Few characters cultivate sour grapes as well as creative types in a competitive town.
Sorry, says Mark Sundermeier at The Soiled Dove, but the reason labels are sniffing around The Trampolines, the acoustic rock group he forged with East Coast transplant Chris Stake, is not his music-world contacts.
Sure, after years of booking bands into LoDo, Sundermeier knows whose hands a CD should fall into. But he says everything that happens after that results from talent, hard work and a little luck.
We caught up to Sundermeier and Stake to hear more about their speedy success.
Q: Your band bio lists The Trampolines as a foursome, but only two of you are in the photos. Are the other guys shy, homely or both?
A: (Chris) They’re homely, and we keep them locked up.
A: (Mark) Chris and I first got together playing the “Acoustic Circus” series at The Soiled Dove … (Later) I went to a talent buyer’s convention and ended up bumping into (an executive) from Warner Bros. He said, “These songs are wonderful but I’d like to hear a full band.” We consider those other guys (bass and keyboard player Todd Davis and drummer Scott Schroeder) part of the band. So at this point our show is much more rock than acoustic.
Q: Does a group calling itself The Trampolines traffic in the highs and lows of life?
A: (Mark) The way I look at it is Chris brings in a song that’s three-quarters written, and we arrange it together, or I bring in a song that’s three-quarters written and we arrange it together. The name affirms the idea that we bounce ideas off each other.
A: (Chris) When I first met Mark, we were into a lot of the same music. I grew up in Washington, D.C., and used to listen to this band called The Greenberry Woods. That was one of the first bands Mark and I talked about. They had a song on their first CD called “Trampoline.”
Q: The song “Stealing Home” – an homage to baseball?
A: (Mark) Honestly it’s not. The connotation is being in a relationship and then being dumped. The song is just saying that along with leaving me high and dry, you’re also taking everything else with you.
A: (Chris) Mark really doesn’t know baseball so if there is a baseball analogy there I don’t know how it happened. That’s actually one of my favorite songs. It’s got a great rootsy rock feel and a catchy chorus. I love the rhythm of that song.
The Trampolines play a CD release show Tuesday at Film on the Rocks before the screening of “The Princess Bride” at Red Rocks Amphitheatre. Tickets: $8 via TicketsWest.
