Musician Interviews
Based in Encinitas and Carlsbad, Chapter 14 was founded in 2003 by singer-guitarist Chad Ackerman (As I Lay Dying, Austrian Death Machine) and bassist-guitarist Tanner Sparks. “People usually tell us that we remind them of …
Guitarist/keyboardist/electronic-manipulator Marcelo Radulovich is a founding member of veteran San Diego group the Playground Slap. Blending punk, jazz, psychedelic, and funk, the band has been extant for 33 years. Radulovich also writes and records solo …
Founded by brothers Joshua and Jeremiah Zimmerman, Silent Comedy specializes in “cabaret rock,” à la theatrical troupes like the Dresden Dolls and San Diego’s Tragic Tantrum Cabaret. With a look right out of a turn-of-the-century …
Since 2005, after making more than $1.5 million profit from selling the Singing Serpent Studios property on 17th Street near City College (co-owned with partners), Rafter Roberts has been able to finance his own rhythmic …
“People have told us we sound like the Black Keys meets the Yeah Yeah Yeahs,” says Lucina Gonzalez, singer for Black Hondo. “Or the Jefferson Airplane. Shocking Blue kisses the Doors. Or PJ Harvey in …
Journeyman musician Michael Rennie has found a home in San Diego, in Normal Heights, where the Rio Peligroso singer-guitarist frequents his favorite neighborhood pub Rosie O’Grady’s and sates his beer munchies at Blind Lady Ale …
Ratt left San Diego in the ’80s and scrabbled to the big prize in L.A. with their triple-platinum debut LP. After years of decadence, a few more albums, and the eventual drug death of guitarist …
“I made a 60-minute video of my original music, set to footage from the original Twilight Zone and subtitled with the writings of Friedrich Nietzsche,” says Grant Clarkson of his jazz-rock DVD Ever So Much …
“We are a very modest band and don’t believe too much in putting on stage antics or showboating,” says singer-guitarist Michael Stauffer of post-shoegaze scenesters FMera (“FM era”). “We let the music set the atmosphere …
John Meeks doesn’t just listen to classic country, he lives it. “That was the music on the radio in the car when I was a kid.” His dad performed country music in honky-tonks across New …
“Our music sounds like four guys creating something that is greater than the sum of its parts,” says Republic of Letters singer-guitarist Chris Venti. “The songs can be characterized as a combination of melodically driven …
Circa Now won the Freedom Sessions band competition in 2008, the same year they were nominated for Best Rock Album at the San Diego Music Awards. Among the opportunities that subsequently opened for the glam-garage …
“We got evicted from P.B. for having six of us living in a two-bedroom place,” says Chris Jones. “We built bunk beds to fit everybody. Our crazy-old-lady landlord lived in the backyard. She accused us …
Larry Zeiger says it was he who gave pop star Adam Lambert his first studio break. Lambert, who graduated from Mount Carmel High School in Rancho Peñasquitos in 2000, recorded a song for Zeiger’s musical …
“Drugs used to do for me what a phone booth did for Superman,” says Gary Lee Ernst, singer and guitarist for Christian rockers In the Midst 777. “I was in and out of jail about …
“My music has no boundaries,” says multi-instrumentalist Brian Ellis, whose two solo albums cover all the musical bases, from free jazz to psychedelic, world, and experimental electronic music. “I use computer programming and multitrack recording …