The Coolers are a rock band from right here in Los Angeles, California! They were formed in the summer of 2018 under the roof of drummer/singer Sergio Gonzales’ garage, with long rhythm guitarist Sadie Dean, guitarist/singer Leslie Bumgarner and bass man, JD Ramage. The Coolers are on a mission to prove rock and roll is not dead. With their gritty, raw, catchy and hypnotic guitar hooks and self-reflective lyrics, their 60s meets 90s rock sound and attitude will leave you with a warm cup of nostalgia. With the release of their first self-produced live 2019 EP, “Troglodyte”, at the world famous Clear Lake Recording Studios and mastered by multi-Grammy award winning Lurssen Mastering, they aim to bring the authentic feeling of being at a live show.
“Where The Fish Live” is a pummeling new hard-hitting track laced with elements that are dark and haunting. The rhythmic and heavy textures layered with experimental melodies and grooves are what set this track apart in the music industry. Pulling inspiration from their diverse influences, “Where The Fish Live” bleeds through the speakers with a high energy confidence and intense strength. The chemistry within The Coolers becomes clear when you hear the finely-tuned production quality and precise fusion of musical arrangements. ““Where The Fish Live” is a track that has emotion and soul behind it, it’s admirable and leaves us craving more! Stay on the lookout for The Coolers!
Check out “Where The Fish Live” here and read more below in our interview with The Coolers.
Welcome to BuzzMusic! How did The Coolers come to fruition? How did you create your stage name?
We got our stage name from a news article headline that caught Sadie’s eye – in a nutshell a man named Van Ert locked himself in a liquor store beer coolerovernight. When the employees came back the next morning, they found him passed out with all of the cheap beer he could drink. We thought it was super hilarious, felt a deep connection to the dude, because we also like beer.
Can you tell us more about the lyrics in “Where The Fish Live”?
Down to heart, the lyrics are about murdering your physically abusive spouse. Leslie had the idea of flipping the script in the song world, and making it about a woman taking it into her own hands to stop the abuse from her husband, and give you that visual of how and where it would be done – "Hey man, enough is enough, you’re becoming fish food."
Side note – Leslie is happily married, so it’s not art imitating life.
What do you hope your listeners take away from your music?
We like to think that we’re tipping our hats to old school rock of the 60s with 90s nostalgia. We hope our listeners feel that; just good ol’ rock n’ roll, that we love playing. And above all, have a fun time listening to our songs on repeat.
What’s your live performance experience like?
Depending on where we’re playing, we’ll switch up our set list to fit that venues vibe. And at every show towards the end of our set, Sadie and Sergio will switch it up, Sadie taking the drum throne and Sergio serving up some heavy riffs on the guitar. We like to give the music goers our momentum from the stage and the songs. And when the crowd throws it back at us, it’s an incredible feeling. We become adrenaline junkies after each show (without the heroin).
What was the writing process like for “Where The Fish Live”?
Leslie brought in a basic structure of the song that she had in mind for a bluesy gospel type song: lyrics and that pulsating guitar delay. Sadie took it from there giving it the dirty blues rock crunch structure and ocean like guitar curls you hear throughout, and Sergio kicked in the backbone keeping the steady rhythm afloat. When we write songs as a band, one of us will send the group a quick recording off of our phone, being like, "Hey, just thought of this riff/lyric, cool?" then we bring it to our headquarters (Sergio's garage) and go from there fleshing it out to a full fledged song.
What’s next for The Coolers?
With the release of our first self-produced EP “Troglodyte” coming out August 10th – we’ll also be putting on in tandem to the release, a free show at The Off Beat Bar in Highland Park. From there, plan is to get in new venues we haven’t played at yet, music festivals, shows outside of the LA basin.
We’re already woodshedding on a slew of new songs, that we’re planning to record soon as a full album. We love playing music, so expect more of that!
Connect with The Coolers on social media
www.instagram.com/the_coolers_is_a_band