Upcoming double-bill will be at The Green Room Social Club in Placerville

By Odin Rasco

A double-header of bands with long lineages in the Sacramento music scene — Forever Goldrush and ROADS — are coming to the Green Room Social Club in Placerville on Friday, Dec. 19. In the case of the latter, veterans of some of the region’s top acts are putting a new flex on some old-fashioned rock muscle.

While Forever Goldrush might be immediately recognizable — they’ve been playing their poignant and sometimes rowdy brand of Americana since ‘97 — ROADS (their name styled in all capital letters) might not immediately sound familiar. Though the band name is new, the faces onstage are far from it. Mike Curry has been performing since the mid-80s, serving as a drummer for acts such as Nicki Bluhm and the Gramblers and Sacramento’s surf-rock sensation, Jackpot, while drummer Chris Grijalva has played with Big Trouble, Big Boss Graffiti and Love Symphony. 

Though Curry has been the man behind the drums for the majority of his career, ROADS has been a project where he takes a turn at being the frontman. 

“I’ve been a drummer for the entirety of my successful musical career,” Curry reflected. “But I’ve always been playing guitar, I’ve always written songs. And back in about, I’d say, 2010, I was in Jackpot, but I was also in a band called Nicki Bluhm and the Gramblers, and we were traveling a lot. Both of these bands were real roots-y, and I love roots-y, but I grew up a kind of rock and roll guy. I thought, man, I want to start a rock band of my own. So, 2010 is when I really started writing the songs, but it wasn’t until 2017 or 2018 that I got a band together and actually started playing around.”

Originally called King, the band eventually changed into ROADS, which reflected a perspective shift in Curry’s songwriting. The project started off as a clear love letter to the music and mindset of 70s and 80s rock acts like Kiss and The Cult. Those were Curry’s earliest influences.

“Kiss was the reason I woke up to music in general when I was a little kid back in the 70s,” Curry explained.

As time went on, Curry’s songwriting began to tilt toward other focuses, with influences like Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty and the Rolling Stones coming into the mix. Grijalva, a journeyman musician on the scene, helped hone the final sound.

“All the songs are written by Mike, and then we all contribute to the recordings,” noted Grijalva. “I’ve done some arrangements for some of the songs, but primarily it’s all Mike. His lyrics are very story-based, on a personal level. He has a lot of influences, so I think he touches on a lot of his influences — and that could be everything from country music to 80s metal or Tom Petty. It’s all over the place, but in the end it sounds like it’s a Mike Curry song. It sounds truly original.”

The band’s sound evokes an earlier era of sonic revolt and experimentation. As soon as the first track of their self-titled album starts, it’s clear ROADS is playing the kind of rock and roll remembered from when it dominated the radio waves; when the only time music was ‘streaming’ was if a compact disc had been tossed into a nearby tributary. 

“It’s no-frills American rock and roll,” Grijalva said. “If that’s your cup of tea or you’ve never tasted it before, this is what we’re serving. It’s just straight up storytelling rock songs.”

Though each member of the band is a working musician with more than a few acts between them, ROADS has become the main priority with the release of their EP. The group isn’t eyeing a major nationwide tour any time soon, but Curry is starting to put out feelers for a trip along the West Coast to play new venues and make new fans along the way. 

“We’re an older band, but we’re not like a dad band,” Curry mentioned. “We’re an original music band and I think that the variety of music we have, we don’t have to be big to be successful. If we can just get together on a tour, West Coast first and then start spreading across, that would be ideal for me.”

The current plan is to also increase their output of recordings available online. Rather than wait to record and put together another EP or an album, Curry is planning to release pairs of songs more frequently, to give fans and prospective fans more songs they can look forward to seeing live and sing along to at live shows. 

“We’ve been fortunate with our shows that we do have so-called repeat customers,” Grijalva added. “They keep coming back, they know the songs. So, now they have it on record, you know? The record’s out, it’s there for them to enjoy and memorize and they can sing along at every show moving forward.”

For people looking to check ROADS out and get an idea of their sound, Curry recommends checking out the songs “Help From a Friend” and “Blindside.”

The ROADS and Forever Goldrush show at the Green Room Social Club in Placerville starts at 7 p.m. Dec. 19 and will run until around 11 p.m. Tickets are available here.