In Conversation: The Rifle County Players
In Conversation:
The Rifle County Players
By: Shaun Lee
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It’s safe to say that as a band or an interview subject, The Rifle County Players are a bit of a handful. As much a social club as a band, these urban cowboys put on a high energy showcase displaying a clear infatuation for the golden age of country music, and a shared camaraderie between all 7(!) members that makes for a rollicking good time whenever they get on stage. Comprising a number of local bar industry mainstays as well as some heavy hitters from other popular groups (Window Lamp, Sunglaciers, Paradise), the RCP brought the ruckus to Palomino in an upstairs showcase perfectly suited to the bar’s rusticated atmosphere.
We met over copious joints & beers in the back alley behind Palomino where I did my level best to keep track of who said what. Things got a little frenetic and hazy, and I definitely owe my transcriptionist a big favor for doing his level best to parse out an interview from all the chaos. In the interest of doing our best to translate the energy of a Sled Island hang session, we’ve done our best to present our dialog in the most naturalized format possible.
Shaun: Test test test. Yeah, there we go. Okay give me a second here pull up some uh, some questions.
Kyle: Dude, I've known this guy for so fucking long. This is so cool. I never in a million- if you told me... 14 years ago, when we were young fuckers, that we could do this and you would be interviewing me as a country band.
Shaun: (laughs) Yeah, I wouldn't- it wouldn't have been the first thing that I would sort of expect for sure.
Kyle: That's just a hallucination nation, man. You're tripping out. But always, you- you- you- before you start, I just want to tell you, that this is really cool for me because I've looked up to you for a long time and this is pretty damn cool for me. So thank you.
Shaun: Aww, I'm touched. By the way, you guys leveled the fuck up since the last time I saw you. Good god damn!
Kyle: Well-
Shaun: Very, very tight harmonies right there.
Evan(Dr): Was it tight? I couldn't hear shit.
Shaun: No- no, the harmonies sounded fucking beautiful. Yeah, you gotta have the worst of it back there.
Kyle: Well these two (indicating Evan & Haley) helped with a lot of the ummm... the uhhh...
Evan(Dr): I think I got Strangers okay
Kyle: You nailed it. You've been- the couple of times we jammed this week. They- these two have a lot of a better grasp on vocals that have helped me as a lead singer grow and learn because listening to them in their own projects with Window Lamp and Sunglaciers, they've taught me how to sing as half as well as they can, but while they're still doing the percussion. It's nice. And then we could put Adam and Evan (there’s two of them, this is guitar playing Evan) in there as well, too.
Colin: I just got to quit smoking.
Shaun: No, no, no, no,
Colin: Nah, I'll quit smoking when-
Shaun: You just gotta smoke more. Everyone. I'm just gonna around the circle, say your name real loud and what you do.
Sammy: My name is Sammy. I play steel.
Adam: My name is Adam and I'm rhythm guitar.
Haley: My name is Haley and I play auxiliary percussion and vocals, backup vocals.
Evan(Dr): My name is Evan. And I play drums and sing some backup vocals.
Nick: Nick play bass
Hayley: (laughs)
Evan(Git): Evan and uh, rhythm guitar and a little bit of singing.
Colin: And I'm Colin I play guitar and sing.
Shaun: (thinking noises) And so- have you guys- I'm assuming you've- well, you guys- Sunglaciers played already, right?
Evan(Dr): Yes.
Shaun: Have you guys- w-what've you guys caught up- caught so far? Like anything rad that you want to sort of crow about? Or?
Evan(Dr): Yeah, this is, this is Evan. The drumming one, uhhh... Yeah, just you know, catching- catching other sets at the venues that you're playing at is really fun. Especially after you're set when you're not nervous and thinking about how bad you're gonna maybe do. Ummm... but I did manage to get into Palomino last night to see Uranium Club and that was a real treat. That was probably the highlight so far. Shout out to Dri Hiev who played on the opening show on Tuesday.
Colin: I got to see LA Witch. LA Witch were great.
Shaun: Yeah, I was bummed that I missed that. We had band practice last night.
Colin: And Ghostt Woman were also very good.
Shaun: Yeah Ghost Woman, yeah, they are fucking sick. Yeah, that was like the big kind of like tripper bill that I had to not go to. I was super kicking myself. Anything else? Anyone else?
Adam: My name is Adam. And it was... uhhh... Wolf Willow before us? They were fucking incredible. I was blown away.
Shaun: Yeah, when you guys mentioned them, the whole crowd kind of lost their mind.
Adam: I was absolutely blown away by that. That was awesome.
Evan(Dr): You have an accent?
Adam: Shut up.
Shaun: Yeah, I'll make sure to transcribe the accent. (transcriber's note: and how would I do that, exactly? Fuck you guys.)
Evan(Dr): Yeah, put it in italics
Colin: Me and Sammy saw Built to Spill last night and it was- it was, uhhh... I checked that off my list pretty hard.
Haley: And Low at the Legion. This is Hayley Gunn speaking.
(everyone chuckles)
Shaun: Built to Spill are playing one more time, right?
Evan(Dr): I don't think so
Shaun: Fuck
Hayley: Uranium Club are playing later tonight.
Shaun: At The Legion?
RC: At Pin Bar
At Pin Bar
Oh, Pin Bar.
Yep.
Evan: "We're live right?" said Evan
Shaun: Yeah this is going out on the radio.
Kyle: Also, Ship and Anchor, where half of us work had some really good shows with PEARS. They actually blew the top off the darn place last night. Excited to see Julie Doiron…
Shaun: This is called Kyle talking.
Kyle: This is Kyle talking, sorry.
Shaun: Oh, no worries. No worries. Uhhh... what else we got here
Kyle: This is my first interview so I don't know what to do. Heh heh.
Shaun: What- so what's your favorite venue in town?
Evan(Dr): "Palamino Smokehouse", Evan said!
Shaun: Very political. Very political.
Haley: "BBQ Palace", Haley exclaimed, actually!
Kyle: "Palomino is very good to us", says Kyle, and... ummm... we're also looking forward to play a little bit out of our range of venues like King Eddie and Ironwood and Blues Can and some places a little out of the neck of the woods we're used to but-
Shaun: Now you're just mentioning everyone you can think of.
Haley: DURING THE STAMPEEEEDE
Kyle: Basically the Inglewood strip, we're going to do an Inglewood Tour down ninth and just hope that we're big enough that people can come out to those lovely venues but Palomino’s home ice. Rest in peace, Tubby Dog!
Haley: Home town tour!
Shaun: Oh there, yeah.
Adam: When we- this is Adam, when we played Kokonut Kove, as well, with East Town Getdown that was awesome.
Kyle: Shout out to Forest Lawn bar Kokonut Kove
Adam: That was awesome, I love that place.
Kyle: VLTs and carpeted floor and a bar says Kyle
Shaun: Yeah, Forest Lawn is actually the shit. I fucking love The Lawn, yeah.
Hayley: When you walk into the Kove, it smells like The Legion.
(laughs) And it feels like, ummm...
Adam: I like it when your boots stick
Shaun: Yeah, my brother's.... Actually, I- I got a great story about The Kove. So, how my brother got outted... was... my... Sister's best friend saw him dancing at The Kove and then called my mom and told her. This was back when the Kove had male exotic dancers.
RC: (incredulous noises)
Shaun: Yeah, that was a thing, that was a thing.
RC: They should bring it back!!
Shaun: I wish! I wish!
Haley: I'VE GOT SIX COWBOYS...!!!
Shaun: More swinging dick in the city for sure!
RC: (talking over each other) was a bikini bar or something
Haley: Yeah, Adam could get in a bikini.
Shaun: Okay, any any great memories outside of musical one so far in the festival?
Hayley: Pizza ATM!
Shaun: Pizza AT- Ah, Pizza ATM. Yes.
Kyle: For the festival? You mean in like in our past or?
Shaun: No (laughs) Uh, can we dig deep?
RC: (overlapping jokes about trauma)
Evan(Dr): Okay, this is Evan the drummer. I will say that the conferences, although maybe not as well attended as they could be, have been really informative and helpful. And I think we could all make more effort to go to those and learn a thing or two from some professionals.
Shaun: Words of wisdom.
Colin: I feel attacked
(laughs)
I'm joking.
Evan(Git): But also on behalf of like us as band people that have been in bands for years this is a this feels like Sled Island again, it feels really like people are going out and going to the shows and it's got the it's got the city electric and it's really refreshing to see that after all the shit we've dealt with that people come on house to fundraise.
Sammy: They say attendance is down but I didn't-
Shaun: It doesn't seem like it yeah.
Kyle: I felt like like 2016 in this shit so if you got a bottle of Grigiot you're drinking in the park, like, have one for us.
Shaun: That's the pull-quote right there. Um, so what do you guys bring into the festival to no one else does?
Colin: Too many players (laughs)
Haley: (screams) FOUR GUITARS, A LAP STEEL, AND A DRUMMER, AND AUXILIARY PERCUSSION!
Kyle: Yeah, we're trying to do, uh, we're trying to do country out of Calgary a little more thoughtfully and as most fun as we can squish on a small stage with seven members
Shaun: says Kyle
Kyle: says Kyle
Evan(Dr): and Evan says doing our best not to improve our actual country playing skills.
(all laugh)
Colin: No, you don't want to be a hack.
Evan: No.
Adam: But you don't want to try too hard.
Kyle: We all just try to be sweeties because we're surrounded by so many in bands we know and we've been where we are because of people helping us and pushing us up and we're just trying to have fun for them. Says Kyle.
Shaun: Mr. Quotable Kyle here, holy shit, buddy.
Kyle: I pulled these ones out of my head, so-
Shaun: Speaking of conferences, Kyle has to come out with his own conference here.
Evan(Dr): He's the bandleader, you know
Kyle: No, I'm not.
Evan(Dr): One shift at a time, just getting buns deep!
Shaun: So which band member has partied the most? Who's the- who's the- who's the naughtiest?
Adam: Ughhhh, that's a rough question.
Sammy: Sammy speaking, probably me.
All: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Shaun: And who is the goody two-shoes of the unit?
Evan(Git): Kyle.
RC(in unison): Awwwww
Evan(Dr): Kyle until he gets the gear home and comes back.
Kyle: Then I can drive my OWN car home. Metaphorically speaking.
Shaun: What's your pre show ritual?
Haley: Smoking weed
RC: Yep.
Jamiesons
Get stoned
Shaun: I think that's gonna be a common answer.
Colin: Weed, whisky, beer.
Shaun: Weed, whisky, beer
Kyle: And dress rehearsal. We are on- We're on the- we're on the line of we do practice the entire set before and we know some people don't like that. But we decided that that's the best way to warm up and to always make sure we have the outfits matching.
Evan(Dr): Superstition is for the weak.
Haley: If you have that one, you don't need any.
Kyle: Yeah. It's checkin' it out, it's dress rehearsal, we literally rehearse what we dress. So as a country band that is based on show business, we try to show ourselves as pretty as we can like it. I wish podcasts could show Haley's gown right now. And the buttons. Because I don't like that you said “backup singer.”I’d like a caveat to “secondary lead.” Because I cannot do it without you…
Shaun: If you sing one song, which you (Haley) did, and no one else is, you are, you're singing leads.
Haley: Yeah,
Kyle: We pull it off because there's just no point in singing harmony against something (speaking of Haley’s vocal performance on her showcase tune) so good. So we all just shut up and-
Shaun: Fucking Captain Pull-Quote here, goddamn!
Haley: Everybody loves a harmony.
Shaun: Mr. Toas- Mr. Toastmaster.
Kyle: I've got a whole pocket full of "what can he ask me?"
Shaun: All right. So here's here's the cheesy question but what's next for the band post-Sled. What are you guys gonna- going in studio-
Haley: STAMPEDE. BABYYYYY!!!!!
Evan(Dr): (laughs) Stampede
Shaun: Stampede, baby. That's all we're going to say.
Kyle: Well no, we can tell you what we really got because unfortunately, we- this is Kyle speaking because this oneI actually know the answer to.
Evan: THE SECOND BIGGEST BAND AT SLED ISLAND!
RC: (everyone cheers)
Hayley: Who is the first?
Kyle: Wolf Willow
Haley: Window Lamp?
Kyle: Window Lamp's the best. Umm, so for Rifle County Players, we have a full length album we recorded over COVID that we have a mixer for finally which was the last step of eight months we've been frigging waiting on. We have merch that we have been asked about for two and a half years. We have got a another album, started writing and a lot of very exciting shows for Stampede and maybe outside of town finally, so anyone likes us in Red Deer, or Lethbridge, or Medicine Hat,
RC: Smithers
Kyle: Smithers, SHOUT OUT TO THE SHIT! NUMBER ONE!
Shaun: This isn't- this isn't live.
Kyle: WE JUST WANT YOU TO KNOW THAT WE LOVE YOU, SMITHERS! SMITHERS, WE LOVE YOU!
Evan(Git): Smithers BC til death.
Kyle: We've been just trying to play the shows to get that part of us good and now the rest comes with being a band which is merch, albums... other shows and a lot of stuff coming down the pipes.
Evan(Git): We've got a new guitar coming
Colin: Adam's getting a new guitar
Shaun: What model?
Adam: I have no idea
Evan(Git): Get the Gretsch!
Shaun: Country Gentleman?
Kyle: Ohhhhhh yessssss. Exactly! So, we saw one on Kijji we're trying to buy him. But that's that's kind of we got a lot of big things we're just finalizing the last bit of them. End quote.
Adam: Merch is being done or I'm gonna lose my goddammned mind
Shaun: BOOM! We're- (recording cuts off)
- Shaun Lee
Transcription by Max Maxwell
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