Music Award nominee interviews: Swashbuckling Doctors, Trujillo Company, Jesus Christ Taxi Driver

The 3rd annual Colorado Sound Music Awards are coming up soon (Wed., Sept. 18 at the Boulder Theater). And leading up to the award show I spoke with a bunch of different nominees, who were guests on The Colorado Sound Morning Show during the past few months.

Our conversations were a lot of fun, so I wanted to share some “best of” moments. Below are highlights from my interviews with three of this year’s nominees: the Swashbuckling Doctors, the Trujillo Company, and Jesus Christ Taxi Driver.

The Swashbuckling Doctors

I asked Ryan, Slush and McKenzie of Swashbuckling Doctors, what constitutes is a healthy dose of ska?

Slush: “You’re USDA recommended amount of ska is 15 minutes every day. 15 minutes of ska. You can go more, but you really should get at least 15.”

Ryan: “It helps supplement vitamin D in the wintertime, too, if you’re not getting as much sun. Just get a little ska in you, and you know, it gets you going.”

The Trujillo Company

I asked Mike and Mark of the Trujillo Company what it was like meeting Keanu Reeves (and buying him cupcakes).

Mike: “Anytime you have an actor or someone that well known, there’s an aura about them. Even getting to the venue, I mean there was already a line outside from like 2 PM on and there’s people outside the bus. It’s more than usual you know, there’s people with posters and all different kinds of memorabilia hoping to get a glimpse of Keanu Reeves and you know, we’re in the same building with him for two nights and we’re just having conversations about life. Being able to see both sides of it in the same day is really interesting. This feeling of like someone’s on a god-like level to people, they’re that obsessed. Then being behind the curtain and seeing the real man and having those conversations, hearing him talk to Mark about bass tones and like [in a Keanu Reeves voice], ‘“’I really liked your bass.'”

Me: “Great Keanu impression.”

Mike: Thank you, I actually got a compliment from Keanu. He was like [Keanu voice], ‘You actually do that really well Trujillo.’”

Jesus Christ Taxi Driver

I asked Ian Ehrhart of Jesus Christ Taxi Drive what was going through his mind when he ate a cigarette during a gig at FoCoMX in Fort Collins.

Ian: “Obviously not a lot. I got down in the barrier, you know, I wasn’t planning on eating a cigarette – not many people are planning to eat a cigarette. I got down in the photo pit area and I had a little too much to drink that night honestly.”

Me: So you end up eating cigarettes?

Ian: “I crawled down [in the photo pit area] and kind of fell between the subwoofers and just laid there for a moment. Somebody was pointing at the ground, and I looked to see what they were pointing at. I guess they dropped their cigarette, and they wanted me to pick it up and give it back them, and I just picked it up, put it my mouth and proceeded to eat it.”

Kids, don’t try that at home.

The 3rd annual Colorado Sound Music Awards live ceremony and concert takes place Wed., Sept. 18 at the Boulder Theater in Boulder, Colo. TIckets are on sale now.