The Manual Shambles of Kevin Ring and Bart Mendoza

Singer/guitarists Kevin Ring and Bart Mendoza co-founded Manual Scan back in 1981, and have gigged together in The Shambles as well. But the way Ring tells it, the earlier appellation has been a little busier of late than the later ensemble. “Actually, the Shambles haven’t gigged or released a new track in over a decade, if my memory serves me correctly. And Scan never really broke up or anything. We went on a little hiatus around 1990, and I formed The Shambles with Ray Brandes, Mark Z, and David Klowden, as I wanted to continue playing. Bart joined a few months later. Bringing Scan back to the forefront was very organic, more of a ‘feels like the right time’ kind of thing.”

The current Manual Scan lineup, active “around 10 years,” consists of Ring, Mendoza, drummer Jarrod Lucas from the Dragons, bassist Tim Blankenship from Creedle, and David Fleminger of Alvino and the Dwells — who started out on bass, but now handles keyboards and vocals. Their EP Shooting Stars drops soon on local Pacific Records, and they’ll also release a vinyl-only seven-inch on Outro Records called David May, with three of the same five songs.

Ring’s been around long enough to let plenty of local color seep in. “Bird Rock was a great place to grow up,” he recalls, “close to the lively ‘hood of Pacific Beach. I used to walk to the Roxy Theater on Cass to see movies, and then lots of great shows: Vapors, Romantics, Boomtown Rats, Dickies, X. But I’ve barely spent any time there since moving away when I was 18. University Heights was a great place to live in my early twenties. Bart was literally right around the corner from my first place there. And while it’s also a lively area, it’s ever so slightly out of the way, so the vibe wasn’t too crazy. In La Jolla, I was originally in the thick of it, in an apartment right behind Alfonso’s on Prospect. And I wasn’t expecting to like Sorrento Valley, but it was very central and I completely fell in love with the house the moment I walked in. Divorce took care of that phase.”

Then he was “back in La Jolla again, living in a room in my office, which is in a cottage on the property that my parents own. That was actually very pleasant. Four blocks from the beach at Sea Lane. Great food a block and a half away at Carino’s and Verdes El Ranchero. Now in Mira Mesa, I’m very happy here. It’s so central to everything. But decent food is lacking. I’m not even happy with the fast food and chain restaurant options. Now realizing that I’ve based a lot of my neighborhood comparisons on food. I may be hungry.”

Ring and Mendoza share lead vocals on the new EP’s opening title track, “Shooting Stars,” written by the two with Lori Wilson of the Electric Underground. Ring’s also on the mic for “David May” — a tune co-written by Mendoza and Erin Lazare, which bounced around a few decades before getting a proper recording — and he sings a cover of the Creation’s “Biff Bang Pow.” That leaves Mendoza to sing lead on his own for “(She’s Used To Playing With) Fire,” and “(Baby My) Couch Is On Fire,” co-written with the notorious (and even-posthumously menacing) Kim Fowley, best known for masterminding The Runaways.

Asked about the record producer, Ring says, “That would be me. I think we picked me because I did the work for free… I had engineered and co-produced the Saint Shameless CD and engineered/produced the Spitfire Torpedo LP, so I had that under my belt.”

Although he’s been present at many historic local events, both with his own band (see Mods Gone Wild: 1982’s Riot at Clairemont High) and while witnessing other acts, Ring declines to add to the list of escapades around town he’s shared with The Reader over the years. “Personally, I don’t get out to eat much since the pandemic, and my two very favorite restaurants have closed — Alfonso’s and Carino’s. As to drinking, I pretty much only do that at Disneyland.”