After a four-year respite from playing music, Jade Shader vocalist Terrin Durfey missed the music he used to play with his Leucadia-based band, Boilermaker.

"I regret that as lost time," says Durfey, who spent the years recovering from skin cancer and working at a San Diego--based film company. The Jade Shader started in 2003 and now features Chris Prescott (of Tanner and No Knife), Gabe Feenberg, and Matt Lynott. Each member of the band has been involved in the San Diego music scene for years.

Durfey says things have changed since the Drive Like Jehu/Heavy Vegetable/Three Mile Pilot days of the mid- to late '90s. He notes "the lack of the community [in the scene]. I don't want to name names, but we played a show with a band -- we're all from San Diego and were friends with a few of the guys in the band. On their dressing-room door they put this big sign that said, 'Our band members and crew only.' It was just a weird feeling. They were people that we knew and were friends with. There was no camaraderie."

Durfey sees a fractured scene with small cliques of bands that play together and get along; but there isn't enough crossover because genre separates them. He says the Jade Shader seeks out new bands to play with, but it's difficult to find bands with a similar sound and/or aesthetic. In addition, because a number of venues host national acts on a daily basis, crowds are spread thin.

"You've gotta be selective when you're going out all the time to see shows," says Durfey. "You're only going to go see the stuff that you really want to see, so you might miss a whole bunch of new bands that are just great."

The Jade Shader has strong followings in San Diego and in parts of the West Coast, but Durfey says he limits the band's potential because of family commitments; he has a three-and-a-half-year-old son he supports by working at Inner Space Designs in San Marcos.

"We just focus on the West Coast now. If I could make it where I could pay all my bills and be on tour all the time, I'd be completely stoked up."

The Jade Shader play the Casbah on April 4 before heading out on a brief tour with Pinback.