A lovely aspect of the Che Underground scene was how cheerfully it blended San Diego genres and geographies. We all had our influences and constituencies, and any evening with our bands was sure to bring different crowds into new alignments.
We’ve started a new Related Bands section of the blog to celebrate our bushy family tree with profiles of the San Diego bands we sprang from, performed alongside and created down the road. Ray Brandes has continued his support of this site with a fine profile of the Tell-Tale Hearts; who else’s pictures and stories do you want to see here?
Oh geez- I never thought of this in respect to the band I was in.
Personal Conflict was originally Lloyd Masing, Joel Cherry, Dan Mehlos (Also in Men of Clay and the Front- possibly another band called the Weathermen) and myself. Later Dave Sharp (from the executives, Moral Majority) played guitar and Sherri Fredriks played Bass, as well as John Murray (Sacred Lies, Manifest Destiny, White Trash) on Bass for a time. I really need to do this on paper. White Trash had Kevin Castillo on drums, Max Brown (Manifest Destiny, Sacred Lies) on Bass, Mike Marr on vocals (if anyone knows how Mike Marr is I’d be interested in knowing.) I don’t know who the other members of the Executives were, but I think Greg Purtle and Tim Noel were in Moral Majority (is that correct- my memory is failing me on who was in Moral Majority).
So that leaves me with a related list something like this:
The Executives
Moral Majority
Manifest Destiny
Sacred Lies
White Trash
Personal Conflict
Men of Clay
The Front
Possibly a band called the Weathermen (I really cant remember all the bands Dan Mehlos played drums for.)
I think there are about a half-dozen more that offshoot from the Men of Clay/the Front Connection but I don’t really know.
There was a really good, kind of arty band from La Mesa called Guy Good and the Decent Tones that we played with at both Bodies and Dance City. Eric Brashears (sp?) was the lead singer, and I think several of his brothers were also in the band. They were a really cool band…they had a tuba instead of a bass. There were also spinoffs from this band, one of them was called Tombstone. These guys all grew up together in La Mesa, and had a whole scene going. I went to several parties at Eric’s house (Sergio and Laura were at one of them..they were probably the ones who told me about it)…in both the main house and the guest house in back. Eric was (among other things) a good bluegrass banjo player, and would play for tips in Balboa Park.
I think the Answers played with Guy Goode as well … The bill up top was supposed to include them instead of Eleven Sons — I have another flyer with their name crossed out and “Eleven Sons” written in — but I don’t think I ever got a chance to play with ’em.
James Brown (I like his name) talks about the Department Store Santas and their album…that was the other Guy Goode spinoff band I was trying to remember.
One time back in those days, I met and was hanging out with a girl from Poway who told me that she only owned one record. It turned out to be that one by the Department Store Santas. She said that someone from the band gave it to her at the Del Mar Fair.
James says that Department Store Santas album is north of $100 now … I’d like to give it a listen (the MP3 track he provides sounds cool!) and I can see why Camper van would’ve dug it a lot.
I remember that first foray by CVB to San Diego County; uncredited on this flyer, they ended up on the bill Oct. 26, 1985, with Hair Theatre, 3 Guys Called Jesus, Synesthesia, Everybody Violet and others at a Che Cafe benefit for victims of the big Mexico City earthquake.
The only thing I remember about the Deparatment Stores Santa record was one track with the line “A policeman called on his walkie talkie” repeated over and over. It didn’t really impress me as much as Guy Goode…I kind of wondered why someone put up money to put it out (putting out a vinyl album was expensive!), but it looks like a lot of people thought it was great.
Im almost sure that my brother was at the in-store performance CVB did at Lou’s records that James mentions.
I remember Guy Good band for their james brown cover of “I feel good” done in complete white boy/bonzo dog doo dah band/trouser press fashion, and sung by one of their friends. I can still recite “candy kisses”. Mike Rice hepped me to their LP. I’ll wait for him to chime in.
Candy Kisses was my favorite Guy Goode song! You know how the riff/bass line goes (actually tuba line in this case)… one time we played with them and the entire band was on stage except for the singer, Eric…who they couldn’t find. So they started playing that song…they’d all play the riff once, then stop and yell “Eric!” in unison, then again and again about half a dozen times before he materialized and ran up onto the stage and started singing.
I didnt know they ever made an album…I’ll bet it’s pretty cool.
Nobody ever seems to remember the Unholy Rollers, but they were a seminal band from up around North County. I think Eric Camilo, John Mullen and Sammy Wilson were in that one.
Dave, what was the music project you had going with Eric for a while back then? Didn’t the two of you record some stuff together?
The Unholy Rollers were more of a cover band, but they had a few original songs. They used to play at these giant keg outdoor parties held in a big empty field in San Marcos… with five or six bands and hundreds of north county stoners. The performances would usually end with Sam falling over into John’s drumset and knocking it all over. Eventually Sam left and we started the Rockin’ Dogs…then we roped John into being our drummer.
Alrighty then! The estrogen has arrived. As far as I know Everybody Violet was the only all girl originals band on the scene at the time. I do believe our first gig was at the Che during quake aid. I remember being rather drunk, tripping, and doing a face plant only to have Rich Coffee (what kinda’ great name is that!?) pick me up and dust me off. Although I don’t remember The Unclaimed being on the bill….Hmmm maybe that was another gig.
Anni, Kristi, and myself are getting together on April 4th. I’m sure the floodgates will open and we’ll be awash in memories from our short lived stint as a band. We’ll be all to happy to contribute what we have. The omni-present Mr. Fleminger has offered to clean up some of our band tapes so perhaps soon an mp3 will make it’s way here. I managed to unearth a couple of flyers as well which I’ll scan in shortly.
I have a version of the flyer Mathew mentions that lists Hair Theatre, Guy Goode and the Decent Tones, and Noise 292. It has a map and directions for Che Cafe on the back. I don’t remember playing with Guy Goode but we (HT) did play with Eleven Sons a few times. I went to a party where Erik Brashiers was telling me about Guy Goode. I asked him who Guy Goode was and he said he was a presence that formed when the band played. He said they couldn’t play anymore because their tuba player had gone off to school. Later I heard he went kinda crazy, a thing I have intimate knowledge of myself.
Paul: That’s the one! I have a few copies, all hand-amended to strike out Guy Goode and write in Eleven Sons. On one of them, the edits were painstakingly brushed in with red poster paint! How much would it have cost us just to run off a new stack of photocopies? LOL
Speaking of that gig, is anybody here in touch with the Eleven Sons guys? They were another post-punky thang happening at the same time as us — the singer had been in the Standbys, and they were a few years older and connected with the Boys’ Club crew, as I recall. According to this writeup, at least somebody saw an aesthetic connection between them and our scene, although they seemed a bit supercilious about us at the time. 🙂
I wasn’t gonna say it, but yeah, supercilious. I remember thinking they fit my definition of post-punk at the time. Kind of a dark, layered, somewhat droning sound. Do I have that right?
Bill Calhoun and I went to school with the bass player’s girlfriend. (I can’t remember either of their names, but he used to pick her up at USD.) He was a disarmingly nice guy, and I remember being shocked that he would even speak to me, considering he lived at the Boys Club house with Chuck and the Brood. We ended up playing a couple of odd gigs with them--the Spirit was one, I believe.
There certainly were some strange pairings on bills in those days. At best, the bands and their friends might exchange places as one group took over the stage and the other group retreated to drink in the parking lot. At worst, the combination was disastrous, such as the Battalion of Saints/Crawdaddys show at the Adams Avenue Theater.
Eleven Sons? Jeff Mummert was in that band. Playing bass, I do think. Most will remember him as “Jeff the Mod”. He was a Boy’s Clubber, pretty good attitude. He was one of the crowd at North Park Lyons Club in the ’79-80 times. In the early 90’s he’d moved to SFO, and I ran into him regularly at the Toronado.
He was doing skilled carpentry and cabinetmaking for a living. That’s almost 20 years back, now…
Hi Carina…
That’s funny… your name just came up in conversation, as Todd Lahman told me a few days ago that you were source of the black Gibson he played in the Wallflowers.
We all want to see your flyers!
Paul: I believe Echo and the Bunnymen were an Eleven Sons avatar.
Jeremiah: I forgot Jeff Mummert was a Toronado regular … Yet another SD expat in the Lower Haight. Here he is in his current incarnation — still with the hat!
Dave:
Yup, I sold that guitar to Todd for a hundred bucks….of which I remember getting fifty! LOL! Tell him he needs to buy me a drink (or heck, the bottle) should we ever meet up!
Flash: An associate of Guy Goode/DS Santas veteran Joseph D’Angelo just sent me this link to a groovy old Santas video. Wish we’d completed a few video projects!
Ye Olde Pubbe