I think it’s safe to say that San Diego folk-punk/bluegrass outfit Sledding With Tigers are pretty big fans of the 1996 seminal sports classic Space Jam. Just over two years ago they released a track to YouTube accurately titled ‘The Plot of Space Jam in a Nine Minute Song’, which proved to be a massive hit amongst their fan base. For obvious reasons.
Now fast forward to May 2014, and in an attempt to gain support to keep a local music venue open, Sledding With Tigers vocalist Dan Faughdner promised that if his tweet of the petition to save the venue was retweeted 1,000 times, he would record a whole album about Space Jam. With the goal reached, Faughdner made good on his promise and we now have Come On And Slam in the world.
Speaking on the writing and recording process Faughdner said, “Halfway through this process, I think I really started to regret ever telling anyone that I would write an entire concept album about Space Jam, but now, I’m actually pretty stoked on it. I think I might be the only person self-centered enough to take the plot of a 90s children’s movie, and end up writing a bunch of songs that are secretly about myself. I really hope people like it, but the most important part is that my friends and I had a ton of fun making it.”
The album is some straight up folk punk fun, with the band’s signature tongue-in-cheek lyrics. Sometimes there doesn’t need to be a great artistic or monetary reason for an album to exist, it just needs to. This is definitely one. And with recent news about the possibility of a Space Jam 2 surfacing, the hype for Space Jam is probably at its highest since the release of the original film.
