Welcome!

You’ve made it to our blog, congratulations! We are a rock and roll band from The San Lorenzo Valley, located just outside the beautiful city of Santa Cruz. Sometimes we appear billed as “The Coffis Brothers and The Mountain Men.” The Mountain Men are not a separate band, rather they are members of the Coffis Brothers band that are not related (by blood) to Jamie and Kellen Coffis. So, to clarify, The Coffis Brothers and The Mountain Men are (left to right);

Jamie Coffis- Vocals, Keyboards Henry Chadwick- Drums Kyle Poppen- Guitar Kellen Coffis- Vocals, Guitar, Harmonica Mason Hutchinson- Bass

Photo by Andy Zenzcak

Jamie was kind enough to give some of his time to himself to ask and answer questions from himself about himself and his band.

What have you guys been up to lately? Great question, we’ve been pretty busy lately. Notably, we are working to release our first album “The Coffis Brothers and The Mountain Men” in the next couple of months. We recorded it in January at Gadgetbox studios in Santa Cruz and now are on to the mastering and design portion of the project. Also we have been putting together shows for the summer. In the meantime we have been writing, rehearsing and playing shows in and around the Santa Cruz area. (Check out this blog for upcoming shows)

How would you describe your upcoming album? Its a rock and roll record. Ten songs, recorded as live as possible with limited overdubs over the course of a few weeks. The actual tracking process, as in recording vocals and instruments, was done in 4 days. That might sound like a short period of time, and well, it is, but we are all excited with the performances we got out of everybody in the band. We’re quite proud of this record and eager to share it with anybody who cares to listen.

Rock and roll is a pretty general term, plus nobody uses it anymore, can you be a little more specific about your music? Certainly, we lean towards folk and blues. Our Mount Rushmore would contain some of the following; Tom Petty, Ray Charles, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Buddy Holly, The Everly Brothers etc. There are a ton of artists out there currently, that we look up to and draw influences from as well. Jackie Greene, The Avett Brothers, Old Crow Medicine Show, Ben Kweller, Norah Jones, John Mayer, Delta Spirit, and Jet are just a few groups we’re big fans of.

You mentioned something earlier about summer shows. How is that coming along? So far so good. We have show in May we’re really excited about at Club Fox in Redwood City with our pal Mike Annuzzi. Also we will be playing a the Redwood Mountain Faire in Felton on June 4, as well as Music at Skypark in July. We have a monthly gig at Bocci’s cellar in Santa Cruz that will be running through October. We are working on a number of other things and should be able to make a few more announcements soon.

Thanks for taking time, you’re a great guy. Thanks man, you’re not too bad yourself.

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The Coffis Brothers & The Mountain Men are five young men from the Santa Cruz Mountains and they have been playing around the Bay Area and beyond since 2010. The band consists of Jamie Coffis (Vocals, Keyboard, ) Kellen Coffis (Guitar, Harmonica), Kyle Poppen (Guitar), Mason Hutchinson (Bass) and Henry Chadwick (Drums) The play a style of music that is rock and roll in the most classic sense. Melodic, rootsy and heartfelt, the songwriting duo of Jamie and Kellen show an obvious love for a bygone era of music and for groups like Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Neil Young and The Beatles as well as a sense of maturity and experience beyond their years.

The group recorded their debut album in 2011 at Andy Zenczak’s Gadgetbox Studios. A local institution that has recorded many notable artists such as, Lauren Shera, Honeymoon, Keith Greeninger, Tammi Brown, Audiofauna, and Wooster. It was released in the summer of 2011 and has received stellar reviews.

The Coffis Brothers have played in front of healthy sized crowds at some of the Bay Area’s most renowned venues and festivals including, Moe’s Alley, The Crepe Place, and Don Quixote’s International Music Hall in Santa Cruz, The Rockit Room and Hotel Utah Saloon in San Francisco, Club Fox in Redwood City, The Redwood Mountain Faire in Felton, and countless others across California and beyond. Album Reviews Music News Nashville BLD Music Quest

From the Santa Cruz Good Times For Ben Lomond brothers Jamie and Kellen Coffis—the former, a 25-year-old keyboardist and singer, and the latter, a 21 year-old vocalist, guitarist and harmonica player—it’s not a matter of what life has to offer, but when they’ll get it. On “Love On My Side,” off of their debut album, they wonder, if “life is really just a battle with time, and I’m sick and tired of waiting in line, when will that arrow point at me?” Turns out they don’t need Cupid’s assistance, since locals have fallen fast for these budding folk rockers. The Coffis Brothers & The Mountain Men was released on June 17, after four days in Gadgetbox Recording Studio, with the help of producer Andy Zenczak and friends, The Mountain Men: bassist Mason Hutchinson, drummer Henry Chadwick, and guitarist Kyle Poppen. “We are all more than satisfied with the results because there is a nice mix of impatience and spontaneity on the record, which gives it a kind of personality,” says Jamie. That personality is present throughout the album, with heavy keyboarding and electric guitar complementing Kellen’s country-tinged vocals. Their easygoing disposition shines through too; Jamie admits they’re “pretty damn near 50/50 on songwriting … it kind of sounds like we could have written each other’s songs.” Perhaps the two are so in sync because they play soccer and beer pong together, plus share an affinity for Jackie Greene, Buddy Holly, Tom Petty, Jay-Z and Kanye West. The band heads to The Crepe Place this week for what they consider to be, a life-altering gig. “It’s a rite of passage for a Santa Cruz band to play there,” says Jamie. Little did they know that the lyrics for “Shape I’m In,” would articulate the band’s anticipation for what the future holds: “Yeah, I can taste it. I ain’t never been that close before.”

Debut Album “The Coffis Brothers & The Mountain Men”

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