I discovered Slydell at The Mint, a small venue in Los Angeles on Pico Blvd. famous for being the stage that hosted artists such as Jeff Buckley, Ben Harper, the Wallflowers and Jack Johnson long before they were on the radio.

Playing The Mint doesn't guarantee a band success, but they don't book just anyone. It is the best sounding small-room in town, with a friendly staff and an old Hollywood, speak-easy vibe. While only ten minutes from the Strip, it seems like a world away.

I had been to a Slydell show before, but it was at The Mint, when they did a residency last summer, that I became a fan. There they were, a incredibly solid bluesy, rock band, with two beautiful brunettes singing backup straight from their souls, fronted by a man possessed with the fires of damnation, but with a voice from above.

I'll always remember the evening, much like when I saw Jack Johnson play there, his mellow vibe flowing through the room like water. We all knew he was on his way.

I feel the same way about Slydell, but their road will be a little bit more interesting, more like the "slow overnight success" that Ben Harper now enjoys. Slydell might never be exactly "mainstream," but the struggle towards success will make the band's journey that much more rewarding.

How do I know that Slydell is special?

It might be the way guitarist J. Soda's fingers move across his old fashioned electric guitar, nailing every song without a touch of ego, despite his brilliance. Or it might be the way Davey Latter pounds his skins with ferocity, without ever playing too hard. Perhaps it is lead singer B Roam's impassioned delivery and poetic lyrics straight out of yesteryear. He needs the perfect band to pull off the songs, so let me quickly describe the rest of the seven-member group, each person being equally important.

Leah and Chandra, the twins, bring beauty and grace to the lineup. They are the backup singers, but what they add to the sound and overall presence of the band can't be measured. The Mysterious adds organs to the mix, never overpowering the rest of the group, but adding the vital ingredient of the keys. Bassist Mattie Fitzel is the unsung hero, as he remains in the back, at least on the small stages the band performs on right now. His intricate bass lines and quick finger action hold the songs together, which range from hard driving Black Crowes' "The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion" type powerhouses to fragile ballads of love, betrayal and loss that sound like lost Bob Dylan tracks.

After playing the club circuit in Silverlake, Hollywood and Hermosa Beach for the past three years, self-releasing one album, Crazy Anymore and a four song self-titled E.P., Slydell is presently hunkered down in Steakhouse Studios recording their second full-length album.

Roam is excited about the work, "We’ve never been able to capture what we do live on tape – I've never been able to hand someone a CD and say, "this is what we sound like live." Now we’re in a big studio and we're working with a producer named John Wooler. He's done all these John Lee Hooker albums, and he is just a badass. He's the nicest guy; he was at Virgin for twenty years and understands our music. He knows all about gospel music and the blues."

Roam and I are sitting on a patio outside a nightclub in Silver Lake called Tangiers, where he has just finished a solo gig, opening for his friend, Atlantic Records artist Joe Firstman, and we are talking about religion, music and sin over vodka tonics and Guinness.

(read the rest of the interview here:)
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