the Front | The Che Underground

Salad days at the Che

September 4, 2011April 6, 2011 by Mmrothenberg

(A new perspective on our old stomping grounds. Any other readers from the Che collective want to chime in?)

So, I am flipping through the Reader, and I see the short article about your site and I go check it out because back in the day I belonged to several lefty campus organizations that put on benefit concerts at the Che.

I recognized the name of your band, Noise 292, because of all the shows we did. I had one flyer saved from back in the day, and it has your band’s name on it along with The Front and The Odds. It was for a Feb. 24, 1984, concert [to benefit draft resister Michael Marsh] sponsored by the UCSD Committee Against Registration and the Draft which was a part of the Progressive Student Organization at the Che.

Behind the Front’s reunion

December 11, 2017November 28, 2010 by Mmrothenberg

(After a Reagan-era hiatus, the Front will take the stage Jan. 28, 2011, at San Diego’s Casbah. Bassist Kevin Chanel provides the 411 on the forthcoming festivities.)

Morgan Smith (guitar player) talked with Tim Mays dating back to mid-2009. He then called Mark Baez (singer) out of the blue, with nice words about old times.

We put together a practice later that year. One day as a three-piece, next as all four original dudes. (Dan Mehlos is the drummer. He was also in Personal Conflict and Men of Clay.) Sounded pretty good. Most of us had not seen each other in 20+ years.

Scheming Intelligensia rides again

December 17, 2017November 7, 2010 by Mmrothenberg

(Abortive record mogul Kevin Chanel heralds the post-Internet return of his label with two releases into the brave new world of online media.)

“Why now?”

Been asking that myself. After 15 years of somewhat complete dormancy, Scheming Intelligentsia Records is back with a line of retro classics and unfinished tchotchkes of historical whatnot.

“But why?”

If you recall, back in ’95 we didn’t have no MP3 technology or iZunes being given away with a ten-pak of ramen. You wanted music, you had to buy it on cassette, vinyl or CD. For us instant-gratification enthusiasts, this is a great time to be human.

We are celebrating with the first two releases in our exhumation process: 1987’s PERSONAL CONFLICT album “Rest In Peace” and the previously unreleased, half-baked SOUL BROTHERS masterwerk, “Find My Keys And We’ll Drive Out Of Here.”

The Front flyers (Waxon Collection)

March 27, 2019August 29, 2009 by Mmrothenberg

In another selection from her collection of vintage San Diego flyers, Dawn Hill Waxon focuses on the Front, the mid-’80s post-punk outfit that featured Morgan Smith, Mark Baez, Kevin Chanel and Dan Mehlos.

These flyers date from 1984 and include the earliest show we’ve encountered so far at the short-lived but influential Rock Palace (a gig with the Tell-Tale Hearts to usher in 1985).

‘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

Opening Kings Road Cafe

January 1, 2011August 25, 2008 by Mmrothenberg

Jason Seibert’s generous donation of early-’80s San Diego flyers offers a prime opportunity to open discussion of the Kings Road Cafe (née the International Blend), a small venue that played an enormous role in fostering and showcasing an eclectic mix of bands.

The Seibert Collection represents a slice of life at Kings Road in the summer of 1982, starting in June when the club morphed from the I-Blend under the management of Peter “English” Verbrugge. Other artifacts, including a July 1982 calendar (with membership card offer!), highlight the variety of performers that visited 4034 30th St. that summer, both San Diego regulars and up-and-coming out-of-towners.

Then and now: Studio 517

January 1, 2011July 25, 2008 by Mmrothenberg

(Roving correspondent/ photographer Kristen Tobiason revisits and documents the scenes of our youth. Today, Studio 517 sheds its leathers for pinstripes.)

Studio 517 was in full swing during the summers of 1982-’83. Managed by Steve Epeneter — a tall, idiosyncratic fellow nicknamed “Lurch” — its concrete walls housed outstanding performances by the Gravedigger V, The Tell-Tale Hearts, The Wallflowers, Personal Conflict, The Front and many others.

Sean McDaniels (inveterate troll of San Diego hangouts) recalls, “It was only open in the summer, and it was hot. We hung out on the sidewalk out front or in the park more than we did inside where the bands were playing. I remember there was a Chinese lady who used to yell at us from across the street.”

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.