Localized: Slow Potion

This jazzy Localized lineup on May 28 features headliners Slow Potion and Chegoya for a sax-filled serenade. Doors to Kilby Court open at 7:00 p.m. and Teddy P kicks off the jam at 8:00 p.m. Tickets for this Riso-Geist-sponsored event are just $5!

The key to any good band name, according to Slow Potion, is finding two words that sound good together that haven’t been co-opted by anyone else. The name Slow Potion achieves just that. Established two years ago, Slow Potion has been gracing the Salt Lake Valley with smooth jazz ever since.

Consisting of a whopping eight members, Slow Potion has an entire percussion and brass outfit. Alex Renola is their lead vocalist, with Sam Schultz on bass, Scott Seibert on keys, Quinn Diaz on guitar and Levi Ollerton on drums. In the brass section, Zane Peterson plays saxophone, Tyler Webb plays trumpet and Dylan Wolfe is on trombone. Working with so many members requires lots of communication and patience.

The band’s name meets their criteria and really shows what the band is about—making slow, jammy jazz. “It just kind of felt good when we heard it,” says Ollerton of the name. “We have a lot of chill songs, so it kind of works out.” Pretty much all of the members have been playing in Slow Potion since the very beginning, and before the group’s formation, the majority of the members played together in a different band. “We’ve been playing together for…I think we figured about like six or seven years,” Renola says. While the members each have their own professional musical projects, Slow Potion truly is a passion project. “We all study jazz,” Schultz says. “Every single one of us studied [jazz] in school.”

“We have a lot of chill songs, so it kind of works out.”

While the band falls under the umbrella of jazz fusion, they pull inspiration from many different genres of music, including soul, R&B and even progressive rock. “We all bring our own sound to the band,” says Seibert. He’s in charge of most of the songwriting, but each member has a part in the creation of the group’s music. “[Seibert writes] a lot of songs. We got a few songs from Tyler [Webb] in there as well,” Ollerton says. “[Schultz has] brought some really cool stuff to Slow Potion before.”

Since the group has been playing together for so long, they have developed a formula for song creation. “One of us will pretty much do a whole arrangement of the song and then bring it to the band,” explains Schultz. “And then, a lot of the time, more collaboration will happen later on in the process.” Occasionally, two or three members will get together and write a song together, but most of the collaboration among the group happens in the practice room.

“One of us will pretty much do a whole arrangement of the song and then bring it to the band.”

Since the SLC jazz scene has exploded in recent years, Slow Potion have found more and more opportunities to play. However, the dismantling of the SLC jazz concert series at the Capitol Theatre has certainly been a blow to aspiring jazz artists in the area. “It was terminated, I think last year, just because they didn’t have enough funding for it to bring in artists,” Ollerton says. “So I think that’s a blow to the jazz scene.”

As of March 2024, Slow Potion can now officially be found on Spotify with their debut single, “Confirmation.” The jump from live to recording has been a learning curve. “I feel like we kinda do it like a little inverse to how a lot of bands do it,” Renola says. “We very much like to play test things before we release them.”

As the band dives more into recording, jazz fans should rejoice! Look out for a Slow Potion EP soon. You can also find Slow Potion on Instagram at @slowpotionslc and catch them at Localized on May 28!

Read more Localized interviews here:
Localized: The Alpines
Localized: Sharing