Originally comprised of San Diego garage band legends, the Sidewalk Scene made its live debut July 30, 2011, at Lestat’s, as part of a Sounds of the Sunset Strip bill. The group included Ray Brandes (Tell Tale Hearts, Town Cryers), Eric Bacher (Tell Tale Hearts), Joe Piper (the Crawdaddys), Mark Zadarnowski (the Crawdaddys, the Shambles), and Victor Penalosa (the Melanies, the Shambles), who was later replaced by Paul Carsola.
A four-song self-titled EP was followed in early 2014 by a full-length that includes a “Somethings They Never Go Away,” co-written with lyrics by Penetrators frontman Gary Heffern, now living in Finland. “When I was in San Diego, I gave these guys a lot of work,” he told the Reader. “I had them back me up for the show with X, and the next night they opened a show by themselves for the Penetrators at the Casbah.”