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Stories by Jay Allen Sanford

All Garrison Bailey needs is 250 square feet and Google

“My last album was seven years ago, and money was always an issue,” says Garrison Bailey (Groove Kitties). “I also had moved to Pennsylvania for five years, and music was put on the back burner …

August 18, 2022
What you can expect from Bobby Bray, Flogging Molly, Mike Pope, Lexington Field, and Beach Punx Fest

Bobby Bray (INUS) recently contributed to Fender’s Technique of the Week series. “They had me do a technique for beginners…muted pick tapping on multiple strings at once, in a percussive manner. It’s actually a thing …

August 18, 2022
Warmly transcending a degree of nostalgia

“There’s a lot of analog warmth to this album which will only be emphasized all the more on vinyl,” says occasional Bauhaus bassist David J of the vinyl release of A Free Society, from his …

August 11, 2022
“Loose commentary on Silicon Valley garbage like The Metaverse”

“There’s a lot of analog warmth to this album, which will only be emphasized all the more on vinyl,” says occasional Bauhaus bassist David J of the vinyl release of A Free Society, from his …

August 4, 2022
The Monroes reunion is for real this time

“Could you be the one I’m thinking of? Could you be the girl I really love? All the people tell me so, But what do all the people know!” -- The Monroes, “What Do All …

August 4, 2022
RIP Castanets innovator Raymond Raposa

The singer-songwriter behind psychedelic folk-blues band the Castanets has passed away. “It is with great sorrow that the family of Raymond Raposa announce his passing today,” reads an online announcement from record label Asthmatic Kitty. …

July 31, 2022
Cult author Philip K. Dick was only apparently real

Wally World & King Neptune is a comedic rock band from Encinitas featuring singer-guitarist Wally Passet (Snakebyte, King Neptune), alongside Ben Petrella (Echelons, the Drive-Ins, King Neptune) and Loren Kofsky (Infidelz). “Just finished up a …

July 28, 2022
Wait, is Carol Burnett playing Kim Wexler's MOM?!

Okay, let's get the spoiler alert out of the way up front - if you're a Better Call Saul fan and you haven't seen July 25th's episode "Nippy," I suggest you go track down some …

July 27, 2022
In defense of San Diego Comic-Con co-founder Shel Dorf

The recent book See You At San Diego: An Oral History of Comic-Con, Fandom, and the Triumph of Geek Culture sets the record straight regarding how pop culture's geekiest get-together became the BFD it is …

A Stray Catalyst cheer for Cheerios

Saki, aka A Stray Catalyst, integrates songs with poetry, choreography, videography, and mixed media. The project began in 2019 as a collection of poetry set to music, featuring unusual instrumentation and clever lyrics, though Saki …

Ganging up on the Padres

DJ Bassassin graduated from the Musicians Institute with a focus on Music Production and Music Business. The resident DJ for Moxy San Diego has a new single, “Padre Gang,” inspired by DJ Mustard’s beats and …

July 21, 2022
“Bring on the Ferraris and the swimming pools!”

Alex Garcia and Sal Samano began cutting bedroom demos together in 2019. Their debut self-titled Thee Sacred Souls album drops August 26 via Daptone Records, previewed so far with singles for “Will I See You …

July 14, 2022
Roger Waters tour debut features local keyboard star

Former Pink Floyd frontman Rober Waters opened his oft-delayed This Is Not a Drill tour on Wednesday night, July 6 in Pittsburgh PA, with a backing band that includes San Diego keyboardist Robert Walter. Following …

July 7, 2022
Deaf Club: Pearson pedal pleases Pixies

Deaf Club, the newest project from occasional costumed Locust Justin Pearson, wasted no time after the release of their debut album in January, following up in May with their Bad Songs Forever EP, featuring three …

July 7, 2022
The hardest thing about being a Secret Superwoman

Rebecca Jade’s album A Shade of Jade debuts with a July 22 performance at Sycuan. “There is so much new music to share at this release event,” says Jade. “This is the first time I …

July 7, 2022
New owners, new life for Palms, Windsor, and Friendship Hotels

The Palms Hotel at 12th and Island downtown (originally known as the Bay View and reportedly San Diego's oldest continuously operated lodging) and Hillcrest's similarly rundown Friendship Hotel are being purchased by the same Newport-based …

Reunions, relocations, revisions, and more good news/bad news

Founded by brothers Joshua and Jeremiah Zimmerman, the Silent Comedy began as sort of an old-timey theatrical troupe. Although the band recently announced that they had to cancel one leg of their July tour, they …

June 30, 2022
The return of the Westwatcher

“It’s a low-temperature variant of surf rock, with tremolo guitars, sixties organs, and what a friend says are cinematic melodies,” says Darius Degher of his new Slide the Wide Horizon album, recorded under his instrumental …

June 23, 2022
Billy the Kid’s heavy metal backstory

Ariel Iribe (Monochromacy, Beware We Are the Werewolves of Belial) describes his synth-pop band Armoire as “a lucid dream that takes inspiration from pastel synths and nostalgic pop music, with echoing drum machines and gliding …

June 23, 2022
“All that was left was a destroyed guitar”

Dream Tonic is a classically trained pianist whose new EDM EP is called Essence. “Although this entire EP has songs of darkness intermingled with hope,” she says, “there is one particular song, ‘Spark,’ that stands …

June 16, 2022
Debut album showcases Brenda Gail’s bilingual passion

“I make homegrown, Americana, rock, country, Latin music” says singer-songwriter Brenda Gail, who recently released a single for “Holiday,” from her self-titled debut album. “It’s written by me and produced right here in San Diego …

From Love on the Rocks to Champagne Supernova

Singer/guitarist Scott Samuels arrived in San Diego in 1988, going on to play with Roxy Monoxide, Roxy Dioxode, Kitten’s Pharmacy, and A.M. Forever. His Scott Samuels Band made their concert debut at Navajo Live in …

June 9, 2022
From demon tongues and big toes to livin’ in the country

Native San Diego guitarist Dave Gilbert’s old Kiss tribute band once received a cease and desist letter from Kiss mainman Gene Simmons. He went on to play with Big Toe, whose bassist Mark Goffeney was …

June 2, 2022
Local teen Isaac Guerrero taps into secret sound of plants

Plant jam : Sixteen-year-old musician and aspiring botanist Isaac Guerrero attends San Diego Met High School on the campus of Mesa College, which he describes as “a college prep high school that allows students to …

“She brings me merch from Sombrero just because.”

Multi-instrumentalist Mario Rubalcaba has played with everyone from Thingy and Spider Fever to a 2002 regrouping of Battalion of Saints. He’s featured on a new edition of the outsider music podcast created by Three One …

May 26, 2022
Two years later, they’re finally pulling Ana out of the river

Founded by singer-bassist Sol Turpin (40 Oz to Freedom), a San Diego native, Safety Orange followed their raucous debut full-length Life as a Fish with the equally rollicking Troll Rock High, earning themselves sponsorship deals …

May 19, 2022
Vintage local concert archive surfacing online

Recently, I was browsing vintage local concert footage on Youtube and discovered a relatively new user in the process of uploading dozens of San Diego concerts secretly videotaped in the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s. …

May 15, 2022
Parade of Horribles: from Oceanside to Temecula

“My street is super mellow,” says Oceanside singer-bassist Jason York, “and you can just stand in the middle of the road without too much traffic bugging you, other than the people that live here cruising …

“Shouting like a newborn from the safety of modernistic caves”

“It was so rad hanging with Tony Hawk,” says 27 year-old singer Dani Miller, whose band Surfbort recently released a video for their track “Open Your Eyes” featuring the members battling local skateboard legend Hawk. …

Trash cans make the best percussion instruments

Alt-rockers Delta Spirit learned their trade by playing a local club circuit that included the Beauty Bar, the Sports Club, and the Ken Club. They first garnered attention while touring with Tokyo Police Club, Clap …

May 5, 2022
RIP Locust innovator Gabe Serbian

Locust member Gabe Serbian reportedly passed away on April 30. "This world will miss Gabe as a friend, family member, musician, and artist," posted The Locust online. "He will continue to live on in so …

April 30, 2022
The long-awaited return of the Snodgrass

“My debut album was lost to the unforgiving digital gods due to a fried hard drive in 2001, so I’ve come out of a 20-year slumber to start making music again,” says Jordan Snodgrass, whose …

April 28, 2022
Pulp comics, videogame music, and psychotronic cult films

Singer Christopher Dale performed in bands like Grays Well and Superdoo, before becoming a solo artist and racking up nearly a dozen San Diego Music Awards nominations. Dale recently filmed an appearance in Santa Cruz …

April 28, 2022
Opened for the Jonas Brothers in Chula Vista

The daughter of pianist, composer, and conductor André Previn and jazz singer Betty Bennett, Alicia Previn is a classically trained violinist who studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London. She has played with …

Drummer Wade Youman’s multi-generational collaboration

“I’ve been seriously, with all heart and soul, committed to my local community for over 30 years,” says drummer Wade Youman (Unwritten Law, Demasiado, North Korea), whose new band Spray Allen is an alternative rock …

A direct reflection of the heavy times

A new single and video were produced for the new Wild Wild Wets track “Say So,” from their upcoming first album in four years, Love Always. The video was created using vintage 1980s video switchers …

April 14, 2022
What San Diego Reader writers would shell out cash for

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a music writer isn’t going to get rich plying his trade, but at least he’ll get free stuff: albums, concert tickets, swag, perhaps even the occasional backstage pass. …

“Some stories close and personal, some completely fictitious”

Hip-hop group San Diablo Allstars will drop a new album around early May, currently being mixed and mastered with a new member in place of the late Van Bates, aka Black Hesher, who died in …

April 7, 2022
Fine Then’s local finds

Work on the new album from Fine Then began on March 16, 2020, the day of the first covid stay-at-home announcement. Hugh J. Noble (Slum Summer, Seance Weather), who cofounded the band with Andrew Fitzgerald …

A Drunkard’s Dream of Eagles and Last Waltzes

Americana band Mrs. Henry is teaming up with a fellow local, Eagles songwriter Jack Tempchin, for a live project called Drunkard’s Dream Arts & Music Festival. Tempchin is best known for penning “Peaceful Easy Feeling” …

March 31, 2022
“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 …

March 24, 2022
Ocean Beach summer of ’79

This is a story about the summer of ‘79, but it starts a year earlier, circa mid-’78. That’s when I first drove into San Diego. Within minutes of my arrival, I was almost murdered — …

40 years after XTC’s famous San Diego concert farewell

“I recall the show went very well, the band seemed to be in good spirits,” remembers XTC drummer Terry Chambers about the final concert that band ever played — in San Diego, circa March 1982. …

March 17, 2022
From a Weezer tribute to fronting Smash Mouth

A vet of local bands such as Secret Seven, Divided by Zero, Ghoulspoon, and octogenarian Weezer tribute Geezer, Zach Goode has been announced as the new lead singer of 1990s alt-rock icons Smash Mouth, replacing …

Endeavors of kinship and collaboration

Last year, Ethan Miller and his band Howlin Rain released their sixth studio album, The Dharma Wheel, which they described as “a six-track, 52-minute dive into a joyous fantasy realm of exaggerated present.” Having recently …

March 10, 2022
Scott West’s Abbey Road adventure

“I wanted to work with Miles Showell at the hallowed Abbey Road Studios in London, because he is perhaps the best mastering engineer in the world right now,” says Scott West about recording his new …

March 3, 2022
“Reinventing the past through sonic manipulation of 1s and 0s”

Singer/bassist Jin Salamack was originally from Hawaii before relocating to San Diego and co-founding pop-punk band Wanted Noise with San Diego singer-guitarist Suryendra Sherman. A seven song EP called Plate Lunch was released in 2017, …

“Everybody ends up making these Faustian bargains”

From 1978 to 1985, James Call played with local punk icons the Penetrators. “Morgan Miller III and I have just finished the first issue of a new project, 2021 Book 1,” says Call of the …

February 24, 2022
The Che Underground’s Children of Nuggets

“The Ché Café scene did so much to shape us as people and performers, but didn’t leave much of a historical record,” says former Noise 292 guitarist Matthew Rothenberg. Founded in 1980 as an all-ages …

February 17, 2022
Getting jobs in screamo, psychedelia, funk, noise rock, and hip-hop

April 1 will see the release of the sixth studio full-length from the Greyboy Allstars, Get a Job: Music from the Original Broadcast Series Soul Dream, released via the band’s own Knowledge Room Recordings label. …

February 17, 2022

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