admin | The Che Underground

Shots of the Hearts

March 27, 2019April 27, 2008 by admin

“Hello again, Matthew,” writes Tell-Tale Hearts guitarist and stand-up guy Eric Bacher. “I’m sending a couple of photos for your future archives. One of the early TTHs in action, and one as I want to be remembered.”

Anything this online vehicle can do to burnish the Legend of Eric Bacher will be done! The Tell-Tale Hearts were close cousins to the Che Underground crew, and Mr. Bacher is a spiritual brother and a stalwart of this blog adventure (as are cherished fellow travelers Ray Brandes and Dave Klowden). Seeing his much-mourned green Gretsch in action evokes a lump in throat (and fond memories of our plans for month-long Bo Diddley jams).

Eric was always one of my favorite folk to hang out with, and I never felt like we did enough of it in our youth. I’m grateful for the time and virtual space to spend with him now!

San Francisco exodus

January 1, 2011April 24, 2008 by admin

Here’s a conversation-starter, or -killer: Most music historians would agree that the Che Underground era came to an end when a substantial percentage of its key participants decamped to San Francisco. Beginning in 1985 with the departures of Jerry Cornelius, Dave Fleminger and the Morlocks, a steady stream of San Diego expats made its way up to the Bay area through the 1990s.

I joined the throng in August 1987, met my wife and had two kids there, and stayed almost 14 years in San Francisco. It’s still my favorite American city; I had two great bands there, of which the majority of the members were beloved old friends from Slow Death; and I never once regretted the move.

And yet … the sense of a music scene just never happened for me in SF the way it did in SD.

The Wallflowers: “Paradise on 4th Avenue”

January 1, 2011April 22, 2008 by admin

As if to provide some karmic yin to “Survive the Jungle”‘s yang, Dave Fleminger just scored a pristine white-vinyl copy of the Mystic Super-Seven Sampler #2, a 1984 release featuring “Paradise on 4th Avenue,” the Phase Two Wallflowers’ homage to San Diego’s Studio 517 and its avatar, Steve Epeneter.

This exquisite single has been crisply digitized into easily digestible MP3 format for Che Underground’s delectation — bon apetit!

“I considered ‘Paradise on 4th Ave’ to be the anthem of the second Wallflowers (like ‘Funland’ was to the first line-up),” writes Dave Rinck, the immortal front man for both deathless incarnations.

“This was recorded by James at The Lab in San Diego in 1985 for the Mystic EP. The line-up is: David Rinck (vocals), Paul Howland (bass), Todd Lahman (guitar), Armando (alto sax), Arturo Reyes (drums).”

Listen to it now!

The Wallflowers: “Survive the Jungle”

January 1, 2011April 21, 2008 by admin

“Ridin’ in an airplane … We’re goin’ back to Vietnam!” Airlifted to us after a quarter-century of exile in Canada, this vicious Wallflowers jam shrieks over Che Underground like a flaming F-15. The instrumental interplay among Paul Howland (bass), Tommy Clarke (guitar) and Aaron Daniels (drums) is simultaneously funky and menacing, and Dave Rinck’s vocals are positively shamanic.

The Che Cafe patio meets the Mekong Delta — with wah pedal!

[Editor’s note: After a false, MPEG-4 start, this file is now an MP3 that everyone can enjoy.]

Listen to it now!

The Answers: “Nowhere”

January 1, 2011April 20, 2008 by admin

A shimmering testament to an amazing band at the height of its powers. “Nowhere” always took my breath away when the Answers performed it live — and 25 years down the road, Dave Fleminger’s evocation of “what time erases” gives me chills.

This track also bears witness to the Answers’ genius for making home recordings sound like landscapes you’d want to live in! Here’s Mr. Fleminger on the genesis of this tape: “Written by little ol’ me …. instrumental track recorded in [drummer] Dave Anderson’s bedroom (the usual practice spot) with one mic on one channel of a Tandberg reel to reel, vocals recorded in the downstairs bathroom at Pat’s house in sound-on-sound mode. June 1983. Fleminger, [bassist Jeff] Lowe, Anderson is the lineup.”

Listen to it now!

Finding the Answers

January 1, 2011April 19, 2008 by admin

When I met them in March 1983, the Answers took the top of my head off, scraped out all the crud and set it on straight … The combined musicianship of guitarist Dave Fleminger, bassist Jeff Lowe and drummer Dave Anderson was on a level I’d never experienced from a local band playing the kind of music I cared about. And the songwriting! Transcendent.

I’d spent a year somewhat isolated from my peers, not getting out so much from Encinitas but listening to a lot of records and imagining the sort of co-conspirators who could synthesize the energy of punk with the emotional complexities of earlier eras. When I met the Answers, it all lined up for me — anything was possible.

Weird scenes inside the gold mine

January 1, 2011April 17, 2008 by admin

How many times have you found yourself playing in a very weird venue? From my very first gig at a chili cook-off through an assortment of busking misadventures, I’ve demonstrated a knack for performing in strange places for unwary/unwilling spectators.

Between the scrap metal and the cross-dressing and the affinity for the Velvet Underground’s second album, Noise 292 was nobody’s idea of a crossover band. One of our oddest gigs was a Jesse Jackson presidential benefit at Pea Soup Andersen’s in Carlsbad, Calif., which we were asked to play by a friend of Wendell’s parents.

Rockin’ Dog makes good

December 11, 2017April 14, 2008 by admin

Rockin’ Dogs drummer turned celebrated New York film critic Cole Smithey gives some love to his old posse in this Q&A with online movie powerhouse Rotten Tomatoes: “A lifelong artsy kid, he bounced around the entertainment industry pursuing varied interests for years: playing drums for the Rockin’ Dogs in San Diego; working as an actor in San Francisco; temping for a studio in New York City. In 1997 he began his career as a professional critic covering films great and small, and he hasn’t looked back since.” (Well, only occasionally, and we hope with fondness.)

New flyers! New fun!

January 1, 2011April 13, 2008 by admin

As the Che Underground history tour gains speed, I keep getting the greatest stuff from all you wonderful people! Thank you for every beautiful audiovisual scrap of it — my biggest challenge is finding the time to move it all online and the technique to present it to its best advantage, but it’s all appreciated and will ultimately have a happy home here.

Our flyer gallery is picking up steam, as is our performance history page. (To create a nice frame of historical reference while keeping things manageable, I’m concentrating on the years 1981 through 1985 … But I want to hear about what years and what assets are important to you.) The related bands section is also slowly gaining traction; authors and bands welcome. Please visit — and please help fill in the many gaps that still exist!

BoboStock!

January 1, 2011April 9, 2008 by admin

The recent invocation of legendary San Diego scenester Bobo reminded me that Bruce Haemmerle donated an extremely valuable curio to the Che Underground collection: recto and verso scans of an actual invitation to BoboStock, Dec. 22, 1982, which featured what eyewitnesses say was a definitive performance by the Answers.

While my own association with the band didn’t begin until March 1983 at the Che Cafe, this event lingered in Bobo hagiography for many years. Here’s an opportunity to amass recollections about the man and the music that shaped a generation.