While talking with Brent Best of Slobberbone, one of his songs came on over the jukebox at Rubber Gloves.
"Can you turn that down? I'm trying to do an interview," he grins and hollers, amused with his own failed attempt at pretension.
After 13 years in the underground limelight, enjoying more success than most bands dare dream of, Denton's own Slobberbone has found its way back home for a final hurrah before wiping its brow and throwing in the towel.
This Friday and Saturday night, Slobberbone will play its final farewell shows to a sold-out crowd at Dan's Silverleaf.
Slobberbone formed in Denton in 1992 as a rebel-rousing party band. When Best and drummer Tony Harper graduated from college in 1993, they decided to take their show on the road in lieu of the impending responsibility of a nine to five grind.
"We have a horrible name," Best said. "We're not necessarily pretty people, and we never really got radio play outside of college radio. So, the only way for us to build anything is just by touring like mad."
They eventually started gaining momentum, playing all over America and touring with the likes of Cheap Trick and the Old 97s. By 1997, they were playing over 250 shows per year, including packed areas of thousands in Europe. In February of 2003, they landed a gig performing on the Craig Kilborn Show.
In the midst of their near celebrity status, the band always came home to play Denton between tours.
"Denton was a very supportive town and still is," Best said. "We never moved because a lot of what I sing about is from Denton. It's got a history of being a cool creative musical place. It's never really been touched by the outside. It hasn't had a chance to get screwed up by other people coming in and trying to use it to their advantage."
The constant touring was taking a toll, and in the winter of 2003, they decided to take a break and never fully recovered.
"We loved what we were doing so much," Best said. "At some point, you grow and get older, and your needs change.
Slobberbone played a few shows in 2004, but band members were marrying off left and right, bassist Brian Lane was moving to Florida and priorities were changing.
Last fall, the group decided to retire the act.
After a short farewell tour of the Midwest earlier this month, the group came home to Denton for a final send off.
"Slobberbone has had a most profound influence on my sensibilities," said Dan Mojica, owner of Dan's Silverleaf. "They leave us, but we'll see them again in the next room."
The band refuses to look back on its career in anything but a positive light.
"We literally started to play a friend's party to try to get free beer years ago," Best said. "You don't call your band Slobberbone thinking you're going to do anything and make a living off of it. We've done way more than we ever thought."
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