by William Wayland
So I get to the venue. A little place off the road in west Marin. Rainy Saturday. A good night to sit on the couch and watch a movie. But Damon Boelte from The Lone Wolf Coyotes convinced me to come out. Maybe take a few photos. I don’t know.
Damon’s standing inside the door when I get there and the place is already sweaty. He had mentioned there would be an opener but I hadn’t paid much attention. Thought they might be friends who needed to get out of their garage and practice in front of a live audience. But now he’s telling me who’s who and what’s what and I’m worried that I won’t make it the thirty-five feet to the stage to see this band.
By the time I hi and hello to the space where the pool table used to be that serves as a stage, the band is just getting into their first eerie cosmic space punk song and I realize that the first live performance of Sapphire Slugs is the place to be in the Bay Area tonight. I gotta write about this.
I meet up with Jordan Lee Blumling after the show.
S&B: Everyone I know is in half-a-dozen bands. Is this a side gig or have you all come together to make something happen?
JLB: Hard to say exactly. I’m mostly looking forward to getting into the studio and tracking these songs. Playing live can shed some insight into song structure and arrangement, so in that way it’s been helpful and super fun to get a band together.
S&B: Robin (Livingston: El Radio Fantastique, Damma Damma) told me you had one-and-a-half practices before tonight. Not sure what constitutes a half practice but how did it feel to play the songs in front of an audience?
JLB: We were rough and ready, lots of fun. We’re all pals and they’re all great musicians so it was really no stress at all. Atmospheric rivers aside, scheduling rehearsal was the hardest part.
S&B: You sound amazing. Tell me who’s in this band. How did it come together?
It was super smooth and breezy for such short notice, I think from saying “Yes” to playing the gig was under two weeks.
The Lone Wolf Coyotes were looking for a group to open their show. Weaver (Adam Weaver: Damma Damma, Lone Wolf Coyotes, The Asteroid No. 4) knew I’d been writing some songs so he reached out to me and offered to play drums. The other homies were all super down so we got into it.
I reckon our birth story is Adam holla’d at me about the shows, I (Jordan Lee Blumling: The Flash Hits, Gondola, Ancient Creature) said yes. Adam holla’d at Robin, he said yes. I holla’d at Camilla (Saufley: Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound, Golden Void, Tabernacle, The Asteroid No. 4), she said yes. We knew Ryan (Van Kriedt (Dead Skeletons, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Asteroid No. 4, the flash hits) was going to be in town and if Ryan’s in town he’s definitely down.
S&B: The show went by so quickly I didn’t keep track of how many songs you sang. Were these songs that had been waiting for a band to come together to play them or were they written for Sapphire Slugs, or something else entirely?
JLB: We played five songs. So far it’s just originals that I’ve been writing and demoing.
S&B: I was talking to Virgil Shaw after the last song and he said what he loved about your music is that it sounds “dangerous.” I hate the genre question, but where do you see this band in the mix? What do you call what I just heard?
JLB: I don’t know where people would like to put us on the genre spectrum but I suppose we’re going for fun, punk, spacey juke joint jams. If they come out a little scary it’s because we’ve all been through it.
S&B: And, okay, I have to ask you the name origin question.
JLB: SAPPHIRE SLUGS was my favorite name on the list of possibles. That’s my birthstone, so it’s a bit of a wink. Also, animals and alliterating adjectives are always awesome.
Cool. Sapphire Slugs have other shows coming up and I’ll be there to hear how this band evolves.
I also want to talk to Dylan Boelte from The Lone Wolf Coyotes because it’s the whole reason I was there that night. This is a band with a fierce following that feels like it’s ready to explode.
S&B: So, this is a multi-part question. The Lone Wolf Coyotes feels like a band that just appeared out of nowhere. I think you and your brother and Blaine were in a different incarnation of the band in New York but since that’s all somewhat vague to me can you fill me in on your band in New York, how you happened to move to California, and how you formed Lone Wolf Coyotes?
DB: The Lone Wolf Coyotes has been a long time in the making. We had a rockin’ little six-piece band in Brooklyn called BROTHERS. We were actually one of the first classic country-flavored bands of that time period–around 2008, I think–few years before folks like Sturgill Simpson helped to make the style more popular. Then things really started to change. It was pretty challenging to find other bands to share the bill with in those early days. But, it turns out that New York is full of folks from other places—and a lot of them grew up on country and rock—so finding an audience wasn’t a problem. It’s just that the venues and the scene weren’t quite there yet. It was clear from early on that we’d be better off based in a region more supportive of our style, but we loved New York City and worked hard at what we were doing, and eventually filled venues like Bowery Ballroom, Irving Plaza, Gramercy Theater, and the Mercury Lounge.
That band was a kind of hard-edged bluesy country rock band, not dissimilar from what we’re doing now. It was just more of a honky-tonk party band, and we wanted to create music with more depth, and lyrics that tell better stories. Something that we could be more proud of, and we knew that we could do better.
At the same time, Damon and I were working on this side project called The Lone Wolf Coyotes, named after our hometown of Lone Wolf, Oklahoma. We needed an outlet for the music that we wanted to make, which was more based in our Oklahoma roots, which could combine our weird rock-and-roll instincts with the music that influenced us like Leon Russell, The Rolling Stones, Willis Alan Ramsey, The Black Crowes, Beachwood Sparks, and more. Timeless rock. Storyteller songs. Richer vibes. Stuff like that–which, on paper, doesn’t seem to fit together very naturally, but I think we’ve made a pretty decent attempt at mixing that cocktail.
Eventually, we were ready for a change of scenery. After all those years, we wanted to get out of the big city, and give the west coast a try. We still wanted to be close to a major city, but also able to get back to the country life. We’re all base in Marin County now, which, besides being a little slice of heaven, is also a great centralized jumping-off point for playing shows on the west coast and throughout the western US.
Well, anyhow, all of this added up to a fresh start. The Lone Wolf Coyotes is largely the same lineup, with just a couple of new players. The band includes my brother Damon Boelte on guitar, Blaine O’Brien on pedal steel and harmonica, and myself on bass. We all sing, we all write songs.
Mike O’Rourke, the drummer from BROTHERS helped start The Lone Wolf Coyes. He lives in Montana now, but has recorded with us and played a couple of shows.
Currently, the absolutely brilliant new folks include Adam Weaver on drums, John Varn on keys, and Cam Janicula on lead guitar.
Although it’s been a long time coming, we only seriously started working on this new band during the pandemic, and to your point, yes, we seemingly popped up out of nowhere once the venues reopened.
S&B: I know Lone Wolf Coyotes have been at work on an album. How is that progressing? Is there a timeline for its release? And, are you looking to put together a tour to support it?
DB: Yes, we’ve recorded thirteen songs so far, and plan to record a few more before deciding which ones will make the cut for the first LP. We’re getting pretty close, and hope to have it out by this summer. We recorded with Robin Livingston at the Panoramic Studio in Stinson Beach, and have since been finishing it in our own studio in San Rafael. We’ll throw some sort of bash to celebrate the release. We won’t release it until we have vinyl available. We’re taking our time to make sure we feel great about all of it. We’ve rushed records in the past, so we’re not going to compromise like that with The Lone Wolf Coyotes.
As for touring, the answer is yes. We’ve been pretty mindful of how many shows we play locally, with the intent of spacing them out to not oversaturate the area with Coyotes shows. We’re no strangers to the road, and will definitely put together a string of dates up and down the coast, the southwest, and the New York City area. Still lots to figure out. We’ll definitely play regularly in SoCal.
S&B: I think I was at your first Bay Area show at Peri’s Tavern, and because I wasn’t that familiar with the band, I was half-expected another jam band that’s happy to play out every month or so–not that there’s anything wrong with that–but within a song or two I remember thinking “Oh, these guys are the real deal.” So the question is, what are your plans for Lone Wolf Coyotes?
DB: Well, honestly, we were planning to steal your camera.
S&B: And since I was talking with Jordan from Sapphire Slugs, can you tell me how that show came together? That was a super fun night.
DB: We had a lot of fun too! That night was such a family affair. We’ve known Jordan and the rest of the Slugs for years. Adam connected all of the dots that night. It’s like an indie rock supergroup—they’re all legends. Adam plays with the best bands around, so many that I can’t even name them all. Jordan has been a buddy for a long time. Ryan Van Kriedt played with The Asteroid No. 4, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, and a bunch more. Camilla was The Golden Void, The Asteroid No. 4, and now Tabernacle. We had the show booked and wanted to find a band to split the bill with. Jordan and Ryan wanted to do it, and then started pulling other folks in, and the result was brilliant.
We can’t wait to see them perform again. Sapphire Slugs rule, okay?!
The Lone Wolf Coyotes
Sapphire Slugs
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