San Diego Reader

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 the same Eurostyle clothes: nice collared shirts and black leather shoes. And everyone liked the same kind of techno deejay music. They all went to the same clubs downtown. I like the dive bars that have hardcore shows.”

As of two weeks ago, Kunz, 37, doesn’t have to worry about his double life; the Del Mar architecture firm he worked for downsized from six to five people.

“The client I was working with just got hurt really bad in the stock market [and backed away from the remodel]. I was working on a remodel on her $3.6 million house in La Jolla.”

For employment while he’s out of his field of expertise, Kunz says he may make furniture or children’s pop-up books. He hopes his unemployment benefits will be enough to cover his one-quarter share ($125) of rent for the band’s rehearsal room. With his time off, Kunz plans to resurrect the Fish Tacos, an all-original “acoustic punk” duo in the same vein as the Dead Milkmen and the Violent Femmes.

Ride the Sun appears tonight at the 710 Beach Club.

– Ken Leighton