“I emailed Skip [Seip, of Never Say Die Productions] from something I saw on craigslist,” says “Mike,” who plays in one of the four metal bands (the Blood of the Covenant, Aten, Desolator, and Mindstress) …

Guitarist/singer/songwriter Rich Kunz never told his architecture-firm coworkers about his self-described “stoner-rock heavy metal band” called Ride the Sun. “I didn’t want anyone to know I played heavy rock-and-roll music. Architecture designers almost always wear …

Six years ago today (10/23/02), during their set at the downtown Hard Rock Café, Rookie Card guitarist Adam Gimbel plugged into a Judas Priest guitar display. “I’ve heard reports of other bands interacting with the …

According to an insider who was at REO Speedwagon’s Harrah’s Rincon’s Pavilion show on October 2, hard-of-hearing band members torpedoed their performance. “The guys are so fucking deaf,” says the insider, “they demanded that the …

Randy Fontaine and the Swingers celebrate their 20th anniversary this year, but the ultra-lounge combo’s venues keep disappearing. “It seems like we have the anti-Midas touch,” says Fontaine. “It’s happened, like, four times to us: …

“It was like playing Bob’s Country Bunker in The Blues Brothers.” Guitarist Ben Jones says his band Soul Plow didn’t get pelted with beer bottles, but playing Mulvaney’s Wagon Wheel in Santee on September 26 …

Tony Randall and Kris Rochester (aka Tony and Kris) recently departed from KUSS “New Country” 95.7 FM. In December 2003, Clear Channel lured Randall and Rochester away from KSON with a five-year contract that reportedly …

Sirhan Sirhan founder Jason Blackmore wasn’t at the San Diego Music Awards last week when his band won the Best Hard Rock Album award. He assumed his “balls-out hardcore rock band” would continue to get …

Although the Sports Arena sits on city property, it has been operated by developer Ron Hahn and his son Ernie for over 15 years. The recent announcement that the Hahns were yielding majority control of …

Punk rock has arrived at the Fashion Valley mall. A manager at the Boudin bakery says she talked her boss into allowing bands to play one night a week. “We’ve had live music since July,” …

How bad is the concert-industry slump? “We are off 30 percent compared to last year,” says a local promoter. “I heard Southern California [concert ticket sales are] off 20 percent.” Yet, Slightly Stoopid’s Tailgate 2008 …

“Poppy music is coming back again. When everybody [originally in blink-182] is out of work long enough, we may see them get back together,” says an insider who has dealt with the band before. When …

Defamation League MC Chaz Lomack, 22, was to begin serving a four-month jail sentence on August 14 when he got a last-minute reprieve: the day before, he found a second job, which allowed him to …

In 2006, Mission Beach’s WaveHouse tested the waters as a music venue by hosting concerts by James Blunt and Ziggy Marley; MTV filmed a Total Request Live segment there that year. Last year the club …

Webcast radio owner Luis Kaloyan said he launched X1FM and its streams of five music programs (alternative, electronic, disco, rock en español, classic rock) in 2006 because he had a “passion for the freedom of …

In early August, Encinitas record label and management company Surfdog Records released The Dave Stewart Songbook, Volume I. Stewart, best known for being half of the Eurythmics (with Annie Lennox), has produced tracks for Aretha …

Real estate developer Orrin Day, who has owned the Ramona movie theater on Main Street for six years, stopped showing films two years ago because people weren’t coming. So, he put the 6000-square-foot theater (built …

“We’re gonna play a cover [song]. If you are from ASCAP or BMI, you can fuck off.” That’s how Jackson Milgaten, singer/guitarist/bassist with Vision of a Dying World, introduced a Daniel Johnston song recently at …

“The Jumping Turtle is a mainly metal place,” says rapper Bryan Mason of the San Marcos venue. “They are paying national headliners thousands of dollars. I wish they were that cool with hip-hop.” Mason, who …

Last summer, Marc Shannon opened the Avalon in North Park. His plans for the almost-100-year-old building included hosting bands in an all-age, alcohol-free environment. The building, once the site of a lumber mill (at 3925 …

Former Viper Room booker Joe Rinaldi says he will continue to give San Diego bands the same love when he takes over one of the most prominent rock venues: the Sunset Strip House of Blues. …

Two well-connected music-biz professionals say they have been told that the local House of Blues may be in trouble. “I heard that if they don’t have a rapid turnaround [in business] by March they might …

Singer/guitarist John McLeod designs bikinis. “Five years ago I was designing men’s clothes. My girlfriend at the time was a model who was really skinny. She had a hard time finding a bikini that fit …

Sandollar, together for two years, is a five-piece “beach rock” band that plays original reggae/jam music. Drummer Henry Ortiz works by day at a Trader Joe’s and as a Spanish interpreter. At a house party …

One radio veteran says the recession may be good news for people who want to hear more music on the radio. “Radio advertising was down last year,” says the local deejay. “Then the recession hit. …

“I bought it from an old hippie in Washington the summer Jerry Garcia died,” says Bleeding Irish fiddle player Rhy Thornton of the 1964 school bus his band took on the Warped Tour. “Willie Nelson …

After five years playing at Canes, Winstons, and Blind Melons, the guys in 3against1 decided to move north to try to make it big. In 2006, the four members packed up and moved to Westwood, …

The Fabulous Rudies, a seven-piece North County ska band booked to return as the “BBQ band” on this year’s Vans Warped Tour, have had a change of plans. In exchange for towing a large grill …

For about five years, singer-guitarist Joe Rathburn has played on the outdoor patio at the Tin Fish restaurant and bar at the foot of Fifth Avenue. When nearby Petco Park opened, Padres fans would walk …

“I heard from one of our customers that the Zombie Lounge was going to be for sale,” says Chris Heaney, owner/operator of the Kadan in North Park. Heaney is now the principal owner of the …

A radio station doesn’t usually have the same DJ on for 20 years,” said Makeda Dread in 2003, the 20th anniversary of her Reggae Makossa program on 91X. On May 18, Dread’s run as producer/host …

In February, the all-age music venue Channel Twelve 25 opened its doors in down town El Cajon. Adam Paul helps book hip-hop, acoustic rock, blues, and folk acts. “The only thing we’re not booking is …

Although tickets for the August 27 Radiohead show at Cricket Amphitheatre are selling well, local concert promoters may be facing a tough summer. “AEG is hurting with George Michael,” says one insider about how AEG …

“I was trying to keep it on the down low,” says Defamation League vocalist Chaz Lomack of his arrest in SDSU’s recent federal drug sting. “I was sitting in jail watching Fox 6 news, and …

“Right after I turned pro in ’99, I had a bad break at the YMCA skate park in Escondido,” says Sayvinyl singer/guitarist Jesse Fritsch. “I sort of sat on my ankle and it just popped. …

Bay Area punk band the Dead Kennedys still get airplay for their classic thrash anthems “Holiday in Cambodia” and “California Über Alles.” Though the band still tours, lead singer/songwriter Eric “Jello Biafra” Boucher has not …

Last month, the Guana Batz played a sold-out Belly Up show opening for Mike Ness. Last week, the Escondido-based band accepted an opening slot on two dates of Rancid’s upcoming fall tour. Guana Batz bassist …

Guitarist Stevie Salas appeared last Wednesday at the Sports Arena, fulfilling his role as musical director for American Idol finalist Jordin Sparks (on tour opening for Alicia Keys). Salas first appeared on the scene in …

Last week, Defamation League cofounder MC Chas Lomack, 22, who performs as Khemical Ali, was one of the people arrested in SDSU’s federal drug sting. Lomack was charged with selling cocaine and having marijuana plants …

Gringos Cantina in Pacific Beach advertised a Cinco de Mayo party for weeks; the restaurant intended to hold it in their parking lot – very close to the beach – on Saturday, May 3. Because …

Although a March 25 San Diego Union-Tribune article announced that “Street Scene is poised to reclaim the streets that inspired its name,” founder Rob Hagey has taken out a special-events permit to hold it in …

The Four Kings played a local battle-of-the-bands show at the House of Blues last August. “At the end of the show the four of us were taking different trips up and down the loading elevator,” …

“We moved to San Diego from El Centro,” says Borrachos bassist Frank Rivera. “We started as a band, but we never got anywhere because every time we got together to practice we got too faded.… …

The Resentments, an I.B. punk band, was ready for their national TV debut last year. Producer David Milch (NYPD Blue, Deadwood) had discovered the group while looking for locals to flesh out his HBO series …

Winstons turned away customers on April 14 and 15 to accommodate a Fox production crew, in town to shoot the pilot for a proposed series called Mythological X. The show is based around a cast …

One promoter trying to book a certain headliner for an upcoming summer date says he probably won’t succeed. He says he is in a bidding war against the Viejas casino and its deep pockets. “They …

Thought by many to be the worst radio promotion of all time, a 1979 “Disco Sucks” event at a Chicago White Sox home game led to a ballpark riot, fires, property damage, and 39 arrests. …

Mike Pereira co-owns a recording studio in Golden Hill, but he used to work as a bouncer. “I worked for ten years in security [at clubs] in Miami and here in San Diego, and I …

A Vietnam vet walks into a bar and tells a singer-songwriter who’s done prison time that he’ll pay for the recording and pressing of 1000 copies of her ten-song CD. It’s no joke. Robin Lee …

Jordan Moorman doesn’t sound like any other open-mike regular. “I don’t have a larynx. I don’t know what it is that I use to sing or talk.” The singer-guitarist lost his vocal cords when he …