The Che Underground

(Ray Brandes offers a recursive look at his band’s cover of “At the River’s Edge.”)

Walking in the rain
Heart full of pain
Black clouds overhead
How I wish I was dead
At the river’s edge
Walking on the bridge
Stars shine bright
Oh, this pain ends tonight
— “At the River’s Edge,” The New Colony Six

From as early as 1983, when the Tell-Tale Hearts began performing in San Diego, The New Colony Six’s frantic rocker “At the River’s Edge” was a staple of their live set. The song, originally released as a single on Chicago’s Centaur Records in 1966, is an American garage-punk classic, a Bo Diddlified masterpiece replete with all of the elements of any good rave-up: reckless harp, furious maraca shaking and lightning-fast guitar. Recalling Them’s “Mystic Eyes,” the song details the agonizing thoughts of a teen on the brink of suicide.

Read moreTell-Tale Hearts take on New Colony Six!

(Kevin Chanel recounts the rise and fall of an independent recording empire.)

This is a quicky rundown of the first (non-virtual or iTunes-aided) 10 years of a record label I owned on the fringes of San Diego’s musical culture (read: National City). It’s mostly thumbnails and sideswipes, so a lot of releases were left under the carpet. The carpet at my parents’ house, specifically.

Born of necessity, Scheming Intelligentsia Records began with its first release, The Front’s “Man, You Gotta Move” LP in the summer of 1985. The S.I.R. name had been created, the album was out, but there was no one to run the business end of things. By neglect, the duties trickled down to me, with a year of college under my belt and no business experience or interest.

Read moreHow I threw away my youth:
The Scheming Intelligentsia Records story

(An excerpt from Ray Brandes’ saga of this 25-year-long collaboration. Read the full version in Che Underground’s Related Bands section!)

Editor’s note: You can catch the Nashville Ramblers in their first appearances on the West Coast in 2010 the weekend of Feb. 5 and 6, when they’ll be appearing at the Tower Bar in San Diego (Feb. 5) and the Mind Machine in Los Angeles (Feb. 6). See you there!

Steven Van Zandt, guitarist for the E Street Band and host of “Little Steven’s Underground Garage,” once called it “one of the most unspeakably gorgeous instances of romantic yearning disguised as a pop song.” Indeed, the Nashville Ramblers’ song “The Trains” is a perfect piece of pop music: a once-in-a-lifetime convergence of thoughtful lyrics, exquisite melody and flawless performances by three of San Diego’s most celebrated musicians. The song, available on Rhino’s Children of Nuggets box set but until recently only found on an obscure late-‘80s pop compilation album, would be by itself enough to secure the Nashville Ramblers a place in the pantheon of great 20th century recordings.

Carl Rusk’s timeless anthem, however, only offered the world a brief glimpse of the vast talents of this undiscovered San Diego treasure. They have remained, outside of a small group of devoted fans, unknown and unappreciated. But a devotion to preserving the music they love, as well as an anger and disdain for the era in which they live, have driven them for more than 25 years.

Read moreThe train keeps-a-rollin’:
The story of the Nashville Ramblers