Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Overthinking too much

"I just fell in love with the whole idea of just sort of living your life based on catching these waves."

The new group Endcastle leans on the experimental rock side, but they try to keep songs under 10 minutes.
The new group Endcastle leans on the experimental rock side, but they try to keep songs under 10 minutes.

Dennis Sheridan attended many shows in the Louisville DIY punk circuit while he was in high school, but never picked up an instrument until he was in college. When he finally did, it was an odd choice for a punk rocker.

“I had a friend at the time who played in the marching band. She left a trumpet at our house. I never knew how to play an instrument before then and the trumpet that she left there was all beat up and no one cared about it — so it just stayed there. I made some sounds out of it, and one day, on a whim, I was probably 19 years old at the time, I decided I was going to learn to play the trumpet. I went into a local music shop and I accidentally met the chair of the Louisville orchestra who taught there. He gave me lessons,” Sheridan said.

Sponsored
Sponsored

What followed was a somewhat meteoric rise up the musical ladder. He was quickly offered a stipend to join Bellarmine University’s pep band. Not long after that, the great Louisville horn player shortage paid dividends once again when Sheridan was enlisted by locals Skam Impaired. He soon grew tired of the instrument, primarily due to the fact that “it’s very obtrusive to practice” and started down the long road of guitar playing. With Sheridan now in the songwriting driver’s seat, two more projects followed — the experimental Blue Goat War, and the shoegaze-leaning Follow That Train.

The latter had solid regional success and ended up signing to (now Vista-based) Darla Records in the mid-2000s. They opened shows for My Morning Jacket in 2007 (Sheridan is a high school chum of MMJ’s Jim James) but flamed-out quickly as Sheridan was juggling raising kids and touring for the first time. A handful of years passed and Sheridan settled into a comfortable career as a freelance software developer. An old itch to move to California still needed to be scratched though.

“I think it started because one day when I was 20 or 21, I got done snowboarding and rented The Endless Summer II. I think it had just come out. I watched it and I just fell in love with the whole idea of just sort of living your life based on catching these waves and living and working around that,” Sheridan Said.

He now lives in Oceanside, surfs weekly, and has a new band, Endcastle, playing gigs around town. The new group leans on the experimental rock side. Sheridan credits his bandmates with helping him to prevent all his songs from “being 10 minutes long.”

“It’s that balance of not over-thinking it too much,” Sheridan explained.

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Trump names local supporter new Border Czar

Another Brick (Suit) in the Wall
The new group Endcastle leans on the experimental rock side, but they try to keep songs under 10 minutes.
The new group Endcastle leans on the experimental rock side, but they try to keep songs under 10 minutes.

Dennis Sheridan attended many shows in the Louisville DIY punk circuit while he was in high school, but never picked up an instrument until he was in college. When he finally did, it was an odd choice for a punk rocker.

“I had a friend at the time who played in the marching band. She left a trumpet at our house. I never knew how to play an instrument before then and the trumpet that she left there was all beat up and no one cared about it — so it just stayed there. I made some sounds out of it, and one day, on a whim, I was probably 19 years old at the time, I decided I was going to learn to play the trumpet. I went into a local music shop and I accidentally met the chair of the Louisville orchestra who taught there. He gave me lessons,” Sheridan said.

Sponsored
Sponsored

What followed was a somewhat meteoric rise up the musical ladder. He was quickly offered a stipend to join Bellarmine University’s pep band. Not long after that, the great Louisville horn player shortage paid dividends once again when Sheridan was enlisted by locals Skam Impaired. He soon grew tired of the instrument, primarily due to the fact that “it’s very obtrusive to practice” and started down the long road of guitar playing. With Sheridan now in the songwriting driver’s seat, two more projects followed — the experimental Blue Goat War, and the shoegaze-leaning Follow That Train.

The latter had solid regional success and ended up signing to (now Vista-based) Darla Records in the mid-2000s. They opened shows for My Morning Jacket in 2007 (Sheridan is a high school chum of MMJ’s Jim James) but flamed-out quickly as Sheridan was juggling raising kids and touring for the first time. A handful of years passed and Sheridan settled into a comfortable career as a freelance software developer. An old itch to move to California still needed to be scratched though.

“I think it started because one day when I was 20 or 21, I got done snowboarding and rented The Endless Summer II. I think it had just come out. I watched it and I just fell in love with the whole idea of just sort of living your life based on catching these waves and living and working around that,” Sheridan Said.

He now lives in Oceanside, surfs weekly, and has a new band, Endcastle, playing gigs around town. The new group leans on the experimental rock side. Sheridan credits his bandmates with helping him to prevent all his songs from “being 10 minutes long.”

“It’s that balance of not over-thinking it too much,” Sheridan explained.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Second largest yellowfin tuna caught by rod and reel

Excel does it again
Next Article

Drinking Sudden Death on All Saint’s Day in Quixote’s church-themed interior

Seeking solace, spiritual and otherwise
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader