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The Sidewinders/The Sand Rubies 1985-Present They formed as the Sidewinders in 1985, and thrived in the late 80's and early 90's, releasing their debut album independently in '87 before signing to Mammoth and releasing two more albums while touring regularly by Don Jennings, host of KXCI's Locals Only The songwriting team of Dave Slutes and Rich Hopkins are the musical equivalent of that bad relationship that you can't escape because the chemistry is oh so good. You keep going back thinking that you can forget your differences and relive all the great moments while also creating something new and exciting. Slutes and Hopkins have managed to do just that for two decades.

They formed as the Sidewinders in 1985, and thrived in the late 80's and early 90's, releasing their debut album independently in '87 before signing to Mammoth and releasing two more albums while touring regularly. Legal issues forced a name change to the Sand Rubies in '92, just as the band was signed to RCA. The lack of support from RCA forced the band to move on to Chyrsalis/EMI, and then later to Atlas/Polygram.

The well-publicized strife between Slutes and Hopkins was due in large part to the legal difficulties the band faced in dealing with the myriad of labels all laying claim to their piece of the Sand Rubies pie. Throughout it all, the band has broken up and reunited numerous times, and continued to release albums on Hopkins' own San Jacinto Records label. And while the vicious breakup/makeup cycle may ultimately be torturous to the pair of songwriters, long-time fans of the Sand Rubies continue to reap the rewards of the Slutes-Hopkins collaboration and are occasionally treated to live shows from the band.

These days, Dave Slutes fronts the highly entertaining local cover band, the Zsa-Zsa's, and Rich Hopkins is quite prolific with his project the Luminarios, frequently releasing albums on his San Jacinto Label.

This Labor Day weekend, the original Sidewinders lineup of Slutes, Hopkins, Mark Perrodin, Diane Padilla, and Bruce Halper will be reuniting for the Club Congress 20th Anniversary celebration. Nearly 40 bands will be performing over the 3-day event, 20 of which will be reuniting specifically for the occasion. More information about the event can be found HERE