“We lived in a house in OB,” singer Jon Piotrowski says of the salad days of his post-punk, art-rock band. “It was loosely called the Demasiado house. It was a magical moment. We didn’t realize it then. We thought it was going to last forever.”
But it didn’t. Demasiado (translation: too much) made raucous, dirty party rock from 2005-2009. Until gravity and other realities took hold. “Everything we were churning out was good,” Piotrowski recalls. “We were playing the Casbah all the time, opening for bands like No Use for a Name. We lived every single day like it was the last day on earth. But we all went a little too deep into the wormhole. We were always ‘too much,’ in the best way possible….We all had to go out and figure our own ways.”
That change took Piotrowski to Austin. “I had lost my way. I had to do what I needed to do. I needed to leave town.”
After a trial balloon Demasiado reunion show last year (their first local performance since 2009), Piotrowski decided to move back to San Diego two months ago. Demasiado has regrouped with the drummer and guitarist of one of the most celebrated local bands of the last decade, the Burning of Rome.
It has never been made clear exactly why the Burning of Rome broke up four years ago just when it seemed to be peaking. They toured with the Psychedelic Furs and played major festivals in London and Mexico City. The band was riding high following numerous “Best Band” and “Best Album” local music awards. They had the backing of Encinitas-based Surf Dog Records (Slightly Stoopid, Eric Clapton, Brian Setzer, Butthole Surfers) which had released one live and two studio albums, one of them produced by Paul Leary (U2, Sublime).
But the Burning of Rome ended when founder Adam Traub moved to Chicago and left with nary an exit interview. “He was in Chicago, but he’s back in L.A. now,” says former Burning bandmate Joe Aguilar about Traub. “He’s doing scores now for independent films….For various reasons, we all just decided not to continue with that project.” Drummer Danny King joined Aguilar in the segue to Demasiado.
Aguilar says he continues to deal with ongoing questions about the Burning of Rome. “You can’t get pissed at people who say ‘I love the band you used to be in.’”
Demasiado (with original members guitarist Damon De La Paz and bassist Eric Shefstad) appears Friday, June 15 at the Pour House in Oceanside. Sitting in with them at that show for a couple songs will be Wade Youman, who was with Demasiado full time for a couple of years.
“Wade is back with Unwritten Law now and focusing his energies on them,” says Piotrowski. “Their April show at the Observatory sold out. But as far as we are concerned, Wade will always be a spiritual part of Demasiado.”
Youman, famous for his wild onstage exploits over the years, had just left Unwritten Law when he came to see Demasiado at the old Scolari’s Office in North Park about 11 years ago. “Wade got engrossed when we were playing the punkest of our punk songs,” recalls Piotroski. “He was engrossed in the passion of the moment and started flipping chairs and tables. The bartender started chasing Wade and I jumped on the bartender’s back. It was like a punk rock Benny Hill skit.”
“We lived in a house in OB,” singer Jon Piotrowski says of the salad days of his post-punk, art-rock band. “It was loosely called the Demasiado house. It was a magical moment. We didn’t realize it then. We thought it was going to last forever.”
But it didn’t. Demasiado (translation: too much) made raucous, dirty party rock from 2005-2009. Until gravity and other realities took hold. “Everything we were churning out was good,” Piotrowski recalls. “We were playing the Casbah all the time, opening for bands like No Use for a Name. We lived every single day like it was the last day on earth. But we all went a little too deep into the wormhole. We were always ‘too much,’ in the best way possible….We all had to go out and figure our own ways.”
That change took Piotrowski to Austin. “I had lost my way. I had to do what I needed to do. I needed to leave town.”
After a trial balloon Demasiado reunion show last year (their first local performance since 2009), Piotrowski decided to move back to San Diego two months ago. Demasiado has regrouped with the drummer and guitarist of one of the most celebrated local bands of the last decade, the Burning of Rome.
It has never been made clear exactly why the Burning of Rome broke up four years ago just when it seemed to be peaking. They toured with the Psychedelic Furs and played major festivals in London and Mexico City. The band was riding high following numerous “Best Band” and “Best Album” local music awards. They had the backing of Encinitas-based Surf Dog Records (Slightly Stoopid, Eric Clapton, Brian Setzer, Butthole Surfers) which had released one live and two studio albums, one of them produced by Paul Leary (U2, Sublime).
But the Burning of Rome ended when founder Adam Traub moved to Chicago and left with nary an exit interview. “He was in Chicago, but he’s back in L.A. now,” says former Burning bandmate Joe Aguilar about Traub. “He’s doing scores now for independent films….For various reasons, we all just decided not to continue with that project.” Drummer Danny King joined Aguilar in the segue to Demasiado.
Aguilar says he continues to deal with ongoing questions about the Burning of Rome. “You can’t get pissed at people who say ‘I love the band you used to be in.’”
Demasiado (with original members guitarist Damon De La Paz and bassist Eric Shefstad) appears Friday, June 15 at the Pour House in Oceanside. Sitting in with them at that show for a couple songs will be Wade Youman, who was with Demasiado full time for a couple of years.
“Wade is back with Unwritten Law now and focusing his energies on them,” says Piotrowski. “Their April show at the Observatory sold out. But as far as we are concerned, Wade will always be a spiritual part of Demasiado.”
Youman, famous for his wild onstage exploits over the years, had just left Unwritten Law when he came to see Demasiado at the old Scolari’s Office in North Park about 11 years ago. “Wade got engrossed when we were playing the punkest of our punk songs,” recalls Piotroski. “He was engrossed in the passion of the moment and started flipping chairs and tables. The bartender started chasing Wade and I jumped on the bartender’s back. It was like a punk rock Benny Hill skit.”
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