Melvin Knurbein's last recordings

“They just put him in hospice yesterday,” says bassist Mike Woods about Resevior Tips drummer Melvin Knurbein, a longtime member of the San Diego punk community also known from bands like Woodshed, the Untold, and Storm Section. “I just spoke with him. He is coherent and aware, but he goes in and out. He has diffused gastric cancer, which is a rare form of cancer.”

Woods says he is resigned to the fate of the bandmate he has played with since 2003. They shared a mutual appreciation that rock bands could goof on modern day bullshit when they launched Resevior Tips.

Woods says there is no room for the Resevior Tips in the modern era wherein Disneyland has just forbidden its Pirates of the Caribbean figures from selling wenches.

“The world is too serious and politically correct for a band like us now,” says Woods, who happily works for a mortuary. “Resevior Tips started as a side project to do funny songs. We had songs like ‘Bumfuck Egypt’ about a show in the desert, and ‘Lesbos’ about two of our girlfriends who moved out here from Florida.”

Woods says the Resevior Tips members, which also included guitarist Rowland Bluntz (Ramblin’ Outlaws, FuckLordz), came from metal and punk bands who wanted a fun side project. “The first Resevior Tips show was in 2003 at a hall in El Cajon. We opened for Agent Orange.”

Woods, who attended Hilltop High School in Chula Vista, says he then went to Southwestern College to study sound recording. “I ended up changing gears when I got a part time job at a funeral home.”

Now he is faced with playing shows for his bandmate who is facing his own mortality. “Melvin was one of those guys who would do anything for you. Who would bend over backwards to help people out. He would work on your car.”

But Woods, said Melvin, now in his 40s, was hit with an unlikely onslaught of medical woes. “Ten years ago he had to get a kidney and pancreas transplant.”

Woods makes it clear Melvin was not a partier. “People may say ‘Oh, he was a punk rock animal.’ Not true. He had terrible health that had nothing to do with anything that was self-inflicted.”

Woods says the immediate Resevior Tips community has been tapped, but more support is needed. “We did a benefit show for Melvin in December at the Til Two Club. We made $1500…. He went downhill really quickly after that. All I know is the insurance does not cover the medical bills when you include all the treatments and the transplants.”

A Gofundme account has been set up for Knurbein, and Woods hopes those who know and don’t know Melvin will contribute. “When we were rehearsing for the benefit we were lucky to do a few new songs with Melvin, which are turning out to be his last recordings,” says Woods.