5051 | The Che Underground

‘Our Blow Out’: Reloaded

January 1, 2011July 30, 2009 by Mmrothenberg

(Injections, Noise 292 and Everybody Violet drummer Joey Miller makes a public-service announcement — with guitar!)

DISCLAIMER: This is not a project of either Matthew or me, and there will understandably be different perspectives on it. Great. Please feel free to make /post your thoughts here, but KNOW and UNDERSTAND we are only the messengers.

“Our Blow Out” was a compilation that was originally put together and released in 1983 by Cliff from Social Spit. It was an energetic and amazing accomplishment for its time, and (as many of us can attest) it was an amazing compilation.

Read more about “Our Blow Out”!

Curtis, the owner of TAANG Records, has expressed interest in re-releasing this compilation; he would like to make contact with as many band members as possible to set up a meeting. He is extremely interested in seeing this move forward, and it is our hope to put the word out to see how many originals that this information would reach.

Who’s next? Bands that mattered

March 30, 2019March 31, 2009 by Mmrothenberg

I’ve likened Che Underground: The Blog to one of those God’s eyes many of us made in the groovy ’70s: While the original effort has been focused on a small set of bands playing together in San Diego in the early ’80s, much of the beauty has come from the warp and weft of wider connections.

Along the way, we’ve talked about many local bands that influenced us and some later bands that shared members or aesthetics with the scenes and sub-scenes at the tight core of the site.

A few examples: Ray Brandes has done unprecedented historical research on the Crawdaddys, the Zeros and the Unknowns, and participants themselves have told us tales about Claude Coma and the IVs, the Injections, 5051, the Front, the Frame, Atrocity Exhibition and Structural Fracture, among others.

So, whose story should we tell next? Let’s discuss local bands you’d like to learn more about!

Punk flyer blow out from the Seibert Collection

January 1, 2011January 4, 2009 by Mmrothenberg

You asked for it, we’ve got it: The recent success of the PDF set of mod-themed flyers from the Ken Fugate Collection prompts a 31-page volume of punk classics from early ’80s San Diego, courtesy of our beloved Jason Seibert.

The Seibert flyers reference a variety of venues, including Fairmount Hall, North Park Lions Club and the Adams Avenue Theater (many of them organized by Marc Rude’s Dead or Alive). San Diego acts include Personal Conflict, Men of Clay, No Age Limit, the Skullbusters, Social Spit, Manifest Destiny, Catch-22, Moral Majority, V-5, 5051, the Nutrons, the Middle Class, Battalion of Saints, District Tradition, the Front, Sacred Lies, the Injections and Black Tango.

Read morePunk flyer blow out from the Seibert Collection

5051 by numbers

January 1, 2011June 18, 2008 by Mmrothenberg

(Excerpts from an epic history of the seminal San Diego punk band by 5051 lead singer David Klowden. Read the full version in our Related Bands section!)

When I sat down to write the 5051 story, I realized that, just as with most of my girlfriends of the ’70s and ’80s, I unfortunately couldn’t remember the beginning or the end. Also, I couldn’t remember most of what happened in between.

So I located Sam “Topper” Kolzar, lead guitarist of 5051, and Matt “Guy” Silver, producer of 5051’s record. It was my first time talking with either of them in over 25 years, so it was fun to reconnect and reconstruct the 5051 years of 1981-82. Other members of 5051—drummer Joel Roop, guitarist Steve “Squirrel” Oberg, and Squirrel’s half-brother, bassist Scott Harber, are still at large. With the help of Sam and Guy, I offer the following slice of San Diego music history.

Our Blow Out

January 1, 2011May 22, 2008 by Mmrothenberg

Personal Conflict bassist Toby Gibson and I have been corresponding about a seminal document in the history of San Diego punk: the “Our Blow Out” cassette. Released in 1983 under the Slow Death label, this compilation featured 34 tracks from 14 bands, including some we’ve discussed before (5051, Personal Conflict, Social Spit, the Injections, Sacred Lies) as well as Battalion of Saints, Manifest Destiny, Moral Majority, the Skullbusters, Men of Clay, Black Tango, the Front, Catch 22 and District Tradition. I remember this tape well as the definitive snapshot of a major slice of SD underground history.

Toby’s a far more acute observer, however. Here’s what he has to say: “I posted this on Dave Klowden’s thread but rethought that, both because ‘Our Blow Out’ will make a decent topic on its own and because I didn’t want to detract from the topic of how great 5051 were. But District Tradition were pretty great in their own right, and I think Tommy Rulon could have taken that thing a lot farther. Musically speaking.

Another side of Dave Klowden

March 27, 2019May 9, 2008 by Mmrothenberg

To celebrate the diversity of the early-’80s San Diego underground (and shamelessly solicit contributions to Che Underground’s Related Bands page), here’s a double-decker salute to David “GI” Klowden, nimble navigator of the San Diego scene and keystone of 5051, the Mystery Machine and the Tell-Tale Hearts.

Side One: “El Salvador” from 5051’s 1981 seven-inch. David Klowden (vocals); Sam Topper (guitar); Squirrel Oberg (guitar); Scott Harber (bass); Joel Roop (drums)

Side Two: “She’s Not Mine,” recorded in 1983 by the Mystery Machine. Ray Brandes (vocals, tambourine); Carl Rusk (six-string Guild Starfire, 12-string Rickenbacker 370-12, vocals); Mark Zadarnowski (bass); Bill Calhoun (Vox Jaguar); David Klowden (blue Japanese Majestic drumset).

What a difference two years make!

Wild in the Streets of Slow Death

December 11, 2017March 31, 2008 by Mmrothenberg

Detail: 5051 single cover David Klowden — 5051 and Tell-Tale Hearts veteran turned author and professor — kindly sent me the manuscript of “Wild in the Streets of Slow Death,” his novel about coming of age in the San Diego punk scene ca. 1980. I read it in one sitting and enjoyed it immensely on several levels.

It’s a great portrayal of teenage alienation and redemption; an authentic memoir of our own youth culture, full of characters and events based on that time and place; and a crime thriller informed by the police excesses, white-supremacist fringe elements, bad drugs and internecine battles that made the San Diego underground such treacherous terrain. I’m glad David and the rest of us negotiated it!