From 1988 through 1994, psych-rockers Dark Globe played around town at venues like the Spirit Club (later Brick by Brick) and Megalopolis. They were probably best known in San Diego for their song “[John] Kruk,” celebrating the offbeat former Padres/Phillies player who by 2009 was a TV baseball analyst. They were also nominated for a San Diego Music Award. However, “We just felt like we couldn’t get anywhere,” says Dark Globe singer/songwriter/guitarist Jon Gire.
“We had released three cassettes and one vinyl [album]. And we were one of the first San Diego bands to release a CD. It cost us $3000 to release 500 CDs. That’s what it cost back then...[Local label] Cargo said, ‘We just don’t know what to do with you.’ They wanted us to just play the harder-edged stuff. This one guy in New York shopped us to Atlantic Records, which said they would be interested in talking with us more if we only played the harder-edged stuff. It seemed like everyone wanted Pearl Jam–sounding stuff.”
Bassist Mike Jones went on to play with the Mississippi Mudsharks, Martha's Kitchen, and the Bill Magee Band. Gire marketed organic foods, drummer Conway Bowman became a wetlands manager at Lake Hodges and started hosting Fly Fishing the World for the Sportsman Channel, while guitarist Scott Evans played with Frank the Baptist and Miles from Nowhere.
The band reunited in 2008 and again in August 2009 to play reunion gigs at the Ken Club. They still occasionally play a few shows.