John Hanrattie | The Che Underground

In the cards: The Tell-Tale Hearts and Gravedigger Five

October 4, 2014 by admin

Two small pieces of paper tell a story: When I noticed Dylan Rogers had posted to Facebook a photo of a Gravedigger Five business card, I asked him if I could share it on Che Underground: The Blog, along with the back story on where he acquired it.

“Ron Rimsite gave the card around 20 years ago while I was living in New York,” Dylan replied. “He knew I was big fan of GDV and they had a big influence on my music, so he gave it and a Tell-Tale Hearts card to me.”

Both cards completed a round trip to San Diego when Dylan returned there, and he’s provided photos of both. Like other ephemera from those days, they each include contact information for members of their respective bands: The Gravediggers card provides phone numbers for rhythm and lead guitarists John Hanrattie and Ted Friedman, and the Tell-Tale Hearts card directs recipients to call bassist Mike Stax and keyboardist Bill Calhoun.

The rise of the Gravedigger Five

September 15, 2014October 2, 2011 by admin

(Gravedigger Five co-founder John Hanrattie recounts his side of the renowned San Diego garage band’s short but eventful history.)

I was 17 when I first played guitar for an audience. I was working as a roadie for a San Diego band called N/E One. They were a very good cover band that would occasionally write one of their own songs and include it in their set. They built up a loyal following among San Diego teenagers and started playing high-school dances and at a local “under-21″ night club called Headquarters.

They started inviting me on stage to join them in covering the Rolling Stones’ take on Bobby Troup’s “Route “ I was using a six-string Rickenbacker and playing rhythm guitar with Rob Glickman, the lead guitarist. I had been taking classical guitar lessons, but I really wanted to play rock ‘n’ roll. I switched teachers to someone who could teach me Chuck Berry and Buddy Holly licks. It was a long process, and I learned some chords, but my skills were limited.

During my senior year in high school, the ASB started booking bands to play in the quad during Friday lunch. They eventually got around to inviting N/E One to play, and I joined them on stage for their set. Afterward, several people approached me, asking if I wanted to start a band. I was flattered, but I held out, hoping to find people who wanted to play the same kind of music I loved. I refused to have anything to do with playing Aerosmith and Led Zeppelin covers. I wanted to play British Invasion beat and 1960s garage music.

Surfacing the Gravedigger V

March 30, 2019September 2, 2009 by admin

A recent comment by Kristen Tobiason has me puzzling over how best to focus conversation on the Gravedigger V, a youthful San Diego band whose brief existence in 1983-1984 has inspired a quarter-century of notoriety.

There are plenty of online references to the band and its album “All Black and Hairy,” but many pieces are of questionable accuracy. What can we do to set the record straight?