Slim is an American pop/

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band from

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, led by singer/songwriter Michael Baker. The band's music balances lyrical expression with a devotion to the sounds and beats of rock,

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

, and hip-hop. Their debut album, ''Interstate Medicine'', was originally released in 2002. The band's roots lie in the San Francisco Bay Area coffeehouse and open mic circuit, where Baker performed for several years while writing the material that would appear on "Interstate Medicine". In early 2001, former

Counting Crows Counting Crows is an American rock band from San Francisco, California. Formed in 1991, the band consists of guitarist David Bryson, drummer Jim Bogios, vocalist Adam Duritz, keyboardist Charlie Gillingham, David Immerglück, bass guitarist Mil ...

and

Third Eye Blind Third Eye Blind is an American rock band formed in San Francisco, California, in 1993. After years of lineup changes in the early and mid-1990s, the songwriting duo of Stephan Jenkins and Kevin Cadogan signed the band's first major-label recor ...

drummer

Steve Bowman Steve Bowman (born January 14, 1967) is an American rock music, rock Drum kit, drummer and songwriter. He was a founding member and drummer for Counting Crows during the recording and period of time following their debut album, ''August and Ever ...

brought Baker together with producer Jeffrey Wood (

Fatboy Slim Norman Quentin Cook (born Quentin Leo Cook, 31 July 1963), also known by his stage name Fatboy Slim, is an English musician, DJ, and record producer who helped to popularise the big beat genre in the 1990s. In the 1980s, Cook was the bassist f ...

Penelope Houston Penelope Houston (born December 17, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter best known as the singer for the San Francisco-based punk rock band the Avengers. She was raised in Seattle. In the mid-1970s she attended Fairhaven College in Bellin ...

), and sessions for the album began at

Fantasy Studios Fantasy Studios was a music recording studio in Berkeley, California, at the Zaentz Media Center, known for its recording of award-winning albums including Journey's ''Escape'' and Green Day's ''Dookie''. Built as a private recording studio for ...

in Berkeley, California. In addition to Bowman on drums and Paul Olguin (

Mazzy Star Mazzy Star is an American alternative rock band formed in 1988 in Santa Monica, California, from remnants of the group Opal. Founding member David Roback's friend Hope Sandoval became the group's vocalist when Kendra Smith left Opal. Mazzy Star ...

Mary Wells Mary Esther Wells (May 13, 1943 – July 26, 1992) was an American singer, who helped to define the emerging sound of Motown in the early 1960s. Along with The Supremes, The Miracles, The Temptations, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, and the F ...

) on bass, the album features a number of notable local musicians. Chief among these are

Jef Labes Jef Labes is an American keyboardist and musician. He is best known from his work with Van Morrison and Bonnie Raitt. Jef Labes has also arranged for string and woodwind instruments on numerous albums. Career Labes started his recording career ...

(

Van Morrison Sir George Ivan Morrison (born 31 August 1945), known professionally as Van Morrison, is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose recording career spans seven decades. He has won two Grammy Awards. As a teenager in t ...

Bonnie Raitt Bonnie Lynn Raitt (; born November 8, 1949) is an American blues singer and guitarist. In 1971, Raitt released her self-titled debut album. Following this, she released a series of critically acclaimed roots-influenced albums that incorporated ...

) on keys and Robert Powell (

Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and activist. He rose to fame as the original lead singer of the progressive rock band Genesis. After leaving Genesis in 1975, he launched ...

John Lee Hooker John Lee Hooker (August 22, 1912 or 1917 – June 21, 2001) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. The son of a sharecropper, he rose to prominence performing an electric guitar-style adaptation of Delta blues. Hooker often ...

Jackson Browne Clyde Jackson Browne (born October 9, 1948) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and political activist who has sold over 18 million albums in the United States. Emerging as a precocious teenage songwriter in mid-1960s Los Angeles, he h ...

) on pedal steel guitar. The album's songs address a diverse range of topics, from Spanish conquistadores to double murders, deals with the devil to nights spent in thrall to Mexican witches. Instrumentation is similarly diverse: the opening track, "Cortez & Pizarro", begins with rubato flamenco guitar which transforms abruptly into distorted

Les Paul Lester William Polsfuss (June 9, 1915 – August 12, 2009), known as Les Paul, was an American jazz, country, and blues guitarist, songwriter, luthier, and inventor. He was one of the pioneers of the solid-body electric guitar, and his prototype ...

through a

Marshall Marshall may refer to: Places Australia * Marshall, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria Canada * Marshall, Saskatchewan * The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia Liberia * Marshall, Liberia Marshall Islands * Marshall Islands, an i ...

stack. "Starfish/Sunflower" mates sampled jungle snares with pedal steel guitar and three-part vocal harmonies, and "Sister Rosa" combines folk-blues guitar with a gospel choir. Slim now performs around Northern California, with a lineup consisting of drummer

Peter Libby Peter Libby is an American physician, focusing in atherosclerosis, cardiology and preventive cardiology, currently the Mallinckrodt Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School at Brigham and Women's Hospital. Personal life Libby was married t ...

( Primus,

Ramona the Pest ''Ramona the Pest'', by Beverly Cleary, is the second book of the Ramona series and the first to focus on Ramona Quimby as the protagonist. This children's book chronicles the adventures of Ramona's first few months at kindergarten. The book's t ...

) bassist

Kevin Witte Kevin () is the anglicized form of the Irish masculine given name (; mga, Caoimhghín ; sga, Cóemgein ; Latinized as ). It is composed of "dear; noble"; Old Irish and ("birth"; Old Irish ). The variant ''Kevan'' is anglicized from , an ...

(

Surreal Neil Surreal may refer to: *Anything related to or characteristic of Surrealism, a movement in philosophy and art * "Surreal" (song), a 2000 song by Ayumi Hamasaki * ''Surreal'' (album), an album by Man Raze *Surreal humour, a common aspect of humor * ...

Tom Jonesing Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

) and Tom Hamilton on keys and backing vocals. Hamilton and Baker occasionally perform as an acoustic duo. Baker plays solo shows, and also with his other band,

Radio Nowhere "Radio Nowhere" is the first single released from Bruce Springsteen's 2007 studio album ''Magic''. It was awarded Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance and Best Rock Song at the Grammy Awards of 2008. History The song is an up-tempo, electric guitar-d ...

Discography

* ''Interstate Medicine'' (Shortwave Syndicate, 2002) Track Listing: 1) Cortez & Pizarro 2) Heathrow 3) Slide 4) Beautiful Stranger 5) Curandera 6) Starfish/Sunflower 7) Picture of You 8) Caroline 9) Sister Rosa 10) Alabama 11) Electric 12) Deathwish Debbie 13) Walking Shoes (Hidden Track) 14) Turned on Fashion

Lineup

* Michael Baker - guitar, vocals, songs, production * Peter Libby - drums * Kevin Witte - bass * Tom Hamilton - vocals, keyboards {{DEFAULTSORT:Slim American pop rock music groups