Author and Punisher

Mechanical engineer and musician Tristan Shone is the man behind the industrial drone-doom one-man band Author & Punisher. A new album called Krüller is due February 11 via Relapse Records, featuring newly upgraded musical machines, revised vocal processing, and guest players including Tool’s Danny Carey and Justin Chancellor. The video for the first single “Drone Carrying Dread” was directed by Monte Legaspi and features illustrations from album cover artist Zlatko Mitev. Shone says the album was thematically inspired by Octavia E. Butler’s Parable series. “I had just gotten home from the final tour of the Beastland album cycle, and I spent a couple weeks updating my overall tones with a nice balance of sub, saw-synth, and tube amp. This track was basically the one where it all clicked and I had these chords that resonated just right, shaking the entire warehouse. It’s a simple but raw progression that was ripe for the addition of melodic guitars, as well as synthesizer programming from myself and co-producer Jason Begin [Vytear]. Lyrically, it’s about escape and survival, as the events that were unfolding in 2020 were prophesied by the [Parable] books I was reading throughout the year.” Shone, who creates custom musical instruments for performances and recordings, is also launching an audio gear company called Drone Machines.

El Vez

Robert Lopez, who cofounded the influential local punk band the Zeros, has made a whole new career for himself as El Vez, the self-proclaimed “Mexican Elvis.” On record and in concert, he re-imagines songs, not all of them by Elvis, as Mexican-themed anthems such as “En El Barrio” (a bordertown version of “In the Ghetto”), “Aztec Hotel” (parodying “Heartbreak Hotel”), “You Ain’t Nothing But a Chihuahua,” and “Immigration Time,” sung to the tune of “Suspicious Minds” (“I’ve got my green card / I want my gold card”). His holiday favorites include “Brown Christmas”: I’m dreaming of a Brown Christmas/ Just like my ones in San Diego/ Where cousins and familia are tight/ And thank God our Christmases ain’t white. The one-time contestant on the TV show To Tell the Truth has released several pun-filled albums, including Graciasland, Sno-Way Jose, A Lad From Spain, God Save the King, Pure Aztec Gold, Boxing With God, and Merry Mex-Mas. Lopez will stage his annual Las Vegas-style El Vez Merry Mex-Mas show at the Casbah on December 23. NOTE: The Casbah has cancelled this event.

Bombpops

Founded in North County San Diego circa 2008, the Bombpops cite influences such as No Use For a Name and Fat Wreck Chords. They recorded their debut 2010 album, Hair Products and Narcotics, at Doubletime in El Cajon with Jeff Forrest, who’s recorded countless locals from Blink-182 and Buck-O-Nine to Rocket From the Crypt and Battalion of Saints. The following year, they signed to Chicago-based punk label Red Scare Industries, known for championing eventual stars like Cobra Skulls, the Menzingers, and Teenage Bottlerocket. The label backing enabled the Bombpops to promote their Like I Care EP with a national tour and opening shows for musical inspirations such as Anti-Flag and NOFX. Their 2017 album Fear Of Missing Out was recorded at Black in Bluhm in Denver, CO, and produced by Chris Fogal, of Colorado pop-punk band the Gamits. The Bombpops just got back from touring with Bayside and Hawthorne Heights, along with a few shows featuring Senses Fail.

Jewel

Having been voted the winner of season 6 of The Masked Singer, Jewel joined her 10-year-old son Kase, whose father is her ex-husband Ty Murray, to perform a duet with him on the recent two hour Masked Singer Holiday Special. The mother and son performed Jewel's hit song "Hands" while she played her acoustic guitar. The song ended with Kase giving his mom a hug and saying "I love you, mom." The 47-year-old singer also released an EP of songs from her tenure on the television contest. Jewel took to Twitter after the show, tweeting "I love singing with my son! I'm legit balling right now." She also has a new remix of “Standing Still” recorded with Swedish pop duo Pure Shores, who have worked with Giorgio Moroder, Don Diablo, KSHMR, and Girls Generation. “Standing Still (Pure Shores Remix)” is part of the 20th Anniversary celebration of Jewel’s platinum-selling album This Way.

Cash'd Out

Johnny Cash tribute band Cash’d Out formed in the early 2000s when singer Douglas Benson (who had only recently learned guitar) met guitarist Kevin Manuel through an ad in the Reader. Since making their stage debut in January 2005, they’ve been striving to recreate the music from Cash’s Columbia and Sun Records period, along with the famed live recordings Cash did at Folsom Prison and San Quentin. In 2007, they scored a $20,000 prize in Viejas’s Ultimate Cover Band contest. They also won Best Cover Or Tribute Band at the 2008 San Diego Music Awards, and Best Tribute Band at the 2011 and 2012 editions. They then took home the trophy for Best Cover or Tribute Band at the 2013 SDMAs, which named them Best Cover Band in 2014.

When they performed at the opening of the Johnny Cash exhibit at the Fender Museum in Corona, California, they jammed with longtime Cash drummer W.S. Holland. The band returned to the Fender Museum the following year to play a Cash birthday celebration with John Carter Cash (Johnny’s son) and Cindy Cash (Johnny’s daughter). Their annual Cash’d Out Christmas show will be staged at the Belly Up on December 23.