Sometimes you just don’t intend to do what you end up doing — something the members of the funk band Cool Cool Cool, who play The Arts Campus at Willits (TACAW) on friday night, know something about.

“All the members of this group started out in a band called Turquoiseand we toured for many years, but that stopped shortly after the pandemic,” said Chris Brouwers, who plays trumpet, keyboards and synths. “We left that group fully intending not to start a new band together. We said, ‘We’ve done it. We enjoyed it, but we’re going to go on and do other things.'”

But that stance was short-lived. Brouwers explained that while the band members were separated, they continued to receive requests from friends and fans to play shows. After playing a few successful “random” shows where they mostly covered other musicians since they hadn’t written any original songs yet, the group decided to form a new band and inexplicably named it Cool Cool Cool.

And while it’s tempting to think the band’s name is a nod to a specific pop culture reference, the truth is it’s more about their general approach to touring and performing.

“When you’re on the road and touring, sometimes times are tough. You show up at a venue, and the sound engineer is an hour late, and they have no hospitality for you, or they’ve double-booked a show with another band, and you have to assemble all your equipment on the floor in front of the stage. And it’s like, “OK, this is what we’re dealing with tonight, guys.” And the answer would be, “cool, cool, cool.” and that has been our motto: don’t let other people bring you down, Brouwers explained.

The relaxed atmosphere is an integral part of their sound. It’s hard to fit a modern band into a single genre these days, especially a band like Cool Cool Cool who are fronted by two female vocalists and incorporate elements of funk, house, disco, rock and roll, jazz and R&B into their shows. Ultimately, the main goal is to get the audience moving.

“We really try to be a dance band. Everything we do as a group is for people to dance with and have a good time, he said.

The band has spent a lot of time on the road together and although they are now scattered across the country in different cities and states, their long association and relationship makes it easier to meet and perform.

Brouwers said he is excited to be back in Colorado this week but is especially looking forward to playing in the Roaring Fork Valley at TACAW for the first time.

“We’ve always had great experiences throughout Colorado,” he said. “I hope everyone who comes out and sees the show says, ‘Wow, I didn’t know I’d see that kind of show in this place.’ When I came here for this night, I thought it was going to be fun, but I didn’t realize it was going to be like that.”

Sarah Girgis is the arts and entertainment editor for The Aspen Times. She can be reached at 970-429-9151 or [email protected].