Sand Rubies – The Sidewinders Sessions
Peter Blackstock
Posted On September 1, 1998
As with many roots-tinged rock ‘n’ bands who rose to prominence (at least in the underground) during the late ’80s — say, the Silos and Souled American, to name two others who just happen to be covered in this issue of No Depression — what probably comes as the biggest surprise about the Sand Rubies to most of their old fans is that they still exist. After a mid-’90s hiatus, the Arizona band recently regrouped and put out a new album, Return Of The Living Dead, earlier this year.
But it’s this reissue — a collection of 15 tracks taken from their two releases on RCA/Mammoth, when the band was still known as the Sidewinders — that’s the most welcome news. Witchdoctor (1989) and Auntie Ramos’ Pool Hall (1990) captured the zenith of a band that found common ground between roots-informed pop songcraft and punk-fueled emotional intensity, all hard-baked with a deep desert sunburn.
The Sidewinders’ sound was of a piece with Drivin’ N’ Cryin’ or Grant Lee Buffalo, but their material was more consistently memorable than either of those bands. Singer/rhythm guitarist Dave Slutes and lead guitarist Rich Hopkins co-wrote songs that perfectly blended their strengths, bonding Slutes’ strong, passionate vocals with Hopkins’ fiery but never too flashy playing. Few bands have achieved as ideal a balance between power and melody as the Sidewinders did; highlights such as “Came On Like The Sun”, “What Am I Supposed To Do” and “We Don’t Do That Anymore” are a potent reminder of that.
A secret weapon on Witchdoctor was drummer Andrea Curtis, whose lead vocal turn on “Love ’88” remains one of the band’s most memorable moments. Though Bruce Halper took over as drummer shortly thereafter and is back with the band now (as is bassist Mark Perrodin), having a female singer gave the early Sidewinders a dimension that has seemed sadly missing ever since. (Which makes it a particularly glaring omission that the CD booklet of this reissue fails even to mention Curtis or Diane Padilla, who also played drums on Witchdoctor.) Those credit quibbles aside, however, The Sidewinders Sessions is a long-overdue resurrection of music that deserved far better than to sit in some major label’s dusty vaults.
