Neo-beat poetry

The titular frontman of the Scott West Band has recorded with guest contributors such as Cake bassist Gabe Nelson, Lee Rocker (Stray Cats), and Prairie Prince (The Tubes, Jefferson Starship). Since the early 2000s, he’s been working with Tesla members, including bassist Brian Wheat, guitarist Frank Hannon, and drummer Troy Luckketta, recording his 2010 holiday album California Christmas at Tesla’s Sacramento studio. West recently made his music video directorial debut with the shoot for his song “Fallback,” featuring Frank Hannon, Steel Breeze singer-guitarist Dan Bauer, and Stoneground guitarist Tim Barnes, who played with West’s earlier Sacramento band. “‘Fallback’ is about being at the crossroads of a relationship, when you have to decide whether you’re going to pick it up and make the relationship work, or you’re going to kick it down and move on to something that is hopefully better,” says West. “We shot most of the video on San Diego beaches, including Mission Beach, La Jolla, Del Mar, and Encinitas. We did shoot a sunset shot at a famous surfer spot, Black Rock in west Maui.” “Fallback” was the fourth single from West’s 2006 album Standing on the Moon, soon to be re-released in a remastered version completed at Air Studios London. The video features Kristiana Koroleva, who was Miss Russia in the 2016 Miss Universe pageant.

Tobias Nathaniel of the Black Heart Procession formed The Red Step with musicians from the garage rock scene in his new home of Belgrade, Serbia’s capital city: keyboardist Boris Eftovski, bassist Rudolf Cibulski, and drummer Vladimir Markoski (who played drums with Andre Williams), all hailing from the longstanding Serbian garage rock band Kazna za uši. Nathaniel seems to be eschewing keyboards to instead handle vocals and guitar, Londoner Sarah Jane Seatherton plays cello, and both Eftovski and Markoski have been members of the Black Heart Procession. The Red Step’s eponymous debut was just released by Chicago’s Pravda Records via streaming platforms and on colored marbled vinyl with an accompanying download card. A single for “Reset” is available online, and a video recently debuted for “Black Summer,” which was reportedly written four years ago as a prediction of what might happen in Donald Trump were elected president. Tobias Nathaniel has also recorded with indie rockers Blonde Redhead and Bauhaus bassist David J (who ended up living in San Diego), and he played piano on what became the “Evil Morty” theme on the TV show Rick and Morty. He was recently interviewed for the podcast Conan Neutron’s Protonic Reversal.

Saturday Night Sage, a collection of poetry and narrative prose by Noah C. Lekas, was the first book released by local label Blind Owl Records, founded by singer-guitarist Daniel Cervantes (Whiskey Circle, Mrs. Henry, Creature & the Woods). Released last year, audio and visual pieces inspired by the book were produced by locals Joshua and Jeremiah Zimmerman (The Silent Comedy), Ben Ambrosini (Taken By Canadians), and members of Mrs. Henry. In February, Blind Owl will release a collaborative spoken word EP based on the book, Sounds From the Shadow Factory, with tracks by Ben Ambrosini, Chad Lee (The Silent Comedy), and Mrs. Henry. The first single “Saturday Night Sage” features Howlin Rain accompanying Noah C. Lekas. “The Howlin Rain music here was dug out of a rehearsal recording from one of our past jams,” says bandleader Ethan Miller. “It was the kind of thing we play to warm up when we first reconvene, usually someone is still changing guitar strings or setting up an amp and whoever is ready begins an improv and everyone joins in eventually. Dan Cervantes took what probably never would have been revisited, heard the spirit in it, and brilliantly edited and overdubbed a few subtle elements to really make it a thing and create a piece that could thread into Noah’s fantastic neo-beat poetry. In the end, that off-the-cuff ‘found’ music source is a really cool vehicle for Noah’s words.”

Indie/fuzz-rock duo Crocodiles features Brandon Welchez (the Prayers) and Charles Rowland (Some Girls), who’ve been playing together since they were teenagers in San Diego bands such as the Plot to Blow Up the Eiffel Tower and the Prayers. Kate Clover directed the video for their new single “Christmas In Hell,” which doesn’t come from any existing release. “The world needed a Christmas song reflective of the total shittiness of 2020, so last week we decided to write one,” says Welchez. “We recorded it immediately via email and shot the video in our respective apartments under Kate’s direction. Hopefully, it makes your holiday season slightly less shitty.” The video features a socially distanced Santa and one coked up elf enacting a lonely holiday, as Wells Fargo prepares to repossess Saint Nick’s workshop, forcing massive elf layoffs. The improbably chirpy pop rock sheen is counterbalanced with lyrics such as “Mommy’s in the hospital, daddy’s out of work, fascists on the TV screen, the world is run by jerks.”

Other new locally created Christmas-themed music includes a single called “Christmas With Friends” from Safety Orange, founded in the mid-90s by singer-bassist Sol Turpin (40 Oz to Freedom), a San Diego native, with singer-guitarist Greg Karlo (who once played with Turpin in a Cure tribute band). The video for Josie Day’s new original Christmas song “I Can’t Wait For Christmas” was filmed at last year’s December Nights in Balboa Park. Jose Sinatra may not be able to host OB’s longtime Christmas Eve Karaoke event, but the comedic singer and his longtime musical partner Troy Dante are marking the holidays by releasing their version of “The Xmas Song,” replacing the lyrics about chestnuts roasting on an open fire with their own bawdy phrases. You can find more locals on both volumes of the Snap! Records holiday compilation Power Chords, Harmonies & Mistletoe, including former Byrd Chris Hillman, Mojo Nixon’s onetime musical partner Skid Roper, the Tourmaliners, Jim Ryan, Pony Death Ride, the Drabs, Rockola, the Shambles, and True Stories.