Photograph by Caitlin Rother

Geza Keller

Born in Budapest, Hungary, Geza Keller is a physicist by day whose Infinite Optics company earns $3 million in annual sales. He was three years old when he and his Canadian-born Hungarian mother fled the Russian Communist regime as political refugees and returned to Canada. He took early guitar lessons from Danny Schmidt, the father of the Eagles’ Timothy B. Schmidt, and later learned to play the drums and tenor sax. Keller went on to groups such as the Jazz Sparks until moving to San Diego in 1988. His band breakingthecode landed a label deal with Angelic Records, but that company released only a concert album recorded at the Belly Up.

He began recording his first solo album of originals during the 2020-2021 pandemic shutdown. The first single “Let Me In” was just released, with an album called Got Nothing to Lose due September 6. Work on the single started back in 1985. “The song was inspired by the struggle that many young people experience,” he says, “trying to find their own identities, their purposes in life, their search for love and their attempts to overcome their limitations amid the general chaos of life. People seek love and yet are troubled by love. It’s both the answer and the problem.” Geza Keller will debut his album for an outdoor concert at Aztec Brewery in Vista on September 11.

Stephanie Richards

Photograph by Walter Wlodarcyzk

Trumpeter Stephanie Richards has recorded with everyone from David Byrne and John Zorn to Anthony Braxton, Henry Threadgill, St. Vincent, Jason Moran, Yoko Ono, and Kanye West. She has also performed and recorded in a trio with Vinny Golia and Bert Turetzky, and has collaborated with performance artists Mike Kelly and Laurie Anderson. Her compositions have been featured on stages at Carnegie Hall, the Blue Note NYC, and Lincoln Center, and she conducted ensembles with Butch Morris’ Conduction language. Her upcoming album Zephyr, due October 15 and made in collaboration with local jazz pianist Joshua White, was begun while she was pregnant, though it took two years to finish, due to the pandemic. “Your humanity is visibly evident when you’re pregnant,” she says. “I felt that I could connect even more closely with my bandmates, and with audiences.” The album is being released with an accompanying film, shot by Vipal Monga in the slow cinema genre that furthers the album’s focus on water and breath. “It’s not being dictated to you from a visual perspective,” says Richards of the film, which will be released online as well as screened during the album support tour.

El Perro

Founded in 2019, El Perro is a psychedelic rock band led by guitarist and singer-songwriter Parker Griggs, whose group Radio Moscow began in the tiny Iowa town of Story City before relocating to Eureka, then Rancho Tehama, and finally San Diego in the early 2000-teens. El Perro’s progressive space jam sound differs from Radio Moscow thanks to a second guitar and percussionist, pushing the music into more of a syncopated Latin and funk groove. Other members include former Radio Moscow drummer Lonnie Blanton, bassist Shawn Davis, and guitarist Holland Redd. They just released their debut single “Black Days,” in advance of a debut album due early next year, Hair Of. Griggs’ other group Radio Moscow recently released Live At Rockpalast 2015, a 15-track DVD filmed shortly after the debut of their Magical Dirt album (which is heavily represented in the set list). Featured concert staples include “I Just Don’t Know,” “250 Miles,” “Broke Down,” “Brain Cycles,” and “No Good Woman,” as well as acoustic bonus selections and a cover of Peter Green/Fleetwood Mac track “World Keep on Turning.”

Run For Your Fucking Life

Bumbklaatt singer/guitarist Fernando Cruz, aka Cruz Radical, spent 1994 through 2001 in Run For Your Fucking Life, aka RFYFL, with Jason Weedon, Jef Shadoan (A.R.M - Anti-Repression-Music), and Danny Calderon. The band played local shows with Davey and Tiltwheel, often sharing a bill with Krakass. They released a 7-inch themselves with help from friends at Hopscotch, as well as issuing several releases on the Gloom label. Their self-titled 2001 album was mixed and recorded by Gar Wood (Hot Snakes, Tanner). Fernando Cruz also played with Rail them to Death, Los Kagados, Agonista, and Illegal Visions. He went solo in 2015, releasing his debut Cruz Radical album the following year. On September 14, the local Three One G label will re-release the 2001 Run For Your Fucking Life album for the first time since its initial pressing, with vinyl variants including 250 red and 250 clear vinyl. The rerelease is a tribute to singer Jason Weedon, who passed away in 2019. According to the band, “This redux of the 2001 self-titled 45LP attempts to honor Jason by making more available some of his great work. Jason united and healed the scene, and the nihilistic visions of hardcore kids everywhere, like no other. This album is dedicated to Jason’s spirit.”

Bella Kaye

Young singer-songwriter Bella Kaye says her new single “Drowning” (due August 20) is an emotional ballad reflecting on a dark period in her life when she lost herself and started spiraling downwards. “‘Drowning’ is a reflection piece, and I don’t think I would’ve been able to write this song while being in the mental state I was in,” she says. “I wrote this by reflecting back to the feelings of being trapped in a deep mental hole and feeling like I was losing myself. I feel this song is a very accurate representation of the emotions and feelings I was dealing with during this low point in my life. Even though I wrote this song based on my emotional state that happened a while ago, I feel like this song is still very relevant to me as I navigate through my teenage years.” It’s the second single off her upcoming seven song narrative concept EP, an autobiographical project. “When I began writing the songs for this EP, I had no idea they were going to be a snapshot of my life.”