/Slippingintodarknessmusic
