Based in North Park, TapWater is a jam band that blends rock, funk, Latin, jazz, bluegrass, country, blues, and pop music intended to make you happy. Band members have included Steve Moore (FuseBox), Timmy Jones, Rudy Slizewski, Ravi Laird, Wes Elliott, and Simon Lucas.
Band manager Anne Tropeano recounts a stroke of good luck the band had while on a five-month tour in late 2006 and visiting Tree Sound Studios in Georgia, operated by Paul Diaz.
“When we walked in, we were blown away. The place was gorgeous. Gold records from big names like Elton John, Whitney Houston, REM, Sevendust, and Outkast hung on the walls.” After meeting the owner, “Paul said ‘Hey, let’s go into the studio, it will be more comfortable there.’ He took us through this gorgeous hallway and into the studio.”
“We found out later this was voted the number-one recording studio in 2005 [and] is entirely carbon neutral and draws half its power from methane gas created at a local landfill...we took a deep breath, smiled, and played our best ‘Spring Jubilee.’ Apparently they dug it, because Paul said, ‘Hey, I just got this new microphone. Would you like to get some of this down? I need to break it in for my trip next week.’
The band ended up staying around five hours, getting around nine songs down. “It’s a one-track recording, and he mixed us by placing the guys certain distances from the mic. At one point, Paul said, ‘I’d be happy to give you this recording. You can use it for whatever you want...just put my name on it.’”
TapWater’s 2012 full-length Too Dark to Blink was produced by seven-time Grammy
winner Steve Berlin of Los Lobos, with guest players from bands like War, the Motet, and the Fabulous Flames, who were James Brown’s backing group.
The band’s music is heard in the film Dream Result, which earned a People’s Choice Award and Best Original Score Award at the 2011 Banff Mountain Film Festival. In 2012, Rudy Slizewski was commissioned to compose the theme songs for four different internationally released films, all underwritten by TEVA.