by Rachel Green
Daily Lobo
Members of Slippery Weazel are street musicians by default.
Since vocalist and guitarist Ryan Inman is under 21, the local grunge band can't play in bars.
After the three members - who are all named Ryan - were reprimanded by police for playing music on the street, drummer Ryan McComas asked members of City Council in December for permission to play Downtown using the city's electricity. Councilor Isaac Benton, a fan of the band, helped it get the go-ahead.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
Every Saturday from 11 p.m. to 2 a.m., Slippery Weazel plugs its public-address system into a streetlight outlet on Fifth Street and Central Avenue and plays on the street. Bassist Ryan Smith said at first, only a few people stopped to watch the band, but now, up to 70 people gather on some nights.
"It took on a life of its own," he said.
The band members have more than 20 original songs on their regular set list. They also hand out demo CDs to spectators and accept donations.
"We have a guitar case on the street for people to throw dollar bills in, so we're like street merchants," Smith said. "And the money we made off that, we recorded with."
Smith said that even though the band would like a career in music, it's not about the money.
"It's not easy, but it's fun," Smith said.
All three members agree they would rather play in a garage for a small audience than in a large auditorium for thousands of people.
"You can relate to your audience so much more when you're playing in a small environment where there are a few people who are listening to you," Inman said.
Most of the band's songs are about love or spirituality. Smith said he won several poetry contests in school, including a national poetry contest.
Inman said the band writes music with its audience in mind.
"You write songs because you're going to play them as a band, and you're going to feed off of that, and you're going to feed off the people you're playing it to," he said.
Inman said that as long as the band doesn't lose its passion for writing music, it won't ever sell out.
"People have this image of selling out and think every big band sold out," he said. "The way I see it, if you're writing music to write music and doing it for the purpose of playing music, then you're not selling out."
Smith said he writes because he wants to share his love for music.
"The reason I started writing music was because I wanted to give other people the opportunity to feel the way I do when I listen to music that I love," he said.
Slippery Weazel is waiting until Inman turns 21 to get more gigs, but in the meantime, it has plenty of goals.
"I want to play on 'Saturday Night Live' and win a Grammy," Smith said.
