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Rockin’ Dogs: “Back of Your Heart”

July 4, 2009May 15, 2008 by admin

I am very excited to unleash another track from the Rockin’ Dogs’ legendary AccuSound sessions, and a personal favorite in the Che Underground canon. “Back of Your Heart” has me hooked; the Link Wray chicken-scratch lick just before “Your bo-o-oy” is another addictive Dogs signature, Cole Smithey’s drumming is especially sharp on this number, and I love the call-and-response on the chorus.

Listening to all these great recordings from that era, the Rockin’ Dogs’ background vocals are a welcome anomaly. Does anybody remember why so few of us were singing together in those days? Was it the shortage of mics in our garages, teenage reticence or a fear of coming across like Spinal Tap’s graveside rendition of “Heartbreak Hotel”? Whatever was stopping us, I wish more of us had put our voices together as effectively as Sam and Dave.

She gets confused … Flying over the dateline

December 11, 2017May 14, 2008 by admin

Yesterday Kristi Maddocks, Tom Ward and I (Matt R.) had a reunion lunch (at the fabulous uptown Vynl restaurant on NY’s Columbus Ave.), and we were comparing notes on our respective migratory patterns since leaving San Diego.

The conversation turned to a subject I’d planned to raise here: While many of us used LA as an occasional or frequent playground in our youth, it seems most of the expats on this blog made a beeline to San Francisco once they’d decided to leave San Diego.

A Che lexicon

July 4, 2009May 12, 2008 by admin

Linguistics 101: Along with costumes, ceremonial gatherings and dietary rules, communities employ language as a richly symbolic tool of inclusion and exclusion. The convergence of microenvironments that created the Che Underground united a mob of very clever youngsters, most of them extremely verbally adept. Each sub-scene seemed to have its own patois, and the resulting Tower of Babel continues to invite analysis lo these many years later.

A few examples we’ve already explored: “LUTAN!”; “Taste the fury, Babyface”; “the grinding wheel” and “rule the wasteland.”

Let’s discuss FONO, Vault XIII, Circle 5, laal, Stanky Pickle and the rest of the San Diego underground’s oral tradition. What were we talking about, anyway?

Can you hear me now?

December 11, 2017May 10, 2008 by admin

We were all connected by music back in the day, but I hope our musical adventures aren’t all retrospective. Time to look beyond the Reagan Administration for inspiration!

What have you created since 1985 that we can share here on Che Underground: The Blog?

Putting my MP3s where my mouth is, I’ll go first. Here are two tracks that live on a nascent site dedicated to the Amazons, my aforementioned San Francisco-based acoustic trio. “Tales of Brave Procrustes” and “Roll Like Sisyphus,” recorded at the Amazons’ farewell gig March 2001 (with the fabulous Lemons Are Yellow), are two installments of an unfinished triptych (Greek mythology-themed, in keeping with the Amazonian imagery). The unwritten Icarus song has been percolating for nearly a decade, and maybe sharing these tracks will shake it loose at last.

Another side of Dave Klowden

March 27, 2019May 9, 2008 by admin

To celebrate the diversity of the early-’80s San Diego underground (and shamelessly solicit contributions to Che Underground’s Related Bands page), here’s a double-decker salute to David “GI” Klowden, nimble navigator of the San Diego scene and keystone of 5051, the Mystery Machine and the Tell-Tale Hearts.

Side One: “El Salvador” from 5051’s 1981 seven-inch. David Klowden (vocals); Sam Topper (guitar); Squirrel Oberg (guitar); Scott Harber (bass); Joel Roop (drums)

Side Two: “She’s Not Mine,” recorded in 1983 by the Mystery Machine. Ray Brandes (vocals, tambourine); Carl Rusk (six-string Guild Starfire, 12-string Rickenbacker 370-12, vocals); Mark Zadarnowski (bass); Bill Calhoun (Vox Jaguar); David Klowden (blue Japanese Majestic drumset).

What a difference two years make!

“Who’s the OLD dude?”

December 11, 2017May 5, 2008 by admin

Time for a little topical palate-cleanser after all this rear-view mirror-gazing: I want to know if we really are the people our parents warned us about. (Well, not mine, considering some of their friends — but maybe yours. Maybe.)

Here’s the question: If you had the chance to spend half an hour chatting with yourself ca. 1983, what would the 1983 you have to say about the 2008 you? (Let’s say you couldn’t reveal your identity or tell yourself to buy Microsoft.)

Lemons Are Yellow: “Thousand Island”

January 1, 2011May 4, 2008 by admin

A true Che Underground supergroup — comprising David Fleminger (guitar, vocals); Kristin Martin (bass guitar, vocals); Paul Kaufman (guitar, vocals); and Ed Meares (drums) — Lemons Are Yellow first formed in high school, then regrouped in the San Francisco Bay area in the early oughts to create an amazing CD titled “Destroy All Music.”

“Thousand Island” off that 2006 album is a rip-snortin’ salute to El Cajon Blvd. Denny’s of early-’80s San Diego legend and to the waiter there who was rumored to provide patrons who requested “coffee with” a little something extra on the side. How’d you like your coffee with?

(N.b.: Che Underground: The Blog does not condone the use of illicit substances, except to propel a good lyric. The views expressed in “Thousand Island” are humorous and reflect neither Che Underground’s zero-tolerance house policy nor any verified menu practices employed by the Denny’s restaurant chain past or present. Please keep your comments theoretical.)

Listen to it now!

Under the ‘hood

January 1, 2011May 2, 2008 by admin

Let’s talk about how geography shaped the San Diego underground. Rockin’ Dog Dave Ellison cogently observed that San Diego “was big enough that you had enough like-minded, creative kids from different parts of the city coming together to start bands and play shows together … but small enough for musicians and bands to have a sense of community.” Our gatherings brought together eclectic pockets of North County, downtown and inland musicianship; every exit on the freeway seemed to point to a different little scene.

From my perch in Encinitas, Hair Theatre represented the underground’s Carlsbad-Oceanside bloc; the Rockin’ Dogs proved Poway was cooler than I knew; and each high school downtown seemed to have allotted a special smoking wall to a smart, edgy, aesthetically acute fringe element.

How do you map San Diego music ca. 1980-85? Where were the epicenters, and where were you?

The Answers: “Lucifer Sam”

January 21, 2018May 1, 2008 by admin

The Answers’ sizzling cover of the mini-masterpiece “Lucifer Sam” by Syd Barrett’s Pink Floyd was a catalyst for myriad musical adventures.

Tell-Tale Heart Eric Bacher recently recounted how bandmate Dave Klowden’s urging to come watch the Answers play “Lucifer Sam” changed his musical life; it’s a tale eerily similar to my own memory of Noise 292’s David Rives insisting I run to watch a San Diego band that was actually covering Barrett! (I’ve long regretted that the Answers’ absence from the UCSD gig with the Three O’Clock prevented us from instigating a mass “Lucifer Sam-off.”) Gravedigger V and Nashville Ramblers vet Tom Ward also vividly recalls the Answers’ “Lucifer Sam” a quarter-century after the fact. It’s astounding the effects two-and-a-half minutes of music can wreak!

This viral gem was recorded in February 1983 and features Dave Fleminger (guitar, vocals); Jeff Lowe (bass); and Dave Anderson (drums). It’s spiky and wonderful, and it still holds the creative fizz of that moment of musical discovery.

Listen to it now!

Noise 292: “Talking in Circles”

January 1, 2011April 29, 2008 by admin

Here’s “Talking in Circles,” the first of three compositions in the Che Underground archives by Noise 292 guitarist extraordinaire David Rives.

Dave and I played our first gigs together (Hair Theatre vocalist Sergio actually recalls watching us playing the Oak Crest Junior High School talent show in 1977), and he was my original guitar hero. This piece — which I believe was recorded in summer ’83 at the Che Cafe itself — showcases his formidable skills as a writer and performer.

Of all the rekindled connections on Che Underground, this one runs deepest for me.

Listen to it now!