San Diego music | The Che Underground

The Answers: “Lucifer Sam”

January 21, 2018May 1, 2008 by admin

The Answers’ sizzling cover of the mini-masterpiece “Lucifer Sam” by Syd Barrett’s Pink Floyd was a catalyst for myriad musical adventures.

Tell-Tale Heart Eric Bacher recently recounted how bandmate Dave Klowden’s urging to come watch the Answers play “Lucifer Sam” changed his musical life; it’s a tale eerily similar to my own memory of Noise 292’s David Rives insisting I run to watch a San Diego band that was actually covering Barrett! (I’ve long regretted that the Answers’ absence from the UCSD gig with the Three O’Clock prevented us from instigating a mass “Lucifer Sam-off.”) Gravedigger V and Nashville Ramblers vet Tom Ward also vividly recalls the Answers’ “Lucifer Sam” a quarter-century after the fact. It’s astounding the effects two-and-a-half minutes of music can wreak!

This viral gem was recorded in February 1983 and features Dave Fleminger (guitar, vocals); Jeff Lowe (bass); and Dave Anderson (drums). It’s spiky and wonderful, and it still holds the creative fizz of that moment of musical discovery.

Listen to it now!

Noise 292: “Talking in Circles”

January 1, 2011April 29, 2008 by admin

Here’s “Talking in Circles,” the first of three compositions in the Che Underground archives by Noise 292 guitarist extraordinaire David Rives.

Dave and I played our first gigs together (Hair Theatre vocalist Sergio actually recalls watching us playing the Oak Crest Junior High School talent show in 1977), and he was my original guitar hero. This piece — which I believe was recorded in summer ’83 at the Che Cafe itself — showcases his formidable skills as a writer and performer.

Of all the rekindled connections on Che Underground, this one runs deepest for me.

Listen to it now!

Shots of the Hearts

March 27, 2019April 27, 2008 by admin

“Hello again, Matthew,” writes Tell-Tale Hearts guitarist and stand-up guy Eric Bacher. “I’m sending a couple of photos for your future archives. One of the early TTHs in action, and one as I want to be remembered.”

Anything this online vehicle can do to burnish the Legend of Eric Bacher will be done! The Tell-Tale Hearts were close cousins to the Che Underground crew, and Mr. Bacher is a spiritual brother and a stalwart of this blog adventure (as are cherished fellow travelers Ray Brandes and Dave Klowden). Seeing his much-mourned green Gretsch in action evokes a lump in throat (and fond memories of our plans for month-long Bo Diddley jams).

Eric was always one of my favorite folk to hang out with, and I never felt like we did enough of it in our youth. I’m grateful for the time and virtual space to spend with him now!

The Wallflowers: “Paradise on 4th Avenue”

January 1, 2011April 22, 2008 by admin

As if to provide some karmic yin to “Survive the Jungle”‘s yang, Dave Fleminger just scored a pristine white-vinyl copy of the Mystic Super-Seven Sampler #2, a 1984 release featuring “Paradise on 4th Avenue,” the Phase Two Wallflowers’ homage to San Diego’s Studio 517 and its avatar, Steve Epeneter.

This exquisite single has been crisply digitized into easily digestible MP3 format for Che Underground’s delectation — bon apetit!

“I considered ‘Paradise on 4th Ave’ to be the anthem of the second Wallflowers (like ‘Funland’ was to the first line-up),” writes Dave Rinck, the immortal front man for both deathless incarnations.

“This was recorded by James at The Lab in San Diego in 1985 for the Mystic EP. The line-up is: David Rinck (vocals), Paul Howland (bass), Todd Lahman (guitar), Armando (alto sax), Arturo Reyes (drums).”

Listen to it now!

The Wallflowers: “Survive the Jungle”

January 1, 2011April 21, 2008 by admin

“Ridin’ in an airplane … We’re goin’ back to Vietnam!” Airlifted to us after a quarter-century of exile in Canada, this vicious Wallflowers jam shrieks over Che Underground like a flaming F-15. The instrumental interplay among Paul Howland (bass), Tommy Clarke (guitar) and Aaron Daniels (drums) is simultaneously funky and menacing, and Dave Rinck’s vocals are positively shamanic.

The Che Cafe patio meets the Mekong Delta — with wah pedal!

[Editor’s note: After a false, MPEG-4 start, this file is now an MP3 that everyone can enjoy.]

Listen to it now!

The Answers: “Nowhere”

January 1, 2011April 20, 2008 by admin

A shimmering testament to an amazing band at the height of its powers. “Nowhere” always took my breath away when the Answers performed it live — and 25 years down the road, Dave Fleminger’s evocation of “what time erases” gives me chills.

This track also bears witness to the Answers’ genius for making home recordings sound like landscapes you’d want to live in! Here’s Mr. Fleminger on the genesis of this tape: “Written by little ol’ me …. instrumental track recorded in [drummer] Dave Anderson’s bedroom (the usual practice spot) with one mic on one channel of a Tandberg reel to reel, vocals recorded in the downstairs bathroom at Pat’s house in sound-on-sound mode. June 1983. Fleminger, [bassist Jeff] Lowe, Anderson is the lineup.”

Listen to it now!

Finding the Answers

January 1, 2011April 19, 2008 by admin

When I met them in March 1983, the Answers took the top of my head off, scraped out all the crud and set it on straight … The combined musicianship of guitarist Dave Fleminger, bassist Jeff Lowe and drummer Dave Anderson was on a level I’d never experienced from a local band playing the kind of music I cared about. And the songwriting! Transcendent.

I’d spent a year somewhat isolated from my peers, not getting out so much from Encinitas but listening to a lot of records and imagining the sort of co-conspirators who could synthesize the energy of punk with the emotional complexities of earlier eras. When I met the Answers, it all lined up for me — anything was possible.

Weird scenes inside the gold mine

January 1, 2011April 17, 2008 by admin

How many times have you found yourself playing in a very weird venue? From my very first gig at a chili cook-off through an assortment of busking misadventures, I’ve demonstrated a knack for performing in strange places for unwary/unwilling spectators.

Between the scrap metal and the cross-dressing and the affinity for the Velvet Underground’s second album, Noise 292 was nobody’s idea of a crossover band. One of our oddest gigs was a Jesse Jackson presidential benefit at Pea Soup Andersen’s in Carlsbad, Calif., which we were asked to play by a friend of Wendell’s parents.

Rockin’ Dog makes good

December 11, 2017April 14, 2008 by admin

Rockin’ Dogs drummer turned celebrated New York film critic Cole Smithey gives some love to his old posse in this Q&A with online movie powerhouse Rotten Tomatoes: “A lifelong artsy kid, he bounced around the entertainment industry pursuing varied interests for years: playing drums for the Rockin’ Dogs in San Diego; working as an actor in San Francisco; temping for a studio in New York City. In 1997 he began his career as a professional critic covering films great and small, and he hasn’t looked back since.” (Well, only occasionally, and we hope with fondness.)

New flyers! New fun!

January 1, 2011April 13, 2008 by admin

As the Che Underground history tour gains speed, I keep getting the greatest stuff from all you wonderful people! Thank you for every beautiful audiovisual scrap of it — my biggest challenge is finding the time to move it all online and the technique to present it to its best advantage, but it’s all appreciated and will ultimately have a happy home here.

Our flyer gallery is picking up steam, as is our performance history page. (To create a nice frame of historical reference while keeping things manageable, I’m concentrating on the years 1981 through 1985 … But I want to hear about what years and what assets are important to you.) The related bands section is also slowly gaining traction; authors and bands welcome. Please visit — and please help fill in the many gaps that still exist!