Performance History | The Che Underground

Opening Kings Road Cafe

January 1, 2011August 25, 2008 by admin

Jason Seibert’s generous donation of early-’80s San Diego flyers offers a prime opportunity to open discussion of the Kings Road Cafe (née the International Blend), a small venue that played an enormous role in fostering and showcasing an eclectic mix of bands.

The Seibert Collection represents a slice of life at Kings Road in the summer of 1982, starting in June when the club morphed from the I-Blend under the management of Peter “English” Verbrugge. Other artifacts, including a July 1982 calendar (with membership card offer!), highlight the variety of performers that visited 4034 30th St. that summer, both San Diego regulars and up-and-coming out-of-towners.

Dubstep and grime in San Diego

March 29, 2019August 25, 2008 by Paul.Howland

(Wallflowers bassist Paul Howland extends an invitation to experience his current avocation.)

Matthew Rothenberg keeps encouraging me to talk about new music on here, so here goes:

Anyone in SD even mildly curious about dubstep and grime should check out MRK1 at the Kava Lounge this week. Read more here. See you there.

P.S. if you do make it down, hit me up for one of my mix CDs.

— Paul Howland

The Jam at Perkins Palace

December 13, 2017August 23, 2008 by admin

(San Diego mod pioneer Dean Curtis recalls the impact of this seminal band’s 1982 California visit.)

It was in the spring of 1982 when I realized the Southern California mod scene was growing by leaps and bounds. Many of us in San Diego made the day-long trek up Highway 1 to see The Jam at Perkins Palace in Pasadena. Few of us had highway-legal scooters (mine was a 125cc Lambretta), so we had to take the scenic route along the beaches. We were harassed a bit by the Marines in Camp Pendleton for not wearing proper footwear for motorcycle riding, but they eventually let us through.

Our asses were aching by the time we got to Long Beach, and the drive along PCH through all the South Bay beach towns seemed endless. But it was all worth it, as we showed up at the theater the next day on a rumor and got to see the band run through their sound check.

The Wallflowers: “Walldrugs”

January 1, 2011August 18, 2008 by admin

Yet another Wallflowers signature returns from Canada after a 25-year hiatus.

Like the rest of this cache, “Walldrugs” features the original Wallflowers lineup of Dave Rinck (vocals), Paul Howland (bass), Tommy Clarke (guitar) and Aaron Daniels (drums).

“’Walldrugs’ and [Stooges cover] ‘TV Eye’ were recorded in a ’studio’ at Music Power,” Dave Rinck writes. “‘Raw Power’ [another Stooges cover] was, too, but not until a little later than the other two.

Read moreThe Wallflowers: “Walldrugs”

Fleshing out the Skeleton Club

December 11, 2017August 17, 2008 by admin

Punk goodfella-turned-celebrity chef Jason Seibert has donated a wonderful cache of flyers to the Che Underground archives. These artifacts span the late ’70s through the early ’80s and document events at the North Park Lions Club, the International Blend/Kings Road, the Zebra Club and the Skeleton Club.

It’s high time we take note of that last venue, which did so much to hone the cutting edge of San Diego music. (Full disclosure: Tucked away in North County, I missed out on the Skeleton Club during its brief but influential run at 202 Market St. and 921 Fourth Ave. under the management of rock-‘n’-roll nurse Laura Frasier and a young Tim Mays.)

The Ho Hos: “Creeping Vine (Love Is A … )”

January 1, 2011August 12, 2008 by admin

Another number from the Ho Hos, the mid-’90s San Francisco group of Che Underground transplants that included me on vocals and guitar; former Morlocks bassist Jeff Lucas; Robert Labbe (ex-3 Guys Called Jesus drummer); and Steve Lam on lead guitar.

“Creeping Vine (Love Is A … )” comes from the same 1993 demo session that generated “Snowball” and was written by Jeff. Getting to sing material penned by Mr. Lucas was always exciting to me, and I am crazy about the way the lead guitar and rhythm section work together on this song.

Have you ‘zine me? San Diego’s indy music mags

December 18, 2017August 11, 2008 by admin

Detail: Quasi-Substitute #2, 1980 (collection Dean Curtis) Another pillar of SD punk’s plastic arts (along with music, tattoos and flyers) were ‘zines, the samizdat publications created by luminaries such as Marc Rude, Harold Gee, Terry Marine and Clayton Colgin.

Over in the Che Underground forum (separate registration required), Dean Curtis and Toby Gibson, among others, have been bringing these treasures to light. One of Dean’s first contributions was Issue 2 of Quasi-Substitute, dating from 1980 and featuring the Crawdaddys on the cover.

Detail: Snare #1 (collection Dean Curtis) Its reappearance prompted this wonderful response from David Klowden: “Seeing this issue of Q-Sub triggered an intense emotional stew of white hot longing for that place and time, deep black terror at the passage of the years & a kind of fatherly love for my younger self that is beyond description.

The rise and fall of the Town Criers

March 27, 2019August 9, 2008 by admin

(Excerpts from the story of the pioneering late-’80s alt-country band by founder Ray Brandes. Read the full version in our Related Bands section!)

The Town Criers was a country-rock band that featured many of San Diego’s Che Underground musicians, including myself and Dave Klowden of the Tell-Tale Hearts, Peter Miesner and Mark Zadarnowski of the Crawdaddys, Tom Ward of the Gravedigger V, and Dave Ellison of the Rockin’ Dogs. The group predated the alt-country movement of the 1990s by several years.

The last few months of the Tell-Tale Hearts’ existence were contentious times. Eric Bacher had quit the band in 1986, and many of the original San Diego scenesters had either left town or simply moved on. By the time guitarist Peter Miesner of the Crawdaddys arrived to save the day, the rest of the band members had begun to feel the effects of nearly four years together, and relationships were further strained by meddling outsiders and substance abuse.

Introducing the Rockin’ Dogs

January 1, 2011August 7, 2008 by admin

Here’s a very early artifact from the Rockin’ Dogs’ oeuvre: a flyer introducing the band to Pacific Beach’s Headquarters club in August 1982.

“This was when we just started out, when we were in high school,” guitarist/vocalist Dave Ellison writes. “What an embarrassing flyer … haha! For one thing, we spelled ‘Headquarters’ wrong.

“For another, we didn’t play rockabilly or r&b. We were probably trying to attract fans of the Paladins and Crawdaddys … and we probably didn’t care which, so long as someone showed up. (I can’t imagine anyone did on a Monday night!)