COCO: bio

C.O.C.O.
The Names Behind the Letters.

Throughout time, the duo or duet has been a staple in music. From the great jazz combos to modern electronic formats, virtually any type of music you can think of can be created with as few as two creative minds. Olympia has been a purveyor of this theory for quite a while. Bands like Kicking Giant, The Softies, C Average and, even more recently, The Need have done much to change the idea of what a “band” is and should be.

The latest addition to this tradition comes to us from C.O.C.O. , a band made up of Chris Sutton, known for his work in Dub Narcotic Sound System moonlighting on drum duties and Olivia Ness on the bass. Both have taken on the responsibility of sharing the vocal duties. Their music is a stripped down rhythm driven soulful blend reminiscent of the Meters or ESG. The two were living in the same house when they started rocking in the basement to the soundtrack of such bands and decided to start taking their afternoon and evening basement sounds to the street level. Olivia had taught herself to play the bass barely over a year prior with no help from her roommate bassist extraordinaire. She had been playing around town previously in the local act Decoy Decoy, which was her first band. Soon after their breakup, C.O.C.O. played their first party in Olympia and started the bodies a-movin’ and the word a-travelin’. Their second show was with local singer/songwriter Dennis Driscoll to a small audience of under 10 people. However, one of those who attended happened to be Chris’s band mate Calvin Johnson who saw the potential for success and asked to record them at Dub Narcotic Studios. So, true to form, they went into the studio while they were still raw and only had two shows under their belt, further contributing to their stripped down sound. One of the songs had only been written the day before and the vocal parts to two of the songs were written on the spot. The entire project took about two days to record. By the time they had finished recording, the word had begun to spread and soon a party in Olympia just wasn’t a party without the soundtrack of C.O.C.O. to get the crowd dancing. The next step; to go on tour to start the bodies moving in other towns. Carrie Brownstein of local superstars Sleater-Kinney recognized their potential and asked them to accompany them on the eastern part of their fall 2000 US tour. The product of their two-day Dub Narcotic shakedown is now available. See you on the dancefloor!