“You choose love and they choose chaos”

Chris Leyva, who grew up in Mexico City, also books bands at venues around town and co-manages the Black Cherry Group. His group Falling Doves will release a new album via local label Pacific records this month, Skylark ‘69, including its debut single “Shotgun.” Leyva says of the song, “Have you ever been in a relationship where you choose love and they choose chaos and to end things, and no matter how hard you try, you feel like they are the judge, the jury, and the executioner? And your only crime is trying too damn hard to make it work? Well, that’s the theme here.” The band just finished a string of dates with Cheap Trick, and past tour mates include Echo & The Bunnymen, Peter Murphy of Bauhaus, Fastball, and Gilby Clarke of Guns N’ Roses. The Falling Doves Double Vision 2022 World Tour kicks off March 25 in Tarzana CA, followed by a pre-Grammy event, and then a European and UK tour before returning for U.S. and Puerto Rico dates through summer. A September midwest tour will be followed by a December trip to Australia. The Skylark ’69 album release party happens March 31 at Juan Tequila, including a hosted sampling by Juan Mezcal from 8 to 9 p.m.

Rock guitar icon Greg Douglass performed on Greg Kihn’s single “Jeopardy” (1983), and he’s toured and recorded with Van Morrison, Duane Eddy, Link Wray, Hot Tuna, Dave Mason, and Eddie Money, among others. In addition, he co-wrote and played on the Steve Miller Band hit “Jungle Love” (1977). “Getting prepped for my trip to the UK with the British version of our all-star classic rock band Pompatus of Love,” says Douglass, who moved to San Diego in 1992. “Absolutely love touring overseas where audiences actually give, uh, ‘elder statesmen’ of the San Francisco music scene much respect. The band is top notch: Rob Beckinsale on guitar and keyboards and every instrument ever invented, Steve Browning on bass, and Matt Wheatley on drums. Although I’m going to miss my regular guys terribly, we’ve got a killer chemistry. The tour runs from April 20 to May 16 with very little time off, so I’m glad I got my partying done when I was younger. I’m going to need every ounce of energy I’ve got. The tour poster is beautiful and is in a bunch of British music magazines.” The U.S. version of the Pompatus of Love opens for Eagles tribute Desperado at the Belly Up on June 11.

Singer-guitarist and songwriter Ron Houston is best known from the Sickstring Outlaws, whose album Johnny Drank Jack was nominated Best Local Recording at the 2013 San Diego Music Awards. He’s also fronted bands like The Berry Pickers, frequently seen around town at venues such as The Barn in Ramona, Alpine’s Casino Inn, and the Rincon Reservation Road Brewery at Harrah’s Casino in Valley Center. The band is booking so much work that, this month, they played 11 shows in 12 days. In 2020, Houston released a solo album, A Long Road Home, preceded by a single for “Take a Walk With Me,” inspired by the George Floyd police protests. That November, he battled Covid-19, which he said he believes he was exposed to at a gig. He was still recovering into early 2021. “My new CD The Streets Of West Monroe will be out this summer,” says Houston, who recently found himself nominated Best Country/Americana Artist at the 2022 San Diego Music Awards. The album is expected in July, preceded by a single for “Just an Empty Bottle.”

Heavy metal band Pathology was co-founded in early 2006 by Dave Astor (The Locust, Being Killed, Cattle Decapitation), who was later joined by vocalist Matti Way (Disgorge, Liturgy, Cinerary). The group recently debuted a music video for their single “Procession For Mangled Humans,” from their 11th studio album The Everlasting Plague, released via the Nuclear Blast label. It follows their earlier single, “Dirge For The Infected.” Recorded at Sharkbite Studios in Oakland, the album was produced by Zack Ohren (Machine Head, Suffocation), who also handled engineering and mixing and worked on their 2019 full-length Reborn To Kill. The Everlasting Plague cover art, by longtime group collaborator Par Olofsson, features band’s demented priest mascot as an apex zombie ripping the flesh from a fellow dead man, as he climbs the ruins of a demolished city. Pathology will play Brick By Brick in Linda Vista on August 3, for a bill that includes Condemned and Decrepit Birth.

Founded in 2018, Chloe Lou & the Liddells play bluesy country soul music with an oldies feel. The group features Chloe Lou Liddell (vocals), backed by a roster of local players which has included Chris Davies (the Penetrators, Bruce Joyner & the Tinglers), Ron Silva (Crawdaddys, Nashville Ramblers), and Richard “T-Bone” Larson (Bartenders Bible, Tender Faeries). A new single called “Wrong” is the first of several releases planned through summer, including some physical CD versions of music previously only available digitally. They’ll perform March 26 at Navajo Live in San Carlos, along with fellow locals The Havnauts. “We’ll be headlining and premiering some new music as well as some awesome merch,” says Liddell. “Come on out and support local music.”