These Tucson rock legends are celebrating 30 years of the album that killed their momentum
David Slutes recalls the point at which he felt the Sidewinders had “actually transcended all the things we thought we couldn't do.”
It was shortly after the release of their first album, 1988’s “Cuacha!,” that the Sidewinders’ lead singer felt the Tucson rockers really hit their stride.
“All of a sudden, it was like, 'Oh, these songs are good,'” Slutes recalls.
“I had thought our first record was charming and cool. But it was right after that that I could feel everything coming together.”
Early that same year, they made their way to Austin, Texas, for the South by Southwest Music Conference, where they showcased for Jay Faires at the RCA subsidiary Mammoth Records.
“I had no illusions at all that we would actually get signed,” Slutes says.
“I just wanted to not embarrass ourselves. Next thing you know, they gave us a deal. A Tucson band that wasn't at all as skilled as I thought these other bands were.”
Decades later, Slutes says he can’t even think about that showcase without grinning.
“I wanted to be a musician all my life,” he says.
And here's RCA, home of David Bowie and Elvis Presley, saying 'No, we want you on our label.' It was like winning the lottery.”
How the Sidewinders became the Sand Rubies
The Sidewinders released two classic albums as part of that deal — 1989's "Witchdoctor," whose title track was a Top 20 hit at alternative radio, and 1990's "Auntie Ramos' Pool Hall."
Both albums offset the jangling guitars that soon defined the Arizona sound with the swagger of classic garage-punk and a mesmerizing, psychedelic splendor that often suggests a cross between Neil Young in Crazy Horse mode and something closer to the Velvet Underground or the Dream Syndicate.
By the time they recorded the “Witchdoctor” album, guitarist Rich Hopkins recalls, “Our confidence had really grown and we just knew that we could do it, whatever it was.”
It was shortly after the release of their third album that disaster struck in the form of a lawsuit filed on behalf of a North Carolina cover band called Sidewinder.
That lawsuit kept them hung up in the courts for nearly two years, unable to release new music.
By the time the dust cleared, they’d been forced to change their name and hit the streets in 1993 with a self-titled album as the Sand Rubies.
“It was a bummer,” Hopkins says.
“I always thought we’d be the Sidewinders forever and it would just be a storybook ending for us. That really knocked the wind out of our sails.”
Slutes says it felt like they couldn’t stop stumbling from one problem into another.
“We had a new manager, switched record labels,” Slutes recalls.
“It took two years before we could release that record, which killed our momentum. We’d toured relentlessly for years, then had to go back out with a new name and tour this record. It was a tough education process to get the audience to understand who we were.”
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It wasn’t long before they’d broken up.
“When we changed our name, everything was supposed to be ‘Oh, don’t worry about it; people will figure it out and you’ll just move on as the Sand Rubies,’” Hopkins recalls.
“But it took a year and a half between recording that and getting it released. And in that year and a half, a lot of things happened to this band. Something really got lost in translation.”
Slutes and Hopkins reunited three years later. But as Hopkins says, “By that point, the ship had sailed, you know? We just couldn’t recapture the glory days, so to speak.”
The Sidewinders will honor 30 years of 'Sand Rubies' in Phoenix
A lifetime later, the Sidewinders are on their way to Phoenix to headline a show celebrating the 30th anniversary of the “Sand Rubies” album at Valley Bar.
They’ve done similar shows celebrating the 30th anniversaries of “Witchdoctor” and “Auntie Ramos’ Pool Hall.”
They’ve gone back to using the earlier name because, as Slutes says, “it's our happy place.”
It also tends to draw a bigger crowd..
“When we came up to Phoenix for our 30th anniversary of 'Witchdoctor,' it was the Sidewinders and the place completely sold out quickly,” Slutes says.
“People know us as that and no one's gonna sue us for playing a couple shows. If they do, what are they gonna get? A cease-and-desist? Okay, fine. We'll cease and desist.”
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The show at Valley Bar on Saturday, Nov. 11, will feature the Sidewinders dusting off most of the songs from the “Sand Rubies” album, which took a lot of hard work, Hopkins says, relearning song they hadn’t played in ages.
“I love the material,” he says.
“But I’ve done so much work since then, it’s kind of hard going back and relearning things because I go, ‘I would never play like this.’ First of all, I’m amazed how much faster we were back then. We were 30-odd years younger, so our energy level was just different.”
Slutes says he’s never much cared for the sound on the “Sand Rubies” record.
“Frankly, that record’s so overproduced, it's ridiculous,” he says.
“The record company wanted this big, bombastic, almost anti-grunge record, which sort of drove me crazy. It’s so over the top, it’s ridiculous.”
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The Sidewinders re-releasing 'Sand Rubies' and "Witchdoctor'
The “Sand Rubies” album is also being re-released in a two-record set with the Sidewinders’ “Witchdoctor” album, complete with bonus tracks.
Pairing the two releases was Hopkins’ idea.
“He said, 'Why don't we just make it a double and make it a really cool bookend to that era?’” Slutes recalls.
They’ve already done a re-release of the “Auntie Ramos’ Pool Hall” album.
Hopkins says he just got tired of the thought that that entire chapter of his life was out of print.
“Once we broke up, those records, especially ‘Witchdoctor’ and ‘Auntie Ramos’ Pool Hall,’ just disappeared out of the bins and were harder and harder to find,” he says. “You can become yesterday’s news pretty quick in this business.”
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The Sidewinders don’t own the rights to these recordings. They’re just bootlegging their own material.
As Hopkins says, “All these years later, I just felt like, ‘Screw it, man. We’re gonna re-release these on our own as a small tribute to ourselves.’ In a way, they are bootlegs. I just felt like we owe it to ourselves and to the fans.”
As far as he knows, RCA has no idea these records exist.
“Listen, I’m not worried about it,” Hopkins says. “If they want to sue me, let ‘em. What are they gonna do? They haven’t shown any interest in us in forever.”
He tried to go through the appropriate channels a few years back to license “Witchdoctor.”
“I would’ve paid whatever it cost,” he says. “Nobody ever got back to me. I just figure they’ve kind of moved on. They don’t have time to be (expletive) around with a little band from Tucson.”
This is the Sidewinders' last headlining show in Phoenix
Slutes says this show at Valley Bar will likely be the last we’ll see of them as headliners in Phoenix.
“To say 'We don't want to wear out our welcome' is kind of laughable at this point, because we most certainly have,” he says.
“But this new run of nostalgia and being able to play this stuff, I'd like to kind of end it on a really strong note.”
It’s been interesting to see the surge in popularity in recent years.
“Our demographic is 40 to 60 years old,” Slutes says.
“And what we didn't have 15 years ago is the internet and all these people having jobs, being able to say, 'Hey, we can fly to Phoenix for that show.' The internet has given you access to your old favorite little boutique bands. There's a handful of people who consider us one of those and say, 'Hey, let's go see the Sidewinders. We loved them in college.’”
Slutes says he’s enjoyed these recent shows celebrating the music he made as a much young man.
“But you can't live on that forever if we're not producing a new record,” he says.
“Which, if we do that, that changes everything. But I don't want to keep going for the sake of just going. It's time to move on, but happily and with joy, you know, and warmth.”
Hopkins is willing to leave the door a bit more open.
“Who knows what comes after this?” he says. “One never knows. I live one day at a time.”
The Sidewinders 30th Anniversary of 'Sand Rubies' show
With: The Senators.
When: 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 11.
Where: Valley Bar, 130 N. Central Ave., Phoenix.
Admission: $25.
Details: valleybarphx.com.
Reach the reporter at ed.masley@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4495. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @EdMasley.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Why Tucson rock legends the Sidewinders are celebrating 'Sand Rubies'
