the Trebles | The Che Underground

Tuning in to the Trebels

February 8, 2021February 7, 2021 by Mmrothenberg

Trebels bassist Oscar Barajas provides a backgrounder, sounds and images for a band that took California by storm in the mid-’80s.

The first bass I bought was at Freedom Guitar in downtown San Diego, a Fender Precision copy. I couldn’t play a lick. Yet with time and a bit of practice, I became somewhat competent. What helped was some guitar chords and ditties I learned from my older brother Fernando.

Guitarist Xavier Anaya also picked up on the guitar and learned from his Tio Chato, an original Treble. The original Trebles were a popular outfit in Tijuana back in the ’60s and ’70s.

John Chilson was an instant pro at the drums the minute he picked up those sticks, a natural. Jay Wiseman fell in perfectly as singer and frontman.

The Trebels were born, a future of cops breaking up house parties because of our Maximum RnB; a wedding reception where we were bullied by the bride’s father (understandably so, looking back on it); a triumphant show at the White House in Imperial Beach; and thanks to our great friend Dan Holsenback, our most highly compensated gig — the graduation party for UC Davis Law School.

Flyers from the Mendoza Collection

January 1, 2011July 9, 2009 by Mmrothenberg

(Bart Mendoza of Manual Scan and the Shambles contributes a selection of flyers from his capacious archives.)

1. One of my infamous paste-&-cut flyers, this one for Julie at 2581, when I helped promote a batch of shows in 1983 1988 — you can probably tell the numbers are from an old calendar.

I collected photos, and friends gave me old magazines to cannibalize into quick flyers, though this one is from my collection of vintage TV-show stills. That’s a pretty diverse calendar, from the Event to Claude Coma, with stops at the Nephews; Outriders (with Rick Wilkins); and Berkeley combo the Birminghams; as well as lots of others.

When Garris met Cornelius

March 27, 2019October 1, 2008 by Mmrothenberg

I find the pedigree of this flyer in the Tom Goddard Collection colorful enough to stand on its own: an advertisement for the Tell-Tale Hearts’ April 28, 1984, appearance with Manual Scan and the Trebles at Point Loma’s Syndicate that appears to bear the imprint of two of San Diego’s most intriguing flyer artists and raconteurs.

The side-by-side signatures at the lower right of the flyer indicate the piece was signed by “SFG 84” as well as the protean Jerry Cornelius. While “SFG” and the style of the Edward Gorey/Alice in Wonderland imagery point to Steve “Fuckin’ ” Garris, Tell-Tale Heart Ray Brandes expresses certainty that the band never commissioned San Diego’s self-proclaimed “King of the Punks” to create a flyer on its behalf.