the Tell-Tale Hearts | The Che Underground

It’s 1985: Do you know
where your bell-bottoms are?

December 17, 2017December 8, 2010 by Mmrothenberg

(Ray Brandes reopens the case of People vs. the Che Underground.)

Thursday morning, during the last week of August, 1985, I arrived at work at 4:00 a.m. to begin my shift collecting and baling the cardboard boxes left scattered on the floor of the Food Basket on Washington Street. As I donned my apron, the hoots and catcalls began. “Hey, Hollywood!” shouted one of the night-crew guys as he leaned back in the seat of the forklift, a smug look on his face. In one hand he held a can of New Coke; in the other was the latest copy of People, emblazoned with the headline, “Madonna Weds Sean.”

A few weeks earlier, my bandmates and I had made the trek to Los Angeles and endured a several hours-long photo shoot at the Cavern, music maven and cult impresario Greg Shaw’s modest live-music club located in an alley off Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood. The article, we had been told, would put Bomp! Records on the map and catapult the Tell-Tale Hearts to stardom. This would be my ticket to fame and fortune, I believed. I would quit my job bagging groceries and baling cardboard, take a few semesters off from college, and enjoy the good life.

Happy birthday, Ray Brandes!

July 3, 2011October 19, 2010 by Mmrothenberg

Perhaps the most satisfying aspect of the Che Underground blogging adventure has been the opportunity not only to revive longstanding friendships but to revisit old acquaintances and find new kinship there.

Case in point: Ray Brandes, the vastly talented veteran of the Hedgehogs, the Mystery Machine, the Tell-Tale Hearts, the Town Criers, the Shambles and a variety of superb solo projects, who celebrates another solar orbit today.

Manual Scan at Bar Eleven

February 2, 2011September 20, 2010 by Mmrothenberg

(Manual Scan co-founder Kevin Donaker-Ring talks about a cool new club in San Diego and a turning point for this enduring band.)

I’ve been working security for over four years now. Last September, I started working at Small Bar, owned by the same people that run Hamilton’s Tavern in South Park.

Dennis Borlek, the first person in San Diego I ever met who had a scooter, and who continues to be a San Diego music scene fixture, is the general manager there. Small Bar’s owners recently purchased the Radio Room (formerly the Zombie Lounge) on El Cajon Boulevard, just east of 35th St., and renamed it “Eleven.” (Yes, that’s a direct Spinal Tap reference.)

They improved the sound system and the acoustics (not to mention expanding the beers on tap by an order of magnitude). But anyone who has been into the San Diego music scene will want to visit this place — they wallpapered large sections of the bar with reproductions of vintage San Diego show flyers.

Che echoes from the Alps

December 14, 2017September 15, 2010 by Mmrothenberg

(Rolf “Ray” Rieben of Feathered Apple Records describes how the San Diego underground reached Basel, Switzerland, and shares his cache of memorabilia from the Che Cafe and other points southwest. Stay tuned for much more of Ray’s trove from the Tell-Tale Hearts, Crawdaddys, Howling Men and more!)

I was working as a record salesman in Switzerland when the first Crawdaddys LP (“Crawdaddy Express”) on the German Line label had hit the market. Most of the Bomp! catalog was licensed to Line Records from Germany. Line Records had the best possible distribution, since because they were connected to a major label. They’ve helped to make The Crawdaddys and some of the other bands from Greg Shaw’s Bomp label famous over here in Europe.

“Crawdaddy Express” rates as the first modern ’60s garage LP ever made (after probably The Flamin’ Groovies). It was first advertised on the back cover of the July 1979 issue of Goldmine magazine. The sound was very British: wild raving rnb like the early Kinks, Downliners Sect, or the The Pretty Things, but undoubtedly influenced by Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry and the likes. There’s even a few cool northern soul ballads featured on both of their LPs, too. These four fine young lads from San Diego knew what they were doing, they had the right spirits, and they could deliver in authentic ca. ’64 – ’65 style, too. It was exactly the type of brand-new LP that I was hoping for.

Eric Bacher on national TV

December 16, 2017July 9, 2010 by Mmrothenberg

Thanks to Tom Griswold for pointing out Tell-Tale Hearts guitarist and Taylor Guitars uber-luthier Eric Bacher’s supporting role in this national TV spot for GE Capital.

According to Sign on San Diego, “Taylor Guitars didn’t need any Fourth of July fireworks to help it create a nationwide bang this week. … The $65 million El Cajon company, which produces nearly 80,000 guitars a year and counts Taylor Swift and Oceanside’s Jason Mraz among its customers, Tuesday launched a joint marketing campaign with GE Capital that should greatly boost the visibility of both companies.

3 Guys Called Jesus
at North Park Lions Club, 1986

January 6, 2011May 25, 2010 by Mmrothenberg

Here’s a cut from the only extant video I know of 3 Guys Called Jesus, the band I formed in 1985 with Steve Duke (bass, vocals) and Robert Labbe (drums, vocals) and played in until I left San Diego in February 1987.

This performance of my song “Small Vegetables” dates from May 16, 1986, when 3 Guys opened for Specimen and the Tell-Tale Hearts at the North Park Lions Club. (Ray Brandes and I have swapped anecdotes about Specimen’s antics that night; the conditions were just awful at the time but made for a funny story in retrospect.)

‘They’re playing our song’:
Covers and the Che Underground

January 2, 2018May 19, 2010 by Mmrothenberg

(Ray Brandes looks under the covers of favorite songs by our songwriters.)

For a songwriter, it is both a peculiar and rewarding experience to hear one’s songs interpreted by others. Over the past 30 years I have been writing songs, I have had the honor and privilege of listening to cover versions of my songs on many occasions, and it never fails to leave me gratified. One of the first songs I ever wrote, “Crawling Back to Me” (which is the opening track on the Tell-Tale Hearts’ eponymous debut album), has been covered on record by numerous artists, including Spain’s Agentes Secretos, England’s Diaboliks and Australia’s
Shutdown 66.

Perhaps my favorite cover of a song I wrote is Rachael Gordon’s “I Know You’re In Love Again,” which I contributed to her 2002 album “The Coming of Spring” on Subterrania Records. Rachael, an old friend and San Diego native, released the album to rave reviews, particularly in Europe. Germany’s Rolling Stone had this to say:

New Sounds Festivals 1985-1991

March 27, 2019April 10, 2010 by Mmrothenberg

(Bart Mendoza describes the arc of an important San Diego music festival he co-founded.)

Helmed by myself and, at first, Ron Friedman, and later Matt Fidelibus (with huge help from Secret Society Scooter Club, Dimitri Callian and many others), there were seven New Sounds Festivals in all, always one big blowout event surrounded by a week of gigs by the touring acts.

I had been bringing groups to town for awhile anyway, so the idea of focusing efforts appealed; the chance to do these events as a benefit for SDSU’s student-run radio station, KCR, was even better. The motive for the New Sounds Festivals was simply to promote and showcase music influenced by Mod / ’60s/ Garage, in particular local groups like the Tell-Tale Hearts, the Nashville Ramblers, Donkey Show, the Trebels and the Event. With short sets and a backline, it was like a really, really cool jukebox.

Then and now: The Che Cafe

August 20, 2011September 14, 2009 by Mmrothenberg

(High time! Che Underground documentarian Kristen Tobiason revisits the spot that gave the blog its name.)

The first time I landed on the surface of the Che Café was at an early-evening soundcheck for the Wallflowers (not the Jakob Dylan pansy MTV sensation, but the raw & funky, OG Wallflowers), who were opening that night for Noise 292.

Arriving and styling in Paul Howland’s parents’ green station wagon, we unloaded a couple pieces of equipment, and then proceeded to hang out in the woodsy picnic areas surrounding the venue, creating a smoky haze amidst talk of music and the humor of Tom and Paul’s use of ordinary soap as an alternative to dime-store hair gel.

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).