Artifacts | The Che Underground

The Ho Hos: “Gina Says/Infinite Prague”

January 1, 2011October 12, 2008 by admin

Here’s a first entry for the new Che Underground YouTube channel: a 1994 desktop-video experiment by the Ho Hos, the band of San Diego expats I co-founded in mid-’90s San Francisco.

This production portrays a shortened version of my song “Gina Says/Infinite Prague,” another recording from our 1993 Mr. Toad’s demo session. (The video was ostensibly prompted by a long-forgotten MTV contest that compelled audio producer Jason Brownell to trim one verse and the solo, bringing it below the requisite three-minute mark.)

Noise 292: “Eyesight”

January 1, 2011October 10, 2008 by admin

Noise 292 fan turned rock ‘n’ roll anthropologist Stefan Helmreich joins our ranks with a collection of tracks, including this late live performance of the band performing my early composition “Eyesight.”

“I recently stumbled across your Ché Underground site and was delighted to read such loving accounts of those long-ago days and nights,” Stefan writes. “I was still in high school — a year behind [Noise 292 percussionist] Wendell [Kling], then a senior at at San Dieguito — when I went to to the Nov. 17, 1983, Noise show, which stunned my then 17-year-old sensibilities and tracked me toward discovering Joy Division; the Velvets; and, soon enough, prompted me to start my own band.

When Garris met Cornelius

March 27, 2019October 1, 2008 by admin

I find the pedigree of this flyer in the Tom Goddard Collection colorful enough to stand on its own: an advertisement for the Tell-Tale Hearts’ April 28, 1984, appearance with Manual Scan and the Trebles at Point Loma’s Syndicate that appears to bear the imprint of two of San Diego’s most intriguing flyer artists and raconteurs.

The side-by-side signatures at the lower right of the flyer indicate the piece was signed by “SFG 84” as well as the protean Jerry Cornelius. While “SFG” and the style of the Edward Gorey/Alice in Wonderland imagery point to Steve “Fuckin’ ” Garris, Tell-Tale Heart Ray Brandes expresses certainty that the band never commissioned San Diego’s self-proclaimed “King of the Punks” to create a flyer on its behalf.

The Morlocks in flyers

January 1, 2011September 28, 2008 by admin

Tom Goddard’s trove of flyers continues to bear dividends for Che Underground: The Blog. Today’s bequest from the Goddard Collection features show pieces from the Morlocks’ 1984 and 1985 performances in San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco, created by artists including Jerry Cornelius and Kristen Tobiason.

“For more information, call [Tell-Tale Hearts bassist] Mike [Stax],” reads the Tobiason flyer in the lead spot of this post. “If he ain’t home, call [Morlocks guitarist] Ted [Friedman] … If he ain’t home, call [Morlocks bassist] Jeff [Lucas] … ,” providing phone numbers for each. Now that’s customer service!

Ray Brandes: “Monkey Planet”

March 27, 2019September 25, 2008 by admin

(Tell-Tale Heart/Town Crier Ray Brandes channels his simian muse with the story behind the song.)

I wrote “Monkey Planet” in 1996 after watching a complete “Planet of the Apes” marathon on late-night cable. I originally saw the film in a theater when I was five years old, and the image of the Statue of Liberty on the beach stayed with me a long time afterward, even if I didn’t fully understand it at the time. I later saw all of the films in the series multiple times. One of my favorites is “Escape from the Planet of the Apes,” the one in which Cornelius and Zira return to the Earth in the early ’70s, and from which the picture on the sleeve was taken.

Read moreRay Brandes: “Monkey Planet”

The Answers: “It’s OK”

January 21, 2018September 22, 2008 by admin

(Answers guitarist Dave Fleminger shares a rockin’ track and the axe behind it.)

“Ode to a Jazzmaster”
Back in ’83, you could walk into Guitar Trader on Clairemont Mesa Blvd. and pick up a vintage Fender Jazzmaster for $249. That was the tag price. Although the guitar had a neck of questionable authenticity as it had no headstock logo, it played great, albeit a bit buzzy with worn frets, and sounded BOSS (no, not in reference to Boss pedals … it was an authoritative-sounding axe).

That summer the Answers went into Soundtrax studio to record four songs. When it came time to track “It’s OK,” a fun, throwaway rocker that was my sideways ode to talking to myself and Ray Charles’ “What’d I Say?,” my Jazzmaster was deemed too grotty-sounding, and I was offered a spanky Telecaster that happened to be on hand at the session. I caved in even though I couldn’t play the Tele for crap, and the results sound way too clean on the recording … resulting in a version of the song that evokes the B-52’s, right down to the agitated, Fred Schneider-esque vocals, rather than the original garage-rock intent.

Let the Good Times Roll: The untold story of the Crawdaddys

March 27, 2019September 20, 2008 by admin

(Excerpts from Tell-Tale Heart/Town Crier Ray Brandes’ groundbreaking history of San Diego’s original retro-visionaries. Read the full version in Che Underground’s Related Bands section.)

The Crawdaddys have been called one of the most influential bands ever to come out of San Diego. When one looks at the groups its members have spawned, as well as the recurring popularity of ‘60s-style punk and rhythm and blues over the past 30 years, it’s hard to dispute that assertion. Armed with an encyclopedic knowledge of music history, an uncompromising commitment to artistic integrity, and a roster of musicians with unparalleled talents and distinct individual styles, the Crawdaddys single-handedly gave birth to the revival of garage music in the late 1970s in the United States. The reverberations of the first few chords they played are still being felt today.

The Crawdaddys’ story begins and ends with lifelong Beatles fanatic Ron Silva, who grew up on Del Monte Avenue in Point Loma. He and his neighbor Steve Potterf started listening to records together in the ninth grade, and while Silva would barely tolerate Potterf’s love for Kiss, Aerosmith, Jethro Tull and Led Zeppelin, he gradually convinced his friend to appreciate his own tastes. “After a while Steve started getting into the music I liked — Beatles, early Stones. I remember sitting in his room playing guitars along to my dad’s Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley 45s,” says Silva.

Sonic Love Affair: “The Dirty Kids”

January 1, 2011September 14, 2008 by admin

(Che Underground prodigy-turned-full-grown rocker Dylan Rogers tells the San Diego story behind the music.)

Unlike most people on this blog, I will be starting from the end, not the beginning.

Sonic Love Affair recorded “The Dirty Kids” summer of 2006 at Wally Sound in Oakland, California. This is one of the 12 songs recorded for a second album, which was not released. Soon after the band split.

Rob Alper (guitar); Curtis Franklin (guitar); Jerry Fiore (drums); Rudge (bass); Dylan Rogers (vocals). Produced by Wally.

I had written these lyrics about eight years earlier in my apartment in Brooklyn, New York, only to toss them aside for years.

I had been thinking a lot about my childhood in the neighborhood of Ocean Beach. I was not just thinking about myself but all the kids who grew up in O.B. Kids who led a fast-paced life at very young ages, dealing with adult situations and too young to cope.

Three Dog day afternoons

January 1, 2011September 13, 2008 by admin

Courtesy of Rockin’ Dogs drummer and band archivist Cole Smithey, here’s a collection of photographs from the band’s last phase, when it became a trio with the departure of founding guitarist/vocalist Dave Ellison.

In addition to Cole, these pictures from late 1984 and early 1985 feature Sam Wilson (guitar, vocals) and Jane Bunting (bass, vocals).

Noise 292: “Mr. Pumpkin”

January 1, 2011September 11, 2008 by admin

Here’s a late but significant contribution to the Noise 292 set list. “Mr. Pumpkin” by guitarist David Rives appeared on a four-song demo we recorded at Mira Costa College, I believe in April 1984.

The driving metalwork percussion is classic Wendell Kling, and I’m under the distinct impression that the drums on this session were generously contributed by the multitalented Sergio of Hair Theatre. Dave sings lead, and I’m on bass.

Listen to it now!