HOWDY NEIGHBOR

I had lunch with my friend Doug today, fish and chips at the cafe on the pier. Fucking awesome. It was kind of pricey but it was so much food, Three big ass pieces of fish, tons of fries, coleslaw and one jalapeno popper. You could easily make two meals. Anyway, as I was at a loss for an idea of what to post, I thought I'd post Doug's old band the Xterminators. again. That's him in the red shirt. Back then he went by DT. It's been a few years since I posted these so no bellyaching.

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Listen:
The Xterninators - Microwave Radiation mp3 at Killed By Death.
The Xterminators - Occasional Lay mp3 at Killed By Death Go there to get it.

NOT FIGHTING IT

I had it all planned out. I knew what I was going to post tonight. Then I ran into these old Tell-Tale Hearts songs and everything went out the window. I'd forgotten how great this band was.

None of these songs are from the LP pictured above. I just dig the photo.

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Listen:
The Tell-Tale Hearts - It's Not Me mp3 at Mr. Suave
The Tell-Tale Hearts - I Get Up In the Morning mp3 at Che Underground
The Tell-Tale Hearts - Smokes (live) mp3 at Che Underground 
The Tell-Tale Hearts - At the River's Edge (live) mp3 at Che Underground

AND LOOK GOOD DOING IT

Here we go, the grand marshals, the Creepy Creeps. Long overdue, this one. These guys aren't really Halloween all year round, they're so Halloween, they don't have to be Halloween, that's how Halloween they are. The whole concept of the band playing exclusively in weirdly cool matching outfits and playing a blend of garage, surf, and old school Northwest punk; isn't that what it's all about? WTF-ness, loud, messy and anonymous? Oh hell yeah. I'll buy a beer just so I can spill it.

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Listen:
The Creepy Creeps - Fink About It (Full LP) at What Are Blood Wings Go there to get it, look for "Download" button at the bottom of the post.
Video:
Play the Sonics:
The Creepy Creeps - The Witch at YouTube
The Creepy Creeps - Boss Hoss at YouTube
And others:
The Creepy Creeps at the Casbah, 2015 at YouTube
The Creepy Creeps @ Adams Avenue Street Fair 2015 at YouTube
Their alter egos:
Creepxotica at Tiki Oasis 2013 at YouTube

SEND IN THE DEADBOLT

You gotta like Deadbolt. No you don't. To your ears they may seem like knuckleheads with minimal chops. Okay, lose that. The fact that their pallet was limited is precisely what was good about them. Admittedly, there are a few things that skew my objectivity. Incident 1: One of the members, I've forgotten which one it was, left the bathroom at the Casbah, the happening club at the time, with the end of a roll of toilet paper stuck in the ass of his jeans, and proceeded to parade towards the main bar pulling a trail of toilet paper behind him. I'm not sure if it was Les Vegas, the drummer, or Harley Davidson, the singer/guitarist. It was the nineties, it was the Casbah, ergo, I was drunk.

Incident 2: San Diego's annual St. Patricks Day Parade, Davidsion, in a green Elvis jumpsuit, sitting atop the back seat of a green convertible Cadillac, riding down the street and waving to the crowd like he was somebody, with the car flanked by the rest of the band running along side like Secret Service agents.

Incident 3: Fluf, another San Diego band big at the time, had just played in the parking lot of Tower Records. A decent sized crowd was sort of hanging out after they finished. Deadbolt dives by, slowly, in their van, with the side door slid open all the way. They wanted everybody in that crowd to see Davidson sitting in the back seat guzzling a quart of Bud as they were driving away. Why? Because they were Deadbolt. That's all you need to know.

Those are just three random incidents. These types of things were everyday occurrences. You could never figure out whether they were taking the piss out of themselves, or if they were taking the piss out of you. They rarely broke character. Even at small gatherings, there was some Deadbolt in them. I'm speaking in the past tense, because the Deadbolt I know includes Les Vegas and he left early on. After that, with a often changing succession of band members, it became more of the Harley Davidson show. Which doesn't mean it's is less valid. But Les, jeez, he can chew his own arm off, and he has a tongue like a snake. Yeah.

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Listen:
Deadbolt - Voodoobilly Man mp3 at Frank McGregor (?)
Deadbolt - Voodoo Doll mp3 at Billy Meade (?)
Deadbolt - Tiki Man mp3 at Frank McGregor (?)

STILL NOT DRESSING UP

It's that time again. With Halloween right around the corner, it's time to dump a bunch of Halloween related stuff on you, so if you're on the party planning committee, put your gloves on. All of the right clicking is going to get messy. 

Let's start with a band that always brought it on Halloween, Rocket From the Crypt. For several years running during their original run, every Halloween they played what could only be described as coming out party for all of the local creeps. Some of the shows were big multi-band shows in big venues, and others were just in clubs, but they always played in costume, and they always owned the room.

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Listen:
Rocket From the Crypt - I Drink Blood mp3 at Xtrmntr
Rocket From the Crypt - Rise From the Dead mp3 at Xtrmntr Crazy man.
Rocket From the Crypt - 27 more songs at Xtrmntr
Video:
Rocket From the Crypt - RIP (full show) at YouTube Their "final" show, Halloween 2005, various voodoo-esque get-ups, Reis as an ersatz Screamin' Jay Hawkins
Rocket From the Crypt - Village People Medley/I Drink Blood at YouTube Halloween 2003, dressed as the Village People
Rocket From the Crypt - I Drink Blood, Sturdy Wrists at YouTube Halloween 2013, dressed as astronauts

THE SLOW BUILD

The Nashville Ramblers take their sweet ass time. They've been together since 1985 but have released only one 45. Recorded in 1986, "The Trains" first appeared in the boxed set "Children of Nuggets" in 2005, but the record itself wasn't released until 2011. There was talk a few years ago about a compilation of all of their unreleased recordings, but I haven't seen one. Again, taking their sweet ass time.

Despite living on opposite coasts, the trio still manage a handful of gigs a year and if the live videos are any indication, they haven't lost a step. Which is why I'm kicking myself. They played locally last night and I completely forgot about it until this morning. Never mind the fact that getting out every Friday and Saturday night has lost some urgency in the past several years, I've got no excuse for this one. I know the members, one as far back as high school, and I consider all three among the best musicians to come out of San Diego in the last several decades. You might say I fucked up.

Their sole 45 was put out by Ugly Things. Here's your official alert. There were only 1,000 pressed and there are only six left, as of this moment. That could change really fast. And don't let the price fool you. When it was first released it wasn't priced as high. But Ugly Things' supply was sold out and these last six were in the possession of band members. Believe me, at $20 it's still a bargain, it's that good. Recorded on analog and tube equipment, if it was released in a different time period, say 1965, it would have been a massive hit. Than again, if it would have been released when it was recorded in 1986, it'd already be highly sought after ultra collectable fiend meat. (Wait until they're gone and you'll see what happens.) In a perfect world it would remain widely available, but that ain't happening. It is an imperfect world. America's got talent.

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Listen:
The Nashville Ramblers - The Trains mp3 at Che Underground
The Nashville Ramblers - Fragile Child (streaming) at YouTube Golliwogs (pre-Creedence) cover
The Golliwogs - Fragile Child (streaming) at YouTube Creedence, pre-name change
Video:
The Nashville Ramblers -  Encore at Bordello in LA at YouTube 2010
The Nashville Ramblers - More videos at You Tube Tons, go weed.
Visit: 
The Nashville Ramblers - Profile at SD Reader
The Nashville Ramblers - Facebook page

THE DON VISITS FRONT STREET

Never underestimate the advantages of being an inquisitive teenage music fiend. Back when he was in high school, an old roommate of mine, Paris, had attended a school function that featured a speaker on the topic of Shakespeare. Somewhere during the presentation, the speaker name dropped Bob Marley. This was well before Marley had become a household name in the states. Paris was keen on reggae when few others were, at least few of his friends. Starved for like minded reggae freaks to converse with, he approached the speaker after the event, to talk to him about Bob Marley. The speaker was Roger Steffens, who would later become better known as one of the founders of The Beat, a reggae magazine, and the host of a syndicated radio show Reggae Beat. He's now known as a reggae historian, and one of the worlds foremost experts on the life and career of Bob Marley.

Leroy Smart

Paris and Steffens began a friendship that day, and Paris would become well connected with the reggae community in San Diego, before he had even reached his twenties. At the time I lived with him, he was recording backing tracks for album of his own, released as Mohammed I, as well as backing tracks used by another singer, A. Doeman. He had converted his extra large bedroom, a former sun porch, into a studio to lay down the tracks, and the sounds seeped through the large seven bedroom house night and day. Needless to say, most of his roommates, including myself, were into reggae enough that it wasn't a bother.

During that period, reggae singer Leroy Smart had hired a San Diego based backing band for his U.S. tour and they needed to rehearse before going out on the road. I don't remember the exact circumstances, but through Paris's connections, they ended up rehearsing for the better part of a week in his bedroom studio. We, the roommates, were pleased as punch. Never mind the fact that many of us had never actually heard Smart's records, this was the real deal, a big name from Jamaica. Even those not quite as into reggae knew his name from the Clash's "White Man (In Hammersmith Palais)". At the end of the week, I asked one of the other roommates, Andrew, who shared the bedroom/studio with Paris, if he was going to see Smart on the opening night of the tour. He answered that he wasn't sure, that nothing could really top seeing him sing in his bedroom. How are you going to argue with that?

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Listen:

Leroy Smart - Rich Man mp3 at For the Sake of the Song

Leroy Smart - Too Much Pressure mp3 at Wire Frames (?)

Leroy Smart - I Am the Don (streaming) at YouTube

The Clash - White Man (In Hammersmith Palais) mp3 at Olympus Mons

Visit:

Leroy Smart at Wikipedia

Roger Steffens at Wikipedia

Roger Steffens Archives 

THE MC STOOGES EXPERIENCE

Do you ever have lulls in your local scene, when there are "good enough" bands with well written songs and all of that, bands that are deserved of attention, but not necessarily your attention? Or you may like some of them, but they just don't grab you by your thing down there?. There's just a general lack of  "fuck yeah" bands? It is a joyous day when one of those lulls ends.

I don't remember when I first heard the Schitzophonics, but it probably was a joyous day. The are a volcanic three piece, the guitarist of which is worth the ticket alone. This is a dude possessed, a vulcan mind meld of MC5-era Wayne Kramer and his foot moves, and Hendrix with his single hand thing, with playing that resembles both, and some Ron Ashton thrown in for good measure. This guy, Pat Beers, is just all over the place, and the icing on the cake is a rhythm section that keeps up, bassist Tom Lord and and drummer Lety Beers. This is good shit. Of course it's derivative, who the fuck cares? Chuck Berry was derivative. Don't start.

The party starts at 1:30

 

I was putting off posting these guys, hoping to link to audio goodies, but the live thing is actually better. I hadn't run across any videos that had good sound, until a few days ago. A friend posted a couple and they're a good introduction. Check the one above. The doo-wop bit at the beginning is disarming, but stick around. Yee-haw. Fuck yeah. All of that.

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Listen:
The Schitzophonics - Five songs streaming at Reverbnation
Video:
The Schitzophonics - Part two of above at YouTube

The Schitzophonics - Tons more live clips at YouTube
The Schitzophonics Stone Soul Christmas Revue at YouTube

The Little Richards - Schitzophonics with Robert Lopez (El Vez) at YouTube

THE LIFER

How much of a fiend are you? Check out that photo above, one of the greatest Christmas related photos ever, and tell me, if it was 1966, and you were buddies with a teenage Lester Bangs, what present would you open first? Probably a flat 12" x 12" package, right? And if that package contained a Music Machine LP, hell yeah, you'd stop and snap a photo. The photo was posted by Gary Ràchac, a friend of mine from way back, and the recipient of Santa's dead on selection.

The loot.

Ràchac is one of those guys that a true local music scene is made of, a musician, former record store employee and a man of taste. And he seems to know everybody. He once threw a couch out a fifth floor hotel window. With Keith Moon. One time I stopped by the record store where he worked, and just before I entered I passed an exiting Wild Man Fisher out on the sidewalk. Ràchac had just 86'd him. Ràchac does radio too, with Vince Martell (Vanilla Fudge) and May Pang (John Lennon's squeeze during the "lost weekend" period).  His favorite ball player is Ty Cobb, or at least that's what he told me about twenty years ago. It impressed me. Though Cobb was a son of a bitch, pure and simple, I liked that he liked Cobb. I don't exactly know why. The last time I ran into Ràchac was a few years ago, at one of the Brian Wilson Pet Sounds show.

At the office in the eighties. Photo: Harold Gee

One of the things I like the most about Gary Ràchac is that he represents a local scene lineage, from the mid-late sixties and all the way up to today. He's from the Bangs era, and he's still talking shop with people within the scene that are a generation or two younger. Every major city with a long running music scene probably has a few of people like him in their midst, the mainstays, seeing the scene change and evolve, keeping things real, so to speak. Reminding them that there once was a time when cleats were sharpened.

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Listen:
The Music Machine - Talk Talk mp3 at Sous les Paves, la Plage
The Music Machine - Trouble mp3 at Sous les Paves, la Plage
The Music Machine - Double Yellow Line mp3 at The Rising Storm
Visit:
Gary Ràchac profile at San Diego Reader

HE SOLD "LOUIE LOUIE" FOR $750

You do know Richard Berry right? The guy who wrote "Louie Louie"? Oh jeez, it just occurred to me, there's a possibility that some of you don't even know that song. That thought sort of creeps me out. Anyway, he also wrote "Have Love Will Travel", a song that's been covered by everybody and their mother. I've posted the song before, but I just ran into the version by the Imperialites, who are from San Diego, which is where my ass is planted. So, really, this is for my homies, particularly the one that recommended it to me a year or so ago. To AEC, whoever the hell you are.

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Listen:
Richard Berry - Louie Louie mp3 at Art Decade
Richard Berry - Have Love Will Travel mp3 at Club Cortez 
The Imperialites - Have Love Will Travel mp3 at De Discos y Monstrous
The Sonics - Have Love Will Travel mp3 at Beware of the Blog
The Black Keys - Have Love Will Travel mp3 at The Adios Lounge
Big Sandy - Have Love Will Travel mp3 at Radio George
Louie Louie source, via the Rhythm Rockers:
Rebe Touzet - El Loco Cha Cha Cha (streaming) at YouTube

THE HALLOWEEN BAND

If you're at all familiar with Rocket From the Crypt, you know they were big on Halloween, Their first gig was on Halloween, Their supposed last gig was on Halloween. (That was in '05. In recent years they've reunited.) They always wore matching outfits anyway, but on Halloween, they always took it up a notch. There were skeleton outfits, astronauts, the Village People, jumpsuit era Elvis, and I think one year it was mariachis, A lot of these shows were big, really big, particularly for a local headliner. They were like a coming out party. It wasn't a question of whether you were going, it was a question of who would be stuck with carting your particular group of soon to be drunk knuckleheads around. Good times.

Here's a couple on topic ditties, and a few other things If you're a completist, check out the link to Xtrmntr. There's twenty seven other oddballs. Speaking of oddballs, if you're familiar with them, check out "Rise From the Dead" below. That's some no wave shit baby.

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Listen:
Rocket From the Crypt - I Drink Blood mp3 at Xtrmntr
Rocket From the Crypt - Rise From the Dead mp3 at Xtrmntr
Rocket From the Crypt - 27 more songs at Xtrmntr
Video:
Rocket From the Crypt - RIP (full show) at YouTube Their "final" show, Halloween 2005, various voodoo-esque get-ups, Reis as an ersatz Screamin' Jay Hawkins
Rocket From the Crypt - Village People Medley/I Drink Blood at YouTube Halloween 2003, dressed as the Village People
Rocket From the Crypt - I Drink Blood, Sturdy Wrists at YouTube Halloween 2013, dressed as astronauts

CIVIC PRIDE HOUR

I knew the Rumblers' "Boss", I really dig that song. It is, as the title implies, boss. I knew that it borrowed liberally from another song, but had forgotten what the song was. I just ran into it today, "Caterpillar Crawl", by the Strangers, at On the Flip-Side. Now I also now know that the Strangers were from San Diego, which might interest some of my homies, But the big reason I'm even bringing them up is because they put out some damn fine 100% hot ass instrumentals. Really, check "Rockin' Rebel" and "Hill Stomp".

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Listen:

The Strangers - Caterpillar Crawl mp3 (via DivShare) at On the Flip-Side Note: Once you get to DivShare, click on the small green "Download" button underneath the streaming thing, and scratch your head for fifteen seconds while the timer counts down. When the button reappears, you're good to go.
The Rumblers - Boss mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban

The Strangers - Rockin' Rebel mp3 (via DivShare) at On the Flip-Side

The Strangers - Hill Stomp (streaming) at YouTube

The Strangers - Young Maggie (streaming) at YouTube

The Strangers - A Lost Soul (streaming) at YouTube

Visit:

The Strangers - Profile at Way Back Attack

THE TWO THIRDS KINMAN TRIO

Yesterday my friend the Crippler posted a thing online, asking peope who they thought the all time best ten bands from San Diego were. He got a lot of replies and it was obvious that many of the people were of the same age group, citing a lot of bands from the eighties and nineties. The Crippler, though, goes back a little further. He was but a kid when he started frequenting punk shows, his older brother being Baba Chenelle, the drummer for the Zeros. So his list of bands mentioned some that weren't included on anyone else's list, among them the Dils.

The Dils were an incredibly tight three piece, from the early era of California punk, playing their first San Diego show in 1977. They were living in Carlsbad (roughly twenty miles north of San Diego), while playing Los Angeles and San Francisco regularly, finally moving to San Francisco about a year later, and that's where they hit their stride. They had strong convictions and were considered to the far left politically (their first manager was a self described communist), with songs like "Class War", "I Hate the Rich" and others  with a political bent. Some people thought that their thing was a little over the top, that they were too didactic. But, at the very least, they made people think. Not just about wealth disparity, but about things like ticket prices and labor issues. Do they sound like preaching dullards? Think again. The Dils brought it.

They started out as a four piece, but after the initial line up change became a trio. It was essentially the Chip and Tony Show. because Chip and Tony Kinman, for all intents and purposes, were the Dils. They went through a succession of drummers, but the brothers were the constants. After the Dils ended, they had several other bands together, including Rank and File (also featuring Alejandor Escovedo, formerly of the Nuns), Blackbird, and Cowboy Nation. And they're still playing, Chip in Chip Kinman and PCH, and Tony in Los Trendy.

Entire live set can be found here

But live back then, they had few peers in the West Coast punk scene. As mentioned they were tight, able to hit their spots despite being very animated onstage, Chip Kinman in particular. They had their own sound, early on pretty standard punk rock, with maybe a little Who thrown in, but with their distinctive voices. Tony Kinman had a really low voice, and Chip's was a little higher. Then something happened around the time they moved to SF. They were using harmonies more. Not as in la-la-la, but something closer to one of the Everly Brothers singing with Johnny Cash, in a punk band (they covered "Cathy's Clown" around this time, so yeah). It may not translate in all of the songs below, but believe me, in those sweaty pre-mosh days, that's what they sounded like.

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Listen:

The Dils - I Hate the Rich, and You're Not Blank at Good Bad Music... Go there to get it

The Dils - I Hate the Rich, and You're Not Blank at Killed By Death In case the ones above goes dead

The Dils - Class War, and Mr. Big at Good Bad Music... Go there to get it

The Dils - Class War, and Mr. Big at Killed By Death In case the one above goes dead

The Dils -It's Not Worth It, Sound of the Rain, and Red Rockers at Good Bad Music... Go there to get them.

Video:

The Dils - Live set, 52 minutes at YouTube 1979

Louder, Faster, Shorter - (Clip) at YouTube The Dils followed by the Avengers, Live, Mabuhay (San Francisco) 1978

Visit:

The Dils at Wikipedia

Chip Kinman and PCH at Facebook

Los Trendy/Tony Kinman at MySpace Five songs

NO SHIT, THESE BRICKS ARE FROM '66

Maybe we were spoiled. No, not maybe, we were spoiled. In the early eighties, right about the time punk rock had it's hardcore afterbirth, a San Diego band called the Crawdaddys were playing around town offering another route to wild sounds, steeped particularly heavy in early sixties UK rave-up rhythm and blues shit, with none of the knucklehead pit nonsense. For a few years, they were the only real purist outfit playing around town, and being so, they had their own crowd, total diehards, and not all of them retro nazis. Many were just disenfranchised punk rockers that were just not that easily sucked in by hardcore, and wouldn't go near new wave. It retrospect, we were lucky, because not every scene had an, er, alternative, let alone one that was hard to find fault in.

After a few years, as the Crawdaddys were starting to peter out, another related scene was getting wheels. Mirroring the sixties chronologically, a garage scene developed, spearheaded by the Tell-Tale Hearts, a five piece band that included among its members Mike Stax, the former bassist of the Crawdaddys (now in the Loons and top dog at Ugly Things). Like the Crawdaddys, the Tell-Tale Hearts were more fiendish about period nuances than you or I have the patience for, both musically and visually, and they were good, really good. There were others, namely the Gravedigger V, and later the Morlochs, but the Tell-Tale Hearts really got the whole thing rolling, and they were the real detail freaks. 

I ran across a couple live LPs and there's a good chance that these may not pop up again. Put out by an Australian label, they both had an initial run of only 500 pressed. So, take the single songs for a test run. If you dig them,...you know the rest.

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Listen:
The Tell-Tale Hearts - It's Not Me mp3 at Mr. Suave
The Tell-Tale Hearts - I Get Up In the Morning mp3 at Che Underground 
The Tell-Tale Hearts - Smokes (live) mp3 at Che Underground 
The Tell-Tale Hearts - At the River's Edge (live) mp3 at Che Underground 
The Live LPs:
The Tell-Tale Hearts - A Bitchin Boss Rave Up With the Tell-tale Hearts (live, 1986) at Surfadelic Click on the green "Rave Up!" 
The Tell-Tale Hearts - Later That Same Night In Springfield (live, 1986) at Surfadelic Click on the green "Dig!"
Visit: 
Tell-Tale Hearts at Che Underground Band profile and discography 
Earlier post about the Crawdaddys

SO CAL GETS FUNKY

It's not often that a soul outfit, make that a really good soul outfit, comes out of the local waters here in San Diego. So, it's a no brainer to bring this mob to your attention.  This here is the Styletones, an eight piece that can hold their own against, well, at least any takers here in town.  They've got the ingredients: badass horns, nice drum breaks, killer keys and restrained guitar, with and with out the wah wah.  No clue how widely they're known outside of San Diego, but they're the shit among the locals.

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Listen: 
The Styletones - Jewel In the Heart of a Lotus mp3 at 24.124.1.244
Video: 
The Styletones - Are You Ready (live, Bar Pink, San Diego) at YouTube 
Visit: 
The Styletones official site More music, streaming

OVERTHINK AT YOUR PERIL

I really doubt my objectivity.  Weighing all of the San Diego bands I've heard live and on record, old and new, I still really can't think of a better band than Rocket From The Crypt.  I appreciate their whole thing for a number of reasons, two of which are that they're informed music freaks, and they 're willing to stick their necks out. Here's a couple examples.  One is a nod to Phil Spector's Wall of Sound (at the bottom), and the other a recent "only reunion yet" appearance on Yo Gabba Gabba, a kids show.  The band broke up in 2005 (or thereabouts) and have not played together since, until this performance.  The song is "He's A Chef," and, given the vehicle, it's a total kids song.  I think it's hilarious; John Reis spitting out lyrics so simple that they make Jonathan Richman look like Leonard Cohen.  It really is hilarious, and musically, tight as shit.

He's A Chef, 2012

This song below, "Used," is from the 1995 LP Scream, Dracula Scream.  The album was was their major label debut, on Interscope, and the signing enabled what they rightly assumed might be their only opportunity to go big.  The snarl is still intact, despite the Spector-esque layers in the second half of the song.  It's every rock nerd's fantasy, the opportunity to make a big over-the-top record with ingredients from Spector's Wall of Sound stash, and they made the most of it.

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Listen: 
Rocket From The Crypt - Used mp3 at Ayetunes 
Visit: 
Rocket From The Crypt caters to the coveted preschool demographic with Yo Gabba Gabba! performance at A.V. Club 
Rocket From The Crypt at Wikipedia 
Rocket From The Crypt - Scream Dracula Scream entry at the RFTC Discography

Other Rocket posts

BEST SHOW IN TOWN

It's heard to describe the sense of community and grassroots pipeline of information that was California punk rock in 1977-1978 to someone who wasn't there. At that point, there wasn't the plethora of bands that would come down the pike within the next couple of few years. There were just a handful of bands in each of the major cities, and even the biggest names would play venues with capacities of only a couple hundred or so. No one was making it rich, or necessarily trying to get signed. The labels were small DIY outfits, and many of the deals were done on a handshake (or less). When you wanted to book a band, you might get their phone number from another band, and call and ask that they tell you when they'd be in your area. So it was that a couple friends and I would book shows in a teen disco, rented out one night a week, for a run of Monday nights in the summer of 1978.

One particular night we had a bill that, in retrospect, was a decent representation of where things were at the time. The Avengers from San Francisco, the Last from L.A., and a very early Crawdaddys, from San Diego. It was a good show. And, thanks to a page of a old tour diary, in the booklet that comes with the Avengers' The American In Me posthumous compilation, I see that we paid them $150. I think the sound guy was about $50. Who the hell knows what the Last and the Crawdads were paid. Anyway you look at it, it was a damn bargain.

Just a month later, the Avengers would be in the studio with Steve Jones producing. Those sessions, long out of print, were just reissued in an expanded version today. You can read about it here. Their cuts below are from their first record, released either late '77 or early '78.

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Listen:
The Avengers - We Are The One mp3 at Killed By Death
The Avengers - I Believe In Me mp3 at Killed By Death
The Avengers - Car Crash mp3 at Killed By Death
The Avengers - Corpus Christi mp3 at Combat Music Radio
The Last - She Don't Know Why I'm Here mp3 (via DivShare) at Student Drivers
The Last - Bombing of London mp3 (via DivShare) at Student Drivers
The Last - Century City Rag mp3 (via DivShare) at Student Drivers
The Crawdaddys - Oh Baby Doll mp3 at Che Underground
The Crawdaddys - I'm Dissatisfied mp3 at Che Underground
The Crawdaddys - I Just Don't Understand mp3 at Che Underground

QUIEN ES MAS SKUZZY?

In the mid-80's there was a badass garage scene in San Diego, with more than a few bands that, years later, have well stood the test of time. Like scenes everywhere, there were pecking orders, and different levels of genuineness; and there were different levels of savoriness (or the lack thereof). You know, how some bands seem to be the ladies men, and some just seem to be a little more scuzzy? Back then, I saw quite a few of the bands and my general impression was always that the Gravedigger V, and later the Morlocks, were the really scuzzy ones. They just seemed to have a snottier profile, due in no small part to the lead singer of both bands, Leighton Koizumi. While some singers do a bang-up job of replicating the nuances of a garage-type attitude driven vocal, few are those who seem to be born with that type of voice. It's hard to imagine Koizumi singing anything else. So, far as it may be for me to deem any singer in a band playing music of a bygone era as the real deal, Koizumi comes damn close. And, who's to say it's a bygone era, when the Morlocks have survived, in some incarnation, roughly twenty five years?

The Morlocks have a new LP out, it's all covers of Chess artists (Howlin' Wolf, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddly, etc), and it's a kick. It seemed like reason enough to throw up a bunch of Morlocks and Gravedigger V related links. Dig in scuzzballs.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

The Morlocks - I'm a Man mp3 (right click to save) at Cover Me
(plus album givaway drawing, ends 8/31)
The Morlocks - Killing Floor mp3 (right click to save) at Buzz Bands
The Morlocks - Wake Me When I'm Dead (The Lost LP) (zip) at the Che Underground
The Gravedigger V - She Got mp3 (right click to save) at Mr. Suave
The Morlocks - Teenage Head video at YouTube
The Morlocks - Media dump of the mid-80's at the Che Underground
(3 videos, 4 live mp3s [scroll to bottom of post], and links to photo & flyer pages)
The Gravedigger V - Don't Tread On Me video at YouTube
The Morlocks - Promo clip (ca 2008) at You Tube
"The Morlocks Play the Blues" at the LA Weekly
The Morlocks at MySpace
The Morlocks at Garage Punk Hideout

REST IN PEACE EVIE

There is no easy way to say it. Evie Bibo, one of San Diego's original punk rockers, has passed away. She died of a brain aneurysm, by all accounts suddenly. She was a rare individual who dearly loved rock n' roll (and classic films), yet made it all seem like curtains around the real show, friendship. She was a sweetheart, all substance, no bullshit. Never saw her angry. Ever.

We go way back. She was, at different times, a fellow fan, a roommate, and the object of a crush. But most of all, she was a friend. With all the shared tastes and in-jokes that real friendship implies. I'd lost touch with her, and had just recently reconnected via Facebook. It was enough for me to know that she seemed healthy and happy. Though sad as that sounds, I know that she felt the same way. I knew our paths would cross again at some point.

She was ultra cool. And I mean that as a fan of a friend. It is a rare thing, to be cool without swagger, but she was. If she dug something, you checked it out, because she was always dead on. I think of her everytime I see a listing for "It's a Wonderful Life," and I think of her everytime I hear Johnny Thunders. During my crush phase, I made her a little stuffed doll of a "Too Much, Too Soon" era-Johnny Thunders. During the roommate phase, she turned me on to the Heartbreakers. So I had to post these songs, not of any lyrical relevance, but because they were something we shared. They're cool. But even Thunders couldn't do it without swagger. Evie could.

Goodby sweet Evie. "Stoned yet?"

Johnny Thunders - You Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory mp3
The Heartbreakers - Born to Lose mp3
The Heartbreakers - All By Myself mp3
The Heartbreakers - Chinese Rocks mp3
Above photo: Evie, San Francisco, mid-80's by Jacqueline Ramirez

HERE'S TO THE ALSO RANS

Some records seem to be everywhere when they come out. Even though the pressings were limited, because of small demand, you end up seeing them everywhere right after they're released. This is especially true when they're punk records, about 500 pressed and maybe about 200 record buying punks in the scene when the record comes out. So it was that the Xterminators 45 (which came out about 1979) was overlooked by a lot of people in the San Diego scene. Coming out on Radio Active Records, it was released at roughly the same time as records by label mates the Injections and the Executives. (Who had money for three 45's and beer?)

The Xterminators were on the bill of a lot of shows back then, but rarely headlined. This made the demand for the record even less, especially when the Injections were the token notorious band of the label. And they were pretty humble guys too, definitely not a group that had "a look" or contingent associated with them. I'm not sure if I remember the complete line-up correctly: Doug "DT" Black sang and Terry Horn was the bassist (both pictured above, Horn in the shades), a guy named Juan Ruiz (kind of a scene outsider) was the guitarist and, if memory serves, Danny Ramirez was the drummer (could be wrong on that...). With DT and Terry the only scene regulars, they weren't a band that was highly visible as a unit off stage. Therein another reason why the record never went anywhere...back then.

Fast forward about 25 years and I'm on the receiving end of a call from a punk collector trying to get his hands on any San Diego punk records, the more limited the pressing the better. I passed his phone number on to DT and he's soon selling what remaining copies he had in his possession for something like 50 or 75 bucks. And shortly after that, the songs appear on a German compilation of rare punk singles. Punk record collectors (well any record collector really), are a bunch I've never completely understood, but I will enjoy the fruits of their labor any day of the week. So when the blog Killed By Death posted the Xterminators a few days ago, I wasted no time procuring a little San Diego punk rock history.

Hearing these songs again, unincumbered by scenester factors, I have to say, that they sound a hell of a lot more interesting than they did back then. DT's vocals sound nothing like his regular speaking voice today, but that's not neccessarily what gets me. I had totally forgotten that "Microvave Radiation" had a synthesiser on it (leading one commenter on Killed By Death to compare the sound to the Screamers), and the guitar on "Occasional Lay" sounds like a less produced Derwood Andrews (from the first Generation X album), with a few late song Clash-type chord changes. Regardless, I can't be objective. If you were around back then, you'd probably dig these. If not, there's always the comment section...

The Xterminators - Microwave Radiation and Occasional Lay mp3s at Killed By Death

(Yeah, I know, collectors like to disable direct mp3 links. Oi dude, whatever...)

Photos by Harold Gee