Laurie Roberts

Laurie Roberts was an early champion of the Coffis Brothers, and she provided an absolutely immeasurable contribution to our band’s growth. Her belief in us always made us feel special. A lunch time visit to the sty for a quick on air interview meant the rest of your day would be great. I loved when she was at one of our performances not only because she was a fun hang but also because I knew it meant we would be getting a great introduction on stage that night. She played us on the radio, a lot, and I’ll never forget the first time hearing it, all of us in the van on the way to a gig and getting a shout out over the air from her. An incredible feeling. We were involved in a lot of events she organized, one of the coolest gigs I’ve ever played to this day was when we got to play in the back of a truck going down the Pacific ave mall for the Christmas parade, that was her idea. We became friends. Shared our honest opinions about the music scene and more importantly the Giants. She gave me a job as a DJ at KPIG. This seemed unbelievable and I was certainly unqualified, but she was extremely eager to show me the ropes, and was beyond generous with her time and advice. She was one of the most pro broadcasters ever. A hall-of-famer in fact. Aside from her obvious talent, she was totally passionate about maintaining the integrity of a station with some of the coolest and unique sensibilities of any radio station on the planet, and she helped curate that as much as anyone. She was funny, warm, and a good friend. She will be missed by so many.

- Jamie

Like so many, my introduction to Laurie was through KFOX which was my go-to radio station during a real formative time for me as I started listening to classic rock in high-school. When I started listening to KPIG it just seemed natural that she was a DJ there too. Since some of her KFOX sets were pre-recorded, sometimes you could hear her voice on both stations at the same time if you toggled back-and-forth. She just seemed like the most pro DJ there was. I remember emailing her once after she played a really good set while I was stuck in that afternoon traffic on Soquel Ave, which is really when you need a good DJ the most. Laurie was the first person to play us on-air and over the years played us a lot on KPIG. We did in studio performances on her show dozens of times and were apart of so many concerts she organized. She was a huge supporter of the band. She genuinely cared about us and always looked for opportunities to help us. I last heard from Laurie just a couple weeks ago when she sent Jamie and I an email wishing us luck as we went into the studio to start making a new record. Laurie’s impact on us and the Santa Cruz music community was huge and she will be missed.

- Kellen

Ten Year AnniversarY! But Who's Really Counting?

Everyone has a Beatles expert in their life, right? I've got a handful of them in mine. At one point in my life I was even the Beatles expert, but then I met Aidan and I happily conceded my position. He can recite the whole Beatles Anthology Documentary word for word so I didn't stand a chance. I'm sure someday I'll meet someone else who will take the role as Beatle expert in my life, as will Aidan. But as many Beatles experts as I have met, I still find there are discrepancies in some very basic Beatles trivia, such as what year did the Beatles become a band, and how long were they a band. (If you're screaming at the computer right now saying "the Beatles definitely formed in 1960 and lasted until 1970", well you might be right, but just bare with me for the sake of my point.) The formation of the Beatles should be common knowledge for anyone has ever strummed a guitar or sang along to every word on Rubber Soul, but we don't really know this and that is because we've never established the criteria for when a band actually becomes a band. Is it when they play their first show, put out a record, come to an agreement on how to end one song, disagree on how to end every song, fire their first drummer? I don't know. We don't know. And yeah, it doesn't really matter.

Alberta Rose Theater in Portland, Oregon. One of the last in person shows we played in 2020.

It's a little unclear on the year we officially became a band. Jamie and I started playing around town in 2010 but it took a few months before we started calling ourselves The Coffis Brothers. Don't ask why it took us months to come up with that name, but it just didn't occur to us. (The first show poster we have lists us as Jamie & Kellen Coffis. It's an apt description, sure, but I think we landed on a better name.) In 2011 we recorded and released our first album. At that point we had a handful of full band shows under our belts and by the Summer of 2011, gigging became a more regular thing for us. So for all of those reasons I hereby declare that the formation of The Coffis Brothers was in 2011 and NOT 2010. I can see you doing the math right now. That's right. If we formed in 2011, then 2021 marks our tenth year as a band! We couldn't have 2020 be our ten year anniversary, right? 2020 didn't deserve that. So if 2021 marks our tenth year then that must mean we have our longest, biggest, most extensive tour planned, right? Well, not exactly, but we'll get back to that at some point. Tour or not, we would like to acknowledge our ten years as a band somehow, so throughout the year we'll be highlighting some of the more important and significant moments, shows, people, vehicles, stories, and more from our first ten years as a band.

We say it every year but we really appreciate the support we received this last year. 2020 was tough on everyone, including us, but we feel really grateful to still be a band, and to have fan's and friend's support. Thanks for sticking with us in 2020 and we hope, more than anything, to see you in 2021.

Here's some pictures from the last ten years.

2011 Gadgetbox Studios, Santa Cruz during the recording of 'The Coffis Brothers & the Mountain Men'

2012 Roaring Camp, Felton following our set at the Redwood Mountain Faire.

2013 Gadgetbox Studios real late one night during the recording of 'Wrong Side of The Road.' Jamie and Kellen wearing Henry and Kyle's leather jackets. We thought it would make a funny picture. It sorta did.'

2014 Fillmore green room in San Francisco following our set opening for Poor Man's Whiskey.

2015 Post-show outside The Catalyst in Santa Cruz with Charlie Starr of Blackberry Smoke. (You can see our van, Gretschen in the background).

2016 On the roof of Barefoot Studios in Hollywood during the recording of 'Roll With It'

2017 Denver, Colorado Henry's farewell show.

2018 Castoro Cellars, Templeton, California.

Bethel Road Distillery, Templeton, Ca following a video shoot for the Bethel Road Live Sessions.

2020 Fairfax at Tim Bluhm's house for a live stream.

Shirts For change

With your help and the help of Blue Rose Music we were able to raise $2,100 in three weeks and make donations of $700 to the Black Futures Lab, The Conscious Kid, and the Know Your Rights Camp. We encourage you to check out these organizations (as well as the many other) that are helping in the fight for racial justice and to continue to follow them and their missions.

We will be mailing out the remaining shirt orders this week so expect to receive yours soon if you haven’t already. Thanks again for your support.

Jun 8 - Each week we will be donating the proceeds to a different charitable organization that are promoting and helping assist in the achievement of racial justice. All proceeds raised will be matched by Blue Rose Music.

June 22 - This week proceeds will go towards Know Your Rights Camp. Here is their mission statement:

Our mission is to advance the liberation and well-being of Black and Brown communities through education, self-empowerment, mass-mobilization and the creation of new systems that elevate the next generation of change leaders.

Jun 15 - This week's proceeds will be going towards The Conscious Kid. Here is their missions statement:

The Conscious Kid is an education, research and policy organization dedicated to reducing bias and promoting positive identity development in youth. We partner with organizations, children’s museums, schools, and families across the country to promote access to children’s books centering underrepresented and oppressed groups.

June 8 - This week's proceeds from sales go towards Black Futures Lab. Here is Black Futures Lab's mission statement:

Black Futures Lab works with Black people to transform our communities, building Black political power and changing the way that power operates—locally, statewide, and nationally.

s to which organization we will be donating to each week. All the proceeds made between June 8th-14th will go directly to Black Future Labs. We will be keeping you updated a

If you would like to donate directly to Black Futures Lab you can do that here: https://cpasf.ourpowerbase.net/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=45

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