One of Those Guys

After being hospitalized for a protracted illness, Guy Lopez, bass player of the late-'70s punk band the Upbeats, died October 2.

The younger brother of Robert Lopez (better known as El Vez and one of the original members of the Zeros), Guy did a brief stint as bassist for the Zeros in 1978. He joined the Upbeats after watching the band play at Abbey Road, one of San Diego's first punk-show venues. (The building is now home to the Abundant Grace Christian Center at 3117 University Avenue.)

"That's where we met -- Abbey Road," says Paris Treantafeles, guitarist/vocalist of the Upbeats. "At the time I was borrowing a bass player here and there. He would sometimes play with the Zeros, and I guess he saw us and he liked us and said, 'Yeah, I'll play with you.' So we started playing [Abbey Road] and the Skeleton Club and San Diego State [the Backdoor]."

Though the Upbeats didn't make much of a mark outside Southern California, Guy "...was just one of those guys that everyone knew and everyone loved," says cousin Kevin Chanel, who released a number of cassettes, records, and CDs throughout the '80s and '90s on his now-defunct National City--based Scheming Intelligentsia Records.

According to Chanel, Guy followed the lead of other San Diego musicians and bands -- including the Zeros and the Dils -- and moved north to San Francisco in the early '80s.

"He wasn't playing in any bands in San Francisco," says Chanel. "But he seemed to have known everyone -- and I really mean everyone -- in San Francisco."

Guy lived in Kensington when he passed away last month at the age of 42.