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

V Child

Sound description

All original rock for rent.

RIYL

Red Hot Chili Peppers, Robin Trower, BTO, Rush, Tragically Hip

Inception

San Diego , 2006

Influences

Soundgarden, Creed, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Black Sabbath, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Oingo Boingo

Discography

2008
2014

Video(s)

Sponsored

V Child, home-based in Mira Mesa, is all-original, the sort of band for which bookings are slim in the San Diego club scene. “We started in 2007,” says Canadian-born singer-guitarist Ken Najbert. “It was Dan Smith [aka Kretin Rock] the drummer, and I. We were looking for a bassist.” They ended up with Ron Call, a longtime local blues harp player.

Call played pickup dates with Tomcat Courtney, and he was a member of at least one evolution of the Mississippi Mudsharks, as well as playing with Earl Thomas, Bordercrossing, and Latin pop group Adammo. He’d always wanted to learn to play bass, so when the opportunity came along in the form of V Child, he bought a 200-dollar special from Guitar Trader. “I’ve been learning on the fly.”

Their first gig was at the now-defunct Dream Street, and their self-titled 2008 debut demo CD was partially recorded at Double Barrel Studios in Lakeside with Mudshark Scottie Blinn. The single “It’s a Girl” was showcased on Good Morning San Diego.

“Because we’re not a major-label act,” Najbert says, “we’re just trying to scrape by.” Like all bands that hope to hit the road, V Child have their collective eye on the mortal enemy of all DIY indie rock tours: $4 dollar gas.

“Gas Tank is our song about the frustrating rise in gas prices,” he says. “We made a pretty cool video to go with the song.” The tune earned play on KPRI, and their song “Royal Maya Crypt” was shown a little radio love by Rock 102.5.

Najbert says Dweezil Zappa calls him “the human blow horn.” In early 2012, the band hunkered down in Fallbrook during their spare time in the galactic womb that is Night Sky Studios.

“[Owner Steve Donato] has got the whole thing mapped out so it looks like a space atmosphere inside,” said Ron Call. “You look out the window and you see craters on the moon. The ceiling is painted like a night sky, and every now and then a shooting star goes by. I don’t know from where.”

Bassist Ron Call moved to Ohio in 2013, and was replaced by Ron (Unkle Zim) Henderson. The band's album Vanity was released in late 2014, around the same time that drummer Dan Smith left the band to move east. New drummer Eddie Sakaue joined in March 2015.

Sponsored

Upcoming Local Shows

No shows scheduled

Post a show View show history
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