Jimmy Stofer got into a lot of bass-driven bands when he was growing up: Primus, Kings X, the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. Those were his main grooves.
But he didn't start playing bass until he faced the chance of joining a band. "Funny thing about that was, it happened because no one wanted to play bass," Stofer said by phone from Minneapolis. "I mean, everyone wanted to play guitar, drums or sing. And no one wanted to play bass. I wanted to be in a band so much that I chose the bass."
That was 12 years ago, when Stofer was in eighth grade. These days, Stofer, who lives in Denver, plays in a band called the Dualistics. He has also been a stand-in bassist for another Denver-based band, the Fray. "When we started the Dualists, it was just me and drummer Scott Russell. We were making music, and I was playing guitar on some of the tracks. Then we got a gig lined up, and I called the other two — (guitarists) Charley Hine and Tyler Despres — and asked them if they could learn some songs so the gig could go off without a hitch.
"They did, and we started working together. Funny thing was when Scott and I first started working together, we called ourselves the Dualistics because there were two people playing. But after Charley and Tyler joined, the name Dualistics took on a different meaning. We see it as two duos working together."
Late last year, the Dualistics released a seven-song extended-play CD titled "Mirror," which is available on www.cdbaby.com. "When we were writing songs for the EP, we chose some of the more personal songs to appear on it. One song, "Last Closure," was written by Tyler about his parents, and some of the heavy things they went through.
"And last month, we were playing at Red Rocks, opening for the Fray, and Tyler dedicated the song to his mother. We all teared up, but it was cool because it was so personal that we all connected with it."
Stofer said the Dualistics are trying to gain a wider audience by using MySpace on the Internet. "MySpace is a good way for us to get our music and name out there, but at the same time there are so many bands that use it, that we can only hope and pray people find us. But once they do, they keep coming back.
"We've always been a do-it-yourself band. We aren't really looking to sign a multi-million dollar record deal. Alhough if that came up we would look at the offers very closely. But we're in this to make music. We're happy with ourselves and we're just going to see what happens."
If you go
What: Dualistics, Benton Paul
Where: W Talent, 6121 S. Highland Drive
When: Saturday, 7:30 p.m.
How much: $3
Web: www.myspace.com/dualistics
E-mail: scott@desnews.com