Roxbury Saints: The Stage Is Yours

Some bands come together quickly. Others take time to find their moment. Roxbury Saints is the latter, a project that simmered for years, waiting to ignite.

It started in the 2000s, when Dan Cunneen and Randy Lee Fader were fixtures in Seattle’s freewheeling post-grunge scene. Dan, the hard-swinging drummer and leader of Seattle’s Nightcaps, packed clubs with their raucous blend of lounge, jump swing, and vintage pop. Meanwhile, The Dusty 45s (with Randy on guitar) were lighting up stages and earning a rep as one of the city’s premier rockabilly/Americana bands. Both groups were local powerhouses, filling venues and making waves beyond the Pacific Northwest.

Despite their different lanes, Dan and Randy recognized a shared musical DNA: hooks, soul, and a love for the unexpected. They talked about starting a band that fused their worlds, but life, timing, and other projects kept it on the back burner.

Then the pandemic hit. Everything stopped. Out of that stillness Dan created Showdown—a single and video where he stepped out from behind the drums and took the mic for the re-imagined ELO classic.

The experience reignited Dan’s fire for songwriting and performing. So, when the world opened back up, he and Randy finally brought their long-standing vision to life.

When it came time to build the band, Dan and Randy didn’t just look for players; they looked for partners. They brought in Mark Wooten and Jason Reavis to solidify the group as a true four-piece collective. Mark, a veteran of Zipgun and American Flats, provided a melodic weight on bass that anchored the melodies. Jason, whose background includes Jaguar Paw and The Boss Martians, brought a level of power and control behind the drums that gave the songs their edge.

By the time the four of them hit the rehearsal room, the Roxbury Saints were no longer a concept. They were a complete rock and roll unit. While Dan leads the charge and Randy provides the signature guitar work, the band relies on the shared history and veteran chemistry of all four members to drive their sound.

Roxbury Saints pull from jagged new wave, deep soul, desert noir, and blues-adjacent swamp, all in service of a rock band hitting its stride. Tony Joe White, Black Pumas, and Sturgill Simpson brush up against Gang of Four, MC5 and the B-52s, with shadows of Motown and Stax, Lee Hazlewood, 1960s Waylon Jennings, and Nick Cave, and the torch-song cool of Peggy Lee and Oscar Brown Jr., loungey, longing, a little dangerous.

No two songs hit the same, some burn slow, some blow the doors off, like a certain white album where “Blackbird” and “Helter Skelter” live side by side.

Fueled by a punk rock, working-class ethos, Roxbury Saints make music that refuses easy labels. If pressed, Dan Cunneen shrugs and calls it “swamp, rock, and soul,” which is close enough to be useful and loose enough to remain honest.

Yes, these are 20th-century boys, but they’re no nostalgia act. Roxbury Saints is the culmination of years of experience and an unshakable belief that this is the music they were meant to make.

For anyone who thinks it’s too late to step into the spotlight, Roxbury Saints emphatically say: The stage is yours. Take it.

—Herb Neely, 2025