San Lorenzo Valley Soccer Fundraiser

Happy New Year! It only took me ’til February to say that, but nevertheless we’re back with our first post of 2018. The truth is that the winter is often a slower time of the year for us so I couldn’t think of anything to write about, and since we live in Santa Cruz, by winter I’m really only talking about the last few weeks in December and most of January. It’s so nice out here! It’s going to be 72 degrees today! In the past we’ve used January to record, or play hometown shows, so even if we aren’t driving around California playing, we’ve found something to keep us busy. Regardless of what the band’s been up to, I’ve spent just about all of my January’s for the last decade on the San Lorenzo Valley High School soccer fields in Felton for a couple hours every day coaching soccer. While it’s generally freezing (at least by my standards), rainy, muddy, etc I’ve never had more fun coaching soccer than I’ve had here at SLV, so it’s really special to get to play a concert to raise money for the SLV soccer program, which is exactly what we will be doing on February 8th at San Lorenzo Valley High School’s Performing Arts Center in Felton.

I started coaching at SLV in 2009 with the Junior Varsity Boy’s team. I coached them for three more seasons before moving to the Varsity Girl’s team who I’ve coached for three years and currently have Jamie as an assistant. Even beyond Jamie and I, soccer has played a weirdly important role in the band. Kyle and I met on the soccer field and played on the same teams from about ages 6-17, including four years at SLV. Jamie and I were somewhat familiar with each other before soccer was a thing but we’ve probably spent as much time kicking a ball around as we have singing. Kyle and I met Sam when he joined our club team when we were 14 years old, and soccer is the sport Aidan can tolerate watching with us more than any other. So that’s really saying something.

As another January spent on the SLV soccer field has come to an end, and our “slow” winter’s with the band seem to keep getting faster and busier; I’m becoming more and more aware that I won’t be able to coach at SLV for that much longer. Having a platform like this to give back to a school and sport that has given me so much is a really cool opportunity to have. (I know I can speak for Jamie and Kyle who would share that sentiment, as well.)

Our hope is to put on a great show at a really cool venue that you may have never been to before and to raise some money for high school athletes, so please help us by coming out to SLV’s Performing Arts Center on February 8th for our second annual SLV Soccer Fundraiser Concert. This year we’ll be bringing our friend McCoy Tyler with us to open the show. McCoy’s a graduate of Soquel High, and is more of a baseball and basketball guy than a soccer guy, but ya know…whatever. We just like him. See ya on the 8th.

San Lorenzo Valley Performing Arts Center

February 8th

Doors 7:00pm

Show 7:30pm

$20

https://www.facebook.com/events/146504399366367/

99 For 2017

At the beginning of this year I told you that one of my New Year’s Resolutions was to write more posts on our website. I forgot what all of my other resolutions were, but 17 posts later and here we are in December with the most posts we’ve ever done in a year, which is fitting for a year in which we played more shows than we’ve ever played before. So much happened in 2017 that it’s hard to know where to start, but perhaps we should start with what we spent most of our time doing this year. That’s right, sitting in our van in traffic. I mean playing shows. Playing music in front of people is what we spent a lot of our time doing in 2017.

At midnight on December 31st we will have played our 99th show of the year. 99? For real? Can we just round up and call it 100? Let’s call it 100. Wow, we played 100 shows this year! That’s quite a milestone. We returned to some of our favorite venues and festivals like the Great American Music Hall, Sweetwater Music Hall, Crystal Bay Casino, Hopmonk Tavern, the Independent, the Torch Club, the Frog & Peach, Fernwood, and Oyster Ridge Music Festival. We played some great venues for the first time like the Folktale Winery, Healdsburg Plaza, Twin Oaks Roadhouse, Freight & Salvage, The Saint, OP Rockwell, Newpark Town Center, the Downtown Artery, the Siren, and the Whale Rock Music Festival. We had some of our most memorable hometown shows back at familiar venues like Don Quixote’s, Moe’s Alley, the Catalyst, KPIG Swine Soiree, and the Redwood Mountain Faire. We even played in some places in Santa Cruz that we had never played before like Shanty Shack, Michael’s On Main, and Humble Sea Brewing Co. who opened their doors in March of this year. (Congratulations, dudes!)

Somewhere in the middle of all the traveling and playing there was a lot else that happened this year. We played against some pre-teens in paintball (and lost), a Coffis brother became a DJ at KPIG radio (Jamie, to be exact), we played sets on the Brew Cruz and the KPIG trailer, we went to a Colorado Rockies game in Denver, Aidan ate his first Krispy Kreme Donut and his first turkey leg (the donut was better), we were named Nexties Band of the Year, we celebrated our parent’s 70th birthdays, we said goodbye to Henry and hello to Sam, and we released our third album, Roll With It; and through all of that our trusty van, Gretschen (The White Falcon) ran like a champ. (Although there was a strange whistle sound coming from the engine today. You think that’s bad? Should probably get that checked out.) That’s a lot of things in just one year. We don’t mean to gloss over some of those rather big happenings though, like Aidan eating a whole turkey leg, so we want to stop and acknowledge a few people and moments in particular.

Henry Chadwick, our drummer of seven years, played his final shows with us in 2017. Henry is one of our closest friends and was our first drummer, and we had as much fun playing those last shows with Henry as we ever had playing. (If you miss seeing Henry go see his band, Henry Chadwick & Battlesnake on January 5th at the Crepe Place.)  http://www.coffisbrothers.com/heck-just-read-this-one-henry-chadwick/

No two people have been more important in the band’s existence than the Coffis parents, Jim and Vicki Coffis, and in March of this year we celebrated their 70th birthdays with a rock and roll birthday party. They even got their favorite band to play at the party. Can you guess who it was? Next time you’re at a show of ours and you see them go say hi.

Sam Kellerman is another person who has had a rather big role in the Coffis Brother’s 2017. As Henry was departing, Sam arrived and his introduction to the band was seamless. Whether it was his sports fanaticism, his ability to sleep anywhere on anything, or his fondness for a cocktail at anytime, Sam has fit into the group without a hitch. Also, he’s a damn good drummer.  http://www.coffisbrothers.com/one-on-one-with-sam-kellerman/

Lastly, we’d like to acknowledge our hero, Tom Petty. We all went and saw Tom and the Heartbreakers in August so we certainly didn’t expect that in 2017 we would say goodbye to Tom. Three weeks after Tom’s passing we released Roll With It and there isn’t a song on that album that doesn’t have at least a little bit of Tom’s mark on it. We don’t have any plans to do a tribute show to Tom in 2018 but everything we do musically will be some sort of tribute to Tom Petty and we hope that in some small way we can help carry his torch. http://www.coffisbrothers.com/tom-petty/

Usually in December we’re saying we can’t believe the year is already over, but 2017 doesn’t feel that way. 2017 felt like a full year and then some. We traveled more miles than we ever have, we played more shows than we ever have, and we slept a lot less than we ever have. For those of you who were with us before 2017 and for those who joined us in 2017, we hope you have a great end of the year and we can’t wait to make some music for you in 2018. Here’s a look at some memorable moments in 2017. See ya.

Roll With It. Released October 27th

Don Quixote’s January 6th

Women’s March with Tammi Brown January 21st

Nexties at the Rio Theater March 24th

Nest Fest June 24th

Catalyst supporting the California Honeydrops December 1st

Downtown Artery, Fort Collins, CO with McCoy Tyler August 4th

Humble Sea Brewing Co. November 18th

Redwood Mountain Faire June 3rd

Roll With It Release Show Moe’s Alley October 13th

Roll With It Release Show Moe’s Alley October 13th

Oyster Ridge Music Festival, Kemmerer, WY July 28th

One On One With Sam Kellerman

Kellen Coffis – Alright, we’re with Sam Kellerman, the drummer and the newest member of The Coffis Brothers & the Mountain Men. Say hi to the people, Sam. How’s it going?

Sam Kellerman – Happy to be here. Looking forward to talking shop.

KC- Sam, this is your first chance to talk to the fans of the Coffis Brothers. Talk to the people. Tell us a little about yourself. We know you’re a drummer but what other hobbies do you have?

SK- Well, my Uncle lives right by Seascape/Manresa so every Saturday morning I have free I go surfing with him. That and playing basketball occasionally is the only recreational activities I can find time for. The best days to me are those spent grilling and chilling with friends. I go through periods where I read a lot and then don’t read at all. I’m not a big Netflix guy so I can almost guarantee I’ll have no idea what show you are talking about.

KC- But you watched Stranger Things, right? You did, didn’t you? Alright, let’s talk shop. Where’d you grow up and can you tell us what you’ve been up to for, oh how about the last 27 years?

SK- I’m born & raised in Aptos. The best part of Santa Cruz County really. (Editors note: the opinions expressed in this interview do not necessarily reflect those of the Coffis Brothers) I had a charmed childhood. I was always super happy. Sports and music were always of interest. Then I switched to music. When soccer tournaments switched to playing bars until 2am, it all went super fucking downhill.

KC- So there’s a lot to untangle here. Let’s start with the sports. I’ve heard these Coffis boys are quite the athletes. You ever cross paths with them on the soccer fields or were the Ben Lomond leagues in which they played in, far superior to the Aptos leagues?

SK- Well, oddly enough I had to audition for a soccer team Kyle & Kellen were on. The Santa Cruz Breakers who were really an under-14 or under-15 dream team. I remember in High-School Soccer I always looked forward to the days we’d play Kyle and Kellen who played for SLV. That team was especially soft. (Editor’s note again: during the 2006-2007 soccer season SLV beat Aptos 2-0 and 3-1. Kyle and Kellen each scored goals.)

KC- Wow that’s really interesting. So you met Kyle and Kellen first on the soccer field. I would assume you all started playing music together shortly thereafter, right?

SK- I didn’t even play drums at the time. Or if I did, I just started. All I can say is I knew Kellen and a few guys on the team had guitars but I don’t remember seeing anybody play.

KC- So let’s cut right to it. How did you join this band? And maybe a better question is why did you join this band?

SK- I moved back up here after some time in LA. I let my long-time mentor and fantastic drummer, Zach Olsen, know that I was back in town. After a month or two, Zach mentioned he passed my number on to the Coffis Brothers.

KC- You’re just another example of the age old tale of a musician making the long journey from LA to Aptos to pursue his dream of playing rock and roll. What were you doing in LA?

SK- Exactly! Well on and off for five of the last seven years I’ve lived in LA. The first stint was in order to attend USC. Fight On! The second stint was to work for a liquor license brokerage and sort of play drums. When I moved back I was playing pick-up gigs with bizarre country bar bands in the East Bay and a cover band playing the food festival circuit in San Francisco.

KC- So you’re back in Santa Cruz and the Coffis Brothers call you up. What were you thinking at that point?

SK- I was excited to reconnect with Kyle and Kellen and I was just looking forward to playing some music. I honestly didn’t know what the details were so I just treated it with little expectations. The moment it clicked for me was actually seeing it all live at the Redwood Mountain Faire and at Moe’s Alley.

KC- Little expectations is probably good when talking about the Coffis Brothers. Can you tell us a little bit about the behind the scenes in joining the band? Did they put you through a highly intense audition process that tested both your musical ability as well as your social aptitude?

SK- Yeah, the Coffis Brothers have/had a talented way of not only keeping me in the dark as far as my status went, but also keeping one another in the dark. But we went on a four day run down south that not only tested my ability to play two hours of material, but also tested my willingness to play after being sleep-deprived and hungover.

KC- How were those first shows you played with the Coffis Brothers?

SK- I remember having a lot of fun and introducing them to some of my favorite phrases, none of which I can repeat here.

KC- Thank you for not. Has it been tough to jump into a fully formed band as the new guy? Has it been difficult to fill Henry Chadwick’s shoes? And I mean that in a more literal than figurative way as he has huge feet. So tell us what that has been like? Also, what size shoe are you?

SK- Yeah, that’s been the only bummer. There’s no way to improve on something that feels and sounds great. I’ve listened to a shit-ton of Henry’s drumming and it’s excellent. I’m a fan so I knew I had to have one foot in learning the tunes properly but also have one foot in my zone. There is no improving on it but with my influences I can make it different.

KC- But things must be going pretty good, right? It looks like you’ve already played upwards of 30 shows.

SK- Yeah, I’m super lucky and I don’t think I’ve ever had more fun on a bandstand consistently.

KC- Any shows in particular that stand out to you?

SK- Opening for the California Honeydrops at the Catalyst was a pretty wild experience. I had never played drums on the main stage. I played percussion with my brother’s band, The Skaflaws, but never got on the grown-up traps until then.

KC- Alright, so we’ve learned a lot about Sam but can we get some dirt on the Coffis Brothers?

SK- Here we go haha

KC- You’ve spent a lot of time on the road with these boys. Who’s the best and worst driver?

SK- Am I excluded? I have dreams where I die when Aidan is behind the wheel. But I’m the best driver. Kellen is second, then a three-way tied for third.

KC- Loudest in the van

SK- Well, we are a dynamic group so this is tough. We all get chatty and we all get sleepy so I would say the only time the van gets to a loud decibel level is when Aidan and Jamie get on one another.

KC- First person to end up with a drink in their hand at a show

SK- Jamie. He’s also the first to make friends at the bar with the locals.

KC- Last person to wake up in the morning

SK- Tie between Aidan and Kyle.

KC- Most likely to be a diva during soundcheck

SK- Kyle. Not because he is a diva but because the sound man consistently goes over to have a chat about his guitars.

KC- Great. This is sure to cause a few arguments in the band so I think our job here is done. Thanks for joining us. Anything else you’d like to tell the people?

SK- Thanks. I’m glad to be the newest Mountain Man and I hope everyone will introduce themselves on January 6th at Moe’s Alley. I especially hope everyone’s New Year’s Resolution is to really shake it in front of the band.