“We actually got arrested for stealing used vegetable oil,” Mario Rubalcaba tells me. The former Hot Snakes/Rocket from the Crypt drummer now plays drums with OFF!, Keith Morris’s new post–Circle Jerks project. He says they …

On March 25, San Diego rock group P.O.D. filed a lawsuit against their record label, Tennessee-based INO Records, in U.S. District Court in Nashville. In the filing, P.O.D. claims that the company breached its contract …

“We lived in San Diego all of ’97,” says Whit Smith by phone from Delaware. As guitarist, Smith is one-third of the country-swing/hot-jazz group Hot Club of Cowtown. “We arrived New Year’s Day, 1997, and …

In the ’60s, the pioneers of psychedelic rock were inspired by psychedelic drugs. Not so much anymore, but the musical DNA lives on, so it comes as no surprise when Maserati’s Matt Cherry sends a …

It was six years in the making. It’s got nine state-of-the-art speakers and woofers and exotic sound baffles and the best amplifiers and digital source units available, says Jon Whitledge about his otherwise nondescript white …

The Dodos are the San Francisco–based duo of singer/guitarist Meric Long and percussionist Logan Kroeber, on the road somewhere between Reno and Las Vegas when we talk. “I’m so glad you didn’t ask me to …

“We were asked to sign individual liability waivers after we were loaded in and set up.” Robin Henkel says that prior to a recent gig at a local community college (he’d rather not specify which …

These days, Creed’s frontman Scott Stapp is a repentant man. “I’m on a quest right now, seeking things of a spiritual nature and really being honest with myself, in an attempt to be a better …

Andy Six says a “black veil bride” is what Catholics sometimes call a nun. “But to me, it always sounded like a band name. It had sort of the Guns N’ Roses feel — light, …

Rifftide is a Chula Vista–based classic-rock cover band. The members met on Facebook and formed the band in March of 2010. Their day jobs include construction manager and brewmaster. Plus one stay-at-home mom. Jill Harvey …

“Build a quality studio, fill the place with outstanding musicians, and the market will come to you.” This formula, hopes Jim Austin, will spell success for a new business venture he owns with Buckfast Superbee …

If there were a rock-and-roll Hall of Fame for locals only, Joey Harris would be in it. The Beat Farmers is as good a place as any to begin the story. The band was founded …

Said the Whale is a Vancouver-based five-piece that has been on a songwriting-and- recording spree since their inception just out of high school in 2007. In less than five years, they have released seven EPs …

Jim Lauderdale has written hits for such country-music glitterati as George Strait, Patty Loveless, and George Jones but never for himself. It’s not that he hasn’t tried. The night before we talked, I listened to …

On February 24, Social Advocates for Youth (SAY) San Diego and the O’Farrell Community School in Skyline hosted a dedication concert on campus to name their auditorium after a former student, the late jazz saxophonist …

When asked to name his musical influences, Mark Growden comes up with Joni Mitchell and Estonian classical-composer Arvo Pärt. Other than that, he draws a blank. “What I can tell you,” says the multi-instrumentalist by …

When is a guitar like a woman? When it’s in a country song. “She’s all mine for all night,” sings Lucero’s Ben Nichols. “The only girl a boy can trust is his guitar/ She’s my …

On February 7, the Electric Waste Band celebrated their 19th anniversary at Winstons in Ocean Beach, where they have played every Monday night since February 3, 1992. “We figure that’s roughly 950 shows, 1900 sets, …

In 1961, Judy Collins was a Greenwich Village folk singer with a strong debut called A Maid of Constant Sorrow. An Earth-mother type with astonishing blue eyes, Collins had an airy voice that floated above …

Grace Potter & the Nocturnals’ “new” look is about 40 years old. In 2002, when they were starting out, the band’s look was “indie-rocker from the farm.” The Nocturnals were hayseeds, and Potter was the …

“I don’t know if this counts as acting,” blues diva Candye Kane says by phone from her Oceanside home. “I’m the narrator and I play myself.” The Toughest Girl Alive, a play based on Kane’s …

“Did you get some practice time in?” Scottie Blinn asks the half circle of students, electric guitars at the ready, seated in the teacher’s lounge at the Sacred Heart Parish School in Coronado. “Yeah,” they …

The idea was to throw a 100th birthday party for the most influential blues musician that ever lived: Robert Johnson. For Big Head Todd & the Monsters, the plan grew to include a tribute album …

Frank Zappa said this: “The disgusting stink of a too-loud electric guitar…now that’s my idea of a good time.” I submit that no other musical instrument has caused as many arguments as the electric guitar. …

“My first day back was actually the day after my birthday, October 25,” says Robin Roth. “It was the most wonderful birthday present I could have asked for.” Roth, a local since the age of …

Call it a stoner remix, but those of us who grew up during the psychedelic ’60s listening to bands like the Strawberry Alarm Clock get what Teengirl Fantasy is doing today. I think it’s what …

“I suppose the point of the name is to make people ask questions,” says 30 Seconds to Mars guitarist Tomo Miličević. He says it was brothers Jared and Shannon Leto who came up with the …

Back 2 Black is a tribute band that specializes in Brian Johnson–era AC/DC. They often perform the landmark album Back in Black from beginning to end. The band is meticulous about duplicating the smallest details, …

British rocker Dave Mason was everywhere during the late ’60s and ’70s. He cofounded Traffic. He played acoustic guitar on the Hendrix version of “All Along the Watchtower.” He is said to have played without …

When the Tree Ring went looking for seed money to produce their debut CD Generous Shadows, they turned to Kickstarter, a global web platform where self-starting artists can carry out donation drives. When they launched …

Ben Moore says that after 15 months of Monday nights, the Styletones are giving up their residency at Bar Pink. “We’re leaving because we’ve got a record coming out in the next couple of months …

Douglas Benson never sang professionally until founding Cash’d Out five years ago. “I started singin’ pretty much just to keep myself awake while I was on the road,” he says. Benson’s work involved the setting …

Jazz saxophonist James Moody died at the San Diego Hospice on the afternoon of December 9, a week and a day after receiving his fourth Grammy nomination. He was 85 and had battled pancreatic cancer …

People who claim to be in the know about Rob Halford’s personal life — Halford being the Judas Priest front man — say that he lives in San Diego these days. Tales of numerous Halford …

“Elvis was the coolest man musician who ever lived. He had everything the average male teenager needed and wanted, you know, the ladies being number one,” says City Limits guitarist Les Allen. City Limits is …

Matthew Vasquez swears that he still busks for spare change. “I made, like, 30 bucks on a street corner in Kensington, London, a couple of months ago.” He has busked regularly since he was a …

Larry Zeiger has wanted to make a music video ever since he recorded his concept album Meetchu in Machu Picchu last year. Not just a video, he says, correcting himself, but a musical film with …

“There’s always room for Jell-O,” right? That’s what Eric Boucher hoped in 1979 when he adopted that ad slogan to help spread the word in his bid for mayor of San Francisco. This happened during …

“We wrote a sludge opera and called it Blind Dead,” says guitarist-drummer Sam Lopez. “Mandy sings.” She also plays bass. “Esteban sings. It’s got six acts. We recorded it, but we don’t know what we’ll …

Ask Steve Poltz how he would like to be remembered, and he doesn’t hesitate: He says he’d like to be thought of as a guy who brought people together. He explains that his audiences are …

They are the third Portland-based band I’ve talked to in as many weeks. First STRFKR, then Boy Eats Drum Machine, and now the Thermals. Is every group from Portland on tour? “It’s an infestation,” says …

On the day that I go to hear the man many hail as San Diego’s preeminent straight-ahead jazz tenor saxist, he is playing piano. Sunday morning at Croce’s is the only gig that Daniel Jackson …

When the Black Veil Brides from West Hollywood decided to film their San Diego performance on November 15, they chose SOMA near the Sports Arena, a decision that came down from the Black Veil Brides’ …

Trung Ngo and Brad Petering, otherwise known as TV Girl, were as surprised as anybody to find that Pitchfork had given their new EP, a catchy patchwork quilt of songs crafted over time and distance …

At 6 p.m. on a Monday evening, an ex-rocker named Bob Bell, along with 18 other music students, tune various instruments in classroom 801 at Southwestern College. Music 157, also known as Mariachi Garibaldi, is …

Jon Ragel from Portland, Oregon, performs as his alter ego, Boy Eats Drum Machine, a one-man act that leans heavily on turntables and digital sampling. “Also saxophone,” he says. “A tenor saxophone. A real one.” …

The Moaners are a guitar-and-drum rock duo from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, a couple of part-time bartenders named Melissa Swingle and Laura King who make music steeped in both punk and the Mississippi Delta. The …

They sound better live. When I saw “Portugal. The Man” at SOMA the first time a couple of years ago, I didn’t know what to expect. I was thinking folksy indie-pop, the way they sound …

With the exception of the brief time it flew the doomed iPayOne corporate banner, for more than four decades locals have known it as the Sports Arena. But after November 1, that changes when the …

“You know how to play that thing?” asks an elderly hardware-store employee in a blue apron. Bianca Lara has taken a brand-new carpenter’s saw from a display, propped the handle against her leg, and is …