Slide (1993-2000), was a Boston-based band, one of the neo-Americana/roots bands to develop in the 1990s. Slide were noted in Rolling Stone Magazine and shared a cover story in Billboard Magazine with Wilco, on the return of 'roots music'. Slide was heavily influenced by New Orleans Rhythm & Blues bands such as the Meters, as well as rock bands such as The Band and Los Lobos, but had a distinctive punk-era raggedness and irreverence. Their music and performances were eclectic, and often unpredictable.
Originally keyboardist Suzi Lee played a C-3 Hammond organ but later switched to a custom built MIDI'd accordion which could switch between mic'd accordion and a synthesizer. The electronics, combined with otherwise very "low-fi" instrumentation and arrangement—and good songwriting—was probably the defining style of much of the band's career.
In Boston they became the de-facto house band at Joe Hernon's Kirkland Cafe in Somerville. The scene at the Kirkland, ragtag and very eclectic—and thus in sharp contrast to the better-known scene at the Middle East Cafe in Cambridge—gave them a springboard for a strong local following. They'd tour the United States.
Live, Slide was often determined—for better or worse—to surprise, even confuse, their audience. There was often great emphasis on improvisation and indeed the entire structure of any song might radically shift mid-stream. Before a "showcase" performance in front of a roomful of A&R at New York's Bitter End club in 1998, the band decided to switch instruments, to poor effect.
The emphasis on surprising their audience would lead to the Mardi Gras Ball, which was one a number of such 'theme nights' (others included the Chirstmas Carol, playing all of the Clash's London Calling, and a particularly strange event where they brought out Bingo cards and had the audience play Bingo, only to be interupted by a pantomime struggle between a bear and a monkey, all set to Aram Khachaturian's Sabre Dance).
Slide independently released three recordings. 1997's "Forgiving Buckner" happened to catch the fancy of the sports media and the band were featured, along with Johnny Ramone and Bruce Hornsby, in an ESPN piece on rock and roll and baseball. 1998's "Whipdang!" was widely praised in review and was likely their most complete recording. 2000's "Pulling Teeth", a dark and hauntingly sad effort, was their final recording.
After flirting with various major labels, extended touring, and various personal disruptions, the band broke up in 2000.
- Personnel
- Dimitri Fane: bass, vocals
- Suzi Lee: keyboards, accordion, vocals
- Ken Schopf: drums, vocals
- Shaun Wolf Wortis: vocals, guitar
