Latest / San Joaquin Sound / The Gate Part 2: The Boiler Room - With Bobby and Steven Allison

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The Gate Part 2: The Boiler Room - With Bobby and Steven Allison · San Joaquin Sound

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You're listening to the San Joaquin Sound Podcast,
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the podcast about music in Bakersfield. This
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episode is about The Boiler Room, The Gate's
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louder, noisier little brother. Speaking of brothers,
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this episode combines two interviews with Bobby
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Allison and Steven Allison, who ran The Boiler
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Room, and our sons of Rob Allison, who ran The
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Gate, who we spoke with in the previous episode.
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I'm Steven Allison. I played bass in Red Adair
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and Niner Niner. My name is Bobby Allison. I
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played guitar in Loser Life, and I had some weird
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performance art noise project called Scrawny
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Scream. You grew up in a music family. Your dad,
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Rob Allison, was the bassist in Trackster. How
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did that affect your music taste? Growing up
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just around music my entire life, especially
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like when my dad was in Traxter, you know, I
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thought my dad was a rock star at the time. I
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was like, I can't believe I'm a rock star's kid.
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It's the coolest thing ever. You know, up to
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this day, you know, I'm a bass player in a band.
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It has a lot to do because my dad was a bass
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player in a band. Grew my hair long, just like
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he did. I guess a lot of people say I look like
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my dad when he was younger. Most of my memories
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of Traxter are of being at the practice space
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and hearing them practice. And I kind of have
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memories of Cradle of Thorns being across the
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parking lot of that practice area because they
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used to practice in that same studio area. Cool.
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Music has always been part of my life. It was
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just kind of like a reality, just how I grew
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up. I didn't really think too much about it.
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It was just kind of how it was. So what first
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got you interested in learning guitar or bass?
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It was 1994 and Green Day played the Woodstock
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94. Oh yeah. The mud, the mud stuff. Yeah. Yeah.
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Yeah. So I remember watching that. We were living
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in an apartment in the Southwest and I remember
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watching, you know, Billy Joe and Mike and Trey,
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like just throwing mud at the audience while
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the audience was throwing mud at them. I don't
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know what it was about that time, but like. Seeing
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that, you know, really stuck with me. And I just
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wanted to play guitar. My dad ended up buying
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me kind of a blue guitar. It was a Yamaha. It
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wasn't the same one that Billy Joe plays, but
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it was a blue guitar, sort of like that. And
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I just wanted to like play like him and look
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like him, Billy Joe. And so that was sort of
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the beginning of me playing guitar. And I think
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I learned in 95, my dad showed me a... Tom Petty
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song of Freakballin'. That was the first song
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I remember learning. Looking up to my brother
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when I was younger, you know, and all of his
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friends, they got into music, you know, he started
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playing guitar and hanging out with people and
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they were playing music. And I was just like,
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I wanted to be cool like them and start doing
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that. It was all kind of before the gate and
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right around when the gate started. Yeah. You
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know, but I was still pretty young and couldn't
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do it yet, but I learned one day. Let's talk
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about some of your early bands. You were the
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bassist in Forlorn, right? No, I actually played
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guitar and screamed, I guess, in Forlorn. Yeah,
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that was my sophomore and junior year in high
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school, I believe. Was that your first band?
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That was my first real band that I had passion
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for. It was like I wrote songs for it. We'd play,
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and I'd feel the music and be like, oh, this
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is the first thing that's like I got some say
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in the art form of it, and it felt good. We weren't
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great, but at the time, it felt like we were.
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Where did you play shows at? We've played at
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the Munoz Gym a couple times. We played the Boiler
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Room's very first show, which was the festival
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with the main stage. And it was the first Boiler
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Room show. So it was like a two -day fest. And
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I remember we played, we were one of the first
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bands to play inside the Boiler Room, which was
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pretty cool. So you were also in a band called
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Symphony No. 9, right? That played the Boiler
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Room. Yeah, that band I joined a little bit after
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they started. I think they had a girl that was
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dating one of the guys that was playing bass
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with them, and they broke up, and they didn't
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want any drama, and they're like, oh, we're looking
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for another bass player, and I was friends with
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them. I was like, oh, I'll try out. I wasn't
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really a bass player yet, but I was like, I'm
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down to playing that band, so I jumped in on
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bass, and that's kind of when I started, switched
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from guitar to bass, and I basically played bass
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in most of the bands since then. I know you were
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in Red Adair, too. Yeah, Red Adair started...
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Started a little bit before. I had a friendship
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with Michael Peters. He plays like a lot of solo
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stuff in town now. From Michael Peters and the
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Monsters? Yeah. Okay. So him and I, we met during
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the Symphony No. 9 days at our guitar player's
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church, and he was in a rock and roll band called
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The Crime. They didn't have a name yet, but he
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was playing some songs, like mostly Guns N' Roses,
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and he had a couple of his own riffs. And they
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were looking for a singer. And I was like, oh,
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I'll try out. So I sang in a band with him for
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a while called The Crime. That was during Symphony
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No. 9 times. So we did that for a little bit.
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I left Symphony No. 9. And then I was like, oh,
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I'm going to do The Crime more often. And that's
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kind of when I started my relationship with Michael
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Peters. I think we played like four bands together.
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None of them that really took off. Yeah. Yeah,
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but that means you work well together. Yeah,
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yeah, we had a really good working relationship.
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He was one of my best friends at the time, and
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we played a lot of good music together. You're
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in a lot of bands, but another one you were in
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was Niner Niner with Dylan from Killer Kern Records.
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Yeah. And how was that? That was fun. Dylan,
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he's the best guy I've ever played with. You
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know, I've loved playing with him. Great songwriter.
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I've always respected him from his previous bands,
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The Binges and Squatcho. Squatcho was my favorite
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Bakersfield band at the time. And I didn't know
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him yet, but I used to always book them at the
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Boiler Room. I just thought Squatcho had this
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really cool sound. And then I happened to move
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to Hollywood at the same time that he was living
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in Hollywood. And we lived right across the freeway
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from each other. And so we'd hang out and that's
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how we became friends. And so he moved away for
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a while. He lived up in San Jose, I believe,
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for a while. And he moved back to Bakersfield.
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And when you move back to Bakersfield, it's like,
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dude, let's start this band up. He had a side
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project, which Niner Niner was a kind of side
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project of Squatcho back in the early, early
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2000s. It was a joke band for them at first.
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And I think they played one show. There was a
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recording where they played at the Empty Space
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by Pizzaville. And they had some songs. So we're
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like, well, let's just start. niner niner but
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make it serious and that's kind of how that started
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so me dylan and granny all got together then
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we found a drummer it was my friend garrett who
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used to play in a band called locomotive to the
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growing okay yeah i love that name yeah it's
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a cool name of that i still have never heard
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the band but they have a demo tape out there
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somewhere and it's uh i want to get my hands
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on it so bad but i talked to two of the guys
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that were in that band i actually still you know
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talk to sometimes neither one of them have it
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It would be cool to be able to find that if anyone
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has it. Yeah. We ended up starting a band called
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The Runs later on in high school that was sort
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of like a joke, make fun of punk kind of a band.
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Probably the first real band that I was in that
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played actual shows. We made up some just like
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generic punk songs. And the whole idea of it
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was just to like make fun of the typical like
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idea of punk, I guess you could say. And a lot
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of the punk downtown, I wasn't really hanging
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out with at the time. And so I didn't really
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like know a lot of them, but like I enjoyed kind
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of making fun of like stereotypes at the time.
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And it was just like an easy thing to do. And
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so we did that and they would like thought that
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we were being serious and they would like throw
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stuff at us. They would sort of make fun of us
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at the time. And we just kind of like really
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enjoyed that. It was one of our last shows and
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Slim the Drifter was there and he thought it
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was hilarious what we were doing. I remember
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he kind of like just jumped up on the stage,
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kind of grabbed my guitar and started playing
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with us while we were doing that. I knew who
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he was at the time. I knew that he was like supposedly,
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you know, the first punk in town. To me at the
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time, I thought it was like kind of cool that
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like he kind of understood what we were doing
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and took to it. And we kind of had like a generic
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punk sound in the beginning, but we kind of moved
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on to like a more of a butthole surfers, like
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early butthole surfers sound. It was very like
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delinquent, I guess you could say. The way we
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were like presenting ourselves, just like kind
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of taunt the crowd and everything in it. But
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he would he would he jumped up on stage one day
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and. took to it and started kind of messing with
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us and also messing with the punks while we were
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playing. That's cool. Yeah, if you don't know,
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Slim the Drifter, also known as Scott Sturdivant,
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he was in the very first punk band in Bakersfield
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called Teen Suicide. Yeah, and I've heard stories
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about Teen Suicide. There's like a kind of a
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legendary show that he played at DC where he
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was doing the same kind of a thing of like taunting
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the crowd. Kind of like The Germs during that
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time at BC. So we did a whole episode about Loser
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Life. And later on, you joined that band as a
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guitarist, right? Can you tell me about that?
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Well, I actually don't remember ever meeting
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Stephen Koontz. He just sort of like popped up
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out of nowhere. So I've been into like the Bakersfield
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as far as, you know, me being into punk and going
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to punk shows on my own. I started doing that
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in 96. And Stephen Koontz. And his like sort
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of era came about, I remember like sort of in
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the 2000s, like maybe like 99, 2000, 2001, somewhere
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around there. And during that time, I just remember
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him kind of popping up out of nowhere. But I
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knew who he was. He was in a band called Grassroots.
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We used to talk on AIM. I don't remember like
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how we started like connecting. But at one point,
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we played in a band together. like a very short
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-lived one. We just played one show called Piece
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of Shit. And we played at the gym. It was sort
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of like a precursor to Loser Life, I guess. But
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we would play like, just sort of like offensive,
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like Gigi Allen type songs together during that
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time. And then about like a year after that,
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I think we started wanting to do something more
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serious with Loser Life. I was getting more into
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like the Revolution Summer type stuff. You know,
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he was in the pine. So, you know, that whole
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sound. So it became a little more serious when
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we started jamming together in that kind of a
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way. So Loser Life practiced at the gate, right?
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So there was two buildings for the gate or for
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the church anyway that the gate was in. So there
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was the main building, which was an old YMCA
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building. The original gate was in the gym at
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the YMCA, and then the boiler room was in the
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actual boiler room of that gym. And then there
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was an office space on O Street, a couple blocks,
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what is it, south of the YMCA. And that's where
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Loser Life would practice. And we practiced there
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during the whole stint of me being in that band.
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Oh, and then... that practice space eventually
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ended up becoming the last part of the gate,
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the last part of the era. So I believe E -Man
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would run a lot of those shows in that building.
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Loser Life played at the Munoz Gym a lot, and
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that was the first episode. You have any fun
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tales of the gym? I think the first show I went
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to was one of the Loka shows. Cool. No, actually,
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I went to another one before the Locust show.
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I played a show there with a non -American Luke.
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My brother was the drummer of that band. Yeah,
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Victims was a show I remember. There's a ton
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of people at that one. And I think Loser Life
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opened for that show, if I remember right. There
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was a couple other ones. There was a Halloween
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show where Death Valley Driver played. I think
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Stephen Kuntz played that too. He was in the
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band at that point. I remember that one being
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a pretty wild show. The Locust Show, I remember
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going to. So as far as one really good Loser
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Life show that I remember at the gym is we just
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recorded our first demo on cassette. Steven and
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I decided that we weren't going to play the show.
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What we were going to do is just play our demo
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on a little. boombox and like play and put like
15:05
a microphone to it and then we were just gonna
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like start like running around pushing everybody
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and and like basically moshing to our own music
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and uh we did that party like yeah especially
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a listening party and so i remember like we uh
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did that and we were just like pushing everybody
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you know in the gym at one point ronald was laughing
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so hard that he vomited on the ground and i remember
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like kind of like slipping into it all of his
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vomit on me and i was just like running around
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like pushing everyone and uh steven used to just
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like you know scream circle pit whenever like
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something like that would happen so it was a
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lot of fun doing that type of stuff because it
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was just like bonkers yeah Loser Life toured
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all over the United States and Europe. Do you
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have any memorable shows from that? Most of my
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memories of those tours were playing shows that
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were like, there weren't a lot of people at them.
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But a lot of my memories are actually sitting
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in the van during those tours and talking and
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laughing, hanging out. As far as the shows go.
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I ended up moving to Denver because I enjoyed
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Denver shows that I played there. So we would
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play at a house in Denver with a band. I believe
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they were called Green Fuse. I remember they
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were really into our 7 -inch. I don't remember
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if it was like the 2006 show or maybe the 2007
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show that we did in Denver. But they asked us
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to play the 7 -inch twice that we recorded. I
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remember they were like, like their house would
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be packed. I remember playing the seven inch,
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you know, at the beginning when we, you know,
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started the show. And then we'd play that like
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the rest of our set. And then after our set,
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they would ask us to play it again, the seven
17:08
inch. So we did that. What seven inch was that?
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Things Will Never Change. Oh, yeah. The first
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one. Yeah. The very first one. Yeah, that's right.
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That was really cool because it was like. I think
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that was the first time I realized people actually
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knew who we were and like, listen to our record,
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you know? Yeah. Because a lot of times when we
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play shows, like, you know, we were just playing,
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you know, our set and I would have no idea if
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anybody even knew who we were most of the time,
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but that was, but our Denver shows, I remember
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they were really into us and like actually listened
17:48
to us before. we played. So that's cool. So how
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did you end up leaving Loser Life? So I think
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I left Loser Life because, or it's a long story,
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but basically, you know, I grew up kind of in
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a Christian home and I was really, I've always
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been sort of an idealist, you know, different
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ideas I would get really involved in. So So I
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remember during our 2007 tour, I was starting
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to question my faith at the time. And it was
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sort of kind of hard on me because there's so
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much family history involved with it, even just
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my own personal history of just believing in
18:40
Christianity and God. And so during that time,
18:44
our 2007 tour, I was starting to question a lot
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of that. So when I came back from the tour, there
18:51
was some kind of like and I remember hearing
18:53
it in the podcast with my dad, him talking about
18:57
there was like this like renewal kind of a meeting
19:00
going on where they eventually shut down the
19:04
boiler room because of it and moved on to the
19:06
other building. But there was that thing going
19:08
on at the church. And so I got really. Yeah,
19:10
the revival, I think. Yeah, yeah. The revival
19:13
meeting. So like something about that like hit
19:15
me. in the right way at that exact time. And
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so I started like getting really involved in
19:22
that. And I started feeling like, um, I shouldn't
19:26
be in the band anymore. And when I look back
19:30
on it, a lot of it was like sort of burnout too.
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Um, cause we practiced so much, uh, during that
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time. And, um, so I was, and I was also, um,
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I think I was 24 or 25 at the time so i was sort
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of thinking like i need to start getting some
19:49
things straight into my life i can't like you
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know like uh i need to get like a good job i
19:57
need some like security and all this type of
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stuff and um so that uh revival thing kind of
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like it felt like i was um chasing something
20:09
that felt comfortable and something that was
20:12
like also new at the same time because If you
20:16
know anything about revival -type stuff, it's
20:20
very emotional. It's very hard to explain. It
20:26
felt very life -changing at the time, going through
20:29
the revival stuff. I started going to a ministry
20:33
school at the church during that time. I felt
20:37
like I was finding a purpose. Being in Loser
20:41
Life, it was very... You know, there was a future
20:44
in like music making. At the time when I was
20:47
touring with Loser Life, we were starting to
20:50
become pretty well known within the DIY punk
20:53
scene. And so there were sort of like exciting
20:58
things going on. But I remember feeling that
21:02
I didn't have like a job that was going anywhere.
21:06
I knew that like I was 25, 24, 25 years old at
21:11
the time and needing to, kind of settle in some
21:15
way and figure out where I'm going. Yeah. And,
21:19
but like lose your life was a lot of time. Um,
21:23
and I was a little older than the other guys
21:25
too. And so I think that was a part of it. Just
21:27
like me kind of finding my, trying to find my
21:30
own way. And so getting involved in the, in the
21:33
whole church thing and that revival meeting was
21:36
sort of like a way of feeling like there was
21:39
something, some future that I could look into.
21:43
And it like hit me at the right time because,
21:45
you know, I was questioning my faith and that
21:47
was also scary. You know, believing some of the
21:50
things that a lot of the people I trusted were
21:52
saying because a lot of them were genuine in
21:54
their faith. And so I kind of took to that very
21:57
well at the time and started feeling like, you
22:01
know, God is calling me out of the band kind
22:03
of a thing. And so eventually I ended up going
22:08
into a ministry school. and getting very heavily
22:13
involved in that. I was still in Loser Life for
22:16
about a year after those meetings kind of came
22:19
about. I think the band started, like, kind of
22:22
noticing that I was, like, pulling away from
22:24
it. I remember one day Stephen said, hey, we
22:29
need a band meeting. So we went over to Ruben's
22:31
apartment, and neither of us could remember if
22:34
I, like, quit that night or if they kicked me
22:38
out. During that time, both of us, when we were
22:43
talking, both of us felt we could have handled
22:45
it better. Like, you know, at that time, I think
22:52
we're all of us were pretty young. So, you know,
22:55
when you're young, you just don't really handle
22:58
things very well. But I think I also had a thing
23:05
about China. Like they were asking, the church
23:08
was asking me to go to China. uh, to do some
23:11
like a missionary thing there. Yeah. It was very
23:14
confusing times. That's all I have to say for
23:16
me. Um, it's hard to talk about just because,
23:21
uh, um, at that time, you know, uh, it was like
23:25
a big deal for me. And, um, uh, you know, these
23:30
days it's just like a weird, weird time in my
23:34
life. Um, cause I no longer like believe in anything.
23:38
um, like that. And, uh, um, yeah, it's, uh, it's
23:44
a journey. Yeah. And, um, the last show I played
23:48
with loser life was that the Gilman, which was
23:51
really, um, cool for me. Um, but also kind of
23:55
like a weird ending because, you know, like I
23:58
was saying, I was like really into the green
24:00
day and that's where they got their start. And
24:03
then that's where I kind of like ended. So yeah.
24:07
Poetic. Yeah. Let's talk about the boiler room.
24:40
How did the boiler room start? It started, I
24:43
believe, in 2002. They had the original gate
24:47
that was big. It was a lot of setup. It was inside
24:50
where the church happens. So a lot of like setup
24:53
and teardown time, you know, because their shows
24:56
would be on Friday or Saturday for the most part.
24:58
And then church would be on Sunday morning. So
25:01
we'd have to roll out carpet, set up the chairs
25:04
for church. take off the stage where it's not
25:07
for like bands. The local show attendance at
25:11
the gate was kind of dropping at the time. And
25:15
so the boiler room was a smaller space. So my
25:20
dad started booking shows there because the bigger
25:24
room, it just felt very empty in the bigger room
25:27
when he would have local shows. So he opened
25:30
up this smaller space for bands and there was
25:33
a coffee shop in there. Could you walk me through,
25:37
you're walking in the door when you're walking
25:39
through the gate, and what are you seeing in
25:41
the boiler room? So you'd be inside of the gate
25:44
where there was one entrance, which was to the
25:47
left of the boiler room. There was one door right
25:51
there, and if you walk in that door, that's where
25:54
the big gym was, basically a basketball gym,
25:57
and that's where the gate was. If you walk out
26:00
that door back to the grass field and to the
26:03
left, There's another smaller door. So when you
26:06
walk through the door, there'd be steps that
26:08
went down. I would take money at the door from
26:12
those steps. And then when you go down the stairs
26:14
to the right would be the coffee bar. And then
26:18
right in front would be the stage that's sort
26:20
of like in a corner. And then there was a closet
26:22
area on the left -hand side that we would put
26:25
the mics and the stands inside of there when
26:29
we'd clean up. And there's one big pillar that
26:31
was in the middle that drove us crazy. It had
26:34
to stay there because it was holding the whole
26:35
building up. So how did the boiler room differ
26:38
from the gate? The shows felt a lot smaller,
26:41
more personable. You know, you'd be close with
26:43
the bands and more like it just felt better in
26:47
there. Other than whenever people were making
26:49
drinks with the blenders, you know, they had
26:53
the little coffee shop that was in there, too.
26:54
So their band was kind of quiet. You know, somebody
26:57
orders a, what was the drink I always got? It
26:59
was a caramel frappuccino. It'd be blended. It
27:04
was so good. The people that made it were so
27:06
good at it. So that's what I always ordered.
27:08
So, you know, a band would be playing. It was
27:11
pretty fun. The Gate had its own era. There was
27:15
a lot bigger shows that happened at The Gate
27:17
because the scene was a lot bigger in the late
27:21
90s and into the early, early 2000s. A lot of
27:25
the spoiler room shows, he would start letting
27:28
other people kind of book their own shows there.
27:32
more than what he used to in the gate itself,
27:34
because he would run the gate shows himself for
27:37
the most part. And every once in a while, somebody
27:39
might bring a show in on their own. But the boiler
27:43
room, there was a lot of other people contacting
27:46
my dad about putting on their own shows there.
27:49
The way I kind of see it is he kind of helped
27:52
a lot of people in knowing how to set up their
27:57
own shows. In the early 2000s, it was kind of
28:01
a weird time in music. So there was a lot of
28:03
different genres around. And so it never really
28:08
developed a big scene. A lot of that metalcore
28:11
stuff, I remember, was getting kind of popular
28:13
in the early to mid 2000s. And The Boiler Room
28:16
did have a lot of those shows. But there was
28:18
a lot of genres that were less known. So I would
28:23
book a lot of... noise shows myself there because
28:27
I was like very very into that type of stuff
28:29
and like experimental type shows no one would
28:34
ever show up but I mean I would do it because
28:36
I had the space to do it some others that would
28:39
would book shows to the gates there was Dave
28:41
Montoya and a scene that he was involved with
28:45
which I kind of feel was like part of the gym
28:48
scene but also part of their own thing going
28:50
on because they would book their own shows between
28:54
The Gym or Boiler Room, they would sometimes
28:56
book it at Gigantic Vintage. That's bands like
29:27
Hips, Saboteurs, and My Maids and stuff like
29:30
that, right? Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, they
29:33
would do their own. They would bring bands from
29:36
the San Francisco, the Bay Area. Dave Montoya,
29:40
at that time, he was very heavily involved in
29:42
the local music scene. The way he like did things
29:45
was very DIY. I have a lot of respect for him.
29:48
I loved him. His shows, he would bring a lot
29:51
of bands from like LA or like San Francisco.
29:55
I remember like in my head, it was more of like
29:58
a queer scene within that like queer core scene.
30:01
I don't know if like that's the right word to
30:03
use for like what was going on. To me in my head,
30:06
it was like separate from what was going on at
30:09
the gym. But it was sort of like. part of it
30:13
also but he would bring some of these bands to
30:16
um the boiler room and also gigantic vintage
30:20
i remember would have some shows too and so um
30:24
uh you know hips saboteurs um there was mast
30:29
and transom i remember there's another band called
30:32
noren sheerness which later became swimsuit rights
30:35
um by a guy named uh adrian and Chris, uh, that
30:39
had that group, uh, Norton Sheerness and Swimsuit
30:42
Rites. It was sort of, um, kind of like ambient
30:45
noise. And so they had their kind of scene going
30:48
on and, uh, he did a lot of shows at the Boiler
30:52
Room, um, from what I remember. And I would work
30:55
those shows all the time. Yeah. I learned a lot
30:58
about like the DIY aesthetic through him, um,
31:02
uh, in, in within his shows. And, uh, With my
31:08
shows, he would come to them and help me out
31:12
with those shows too that I would book. He was
31:18
the one that brought in the whole, if you don't
31:24
make enough money, see if anybody would donate
31:26
to the bands kind of thing. I was like, oh, okay,
31:30
I don't have to worry about if enough money came
31:33
through as long as I'm like... making an effort
31:36
to try to get that money to come through in some
31:38
other way you know for these bands dave montoya
31:42
from hips and mia maids i think he was in that
31:45
band also if i remember right we built a relationship
31:47
with him he was just he's he's still around the
31:50
nicest guy ever yeah he's really nice so he booked
31:52
shows there's one band that he booked that i
31:55
like a lot called experimental dental school
31:57
now they just go by xds but they're still around
32:00
i think it's a husband and wife they're up in
32:02
like san francisco or something That was one
32:04
of the bands I remember him booking at the Boiler
32:06
Room. They would try to do some shows at Gigantic
32:10
Vintage or Downtown Records. I think they were
32:12
both at the same place, if I remember right.
32:15
I'm not sure. Yeah, there was Alex Rodriguez,
32:18
the record Safari now. Okay, cool. But he did
32:21
the Gigantic Vintage. But yeah, so I think they
32:25
had shows there. But the shows would get shut
32:28
down all the time because they didn't have like
32:30
a noise permit. They were like on that main strip
32:31
where... Yeah, so many stores. Yeah, so they
32:34
couldn't do shows. So they did book a lot of
32:37
shows at the Boiler Room because we had a relationship
32:39
with them that was all good. Yeah, and the same
32:42
thing with, you know, Ronald going underground
32:44
when he was doing Immunio's Gym. Another one
32:46
I hear people talk about a lot is Capitalist
32:48
Casualties. You remember that one? Yeah, so that
32:52
one was one of Ronald's shows. For whatever reason,
32:56
he couldn't do it at the gym. So he got in touch
32:59
with me. I remember this very well. He got in
33:02
touch with me and said, can we do this at the
33:05
boiler room? So I told my dad and then we set
33:10
it up. I think it was on a weekday. Loser Life
33:12
played that show. It was a pretty packed show
33:15
if I remember right. There was a band called
33:18
Vaggie Scabs that played that. And so Vaggie
33:24
Scabs, They were a band that was just about,
33:29
you know, being as offensive as possible kind
33:32
of thing, like trying to be like Gigi Allen.
33:34
You know, they would cut themselves or the singer
33:37
would cut himself and bleed and all that stuff.
33:40
He would like try to fight the audience. And
33:43
they're a local, you know, Bakersfield band.
33:45
I remember that night they were playing and the
33:50
singer started cutting himself. And it was really
33:53
freaking out the girls that were working. at
33:56
the um coffee shop there you know i'm like in
33:59
my 20s i don't want to like be a prude about
34:01
anything either you know yeah i'm young and i'm
34:04
around everyone so like he starts cutting himself
34:07
and i'm just like yeah um how do i deal with
34:10
this the girls started freaking out a little
34:13
bit and then um what i did is i ended up turning
34:15
the lights on and like shutting off the mics
34:17
and i remember uh because at the time i was friends
34:20
with the singer that band Um, he was just like,
34:24
why'd you do that? Why'd you shut us off? And
34:25
I just told him it's because you guys were cussing.
34:30
And that was basically it. Yeah. Cause technically
34:33
it's not against the rules. Cause that wasn't
34:35
in the list, huh? So like, I just like kind of
34:40
had my own way of just like dealing with it in
34:42
like a humorous way. Cause that's like when I
34:44
deal with things like that, I have to like have
34:46
some kind of humor to it. Yeah. And, uh, so like
34:49
that. he was cutting himself in a way and it
34:52
was just like, okay, like this is uncool. It's,
34:55
it's not even funny. Like you're just doing this
34:57
in front of like the small scene that you're
35:00
like always around anyway. And it's just stupid.
35:04
Like the audience is your friends and you're,
35:07
you're like, you know, cutting yourself. This
35:09
is really dumb. But yeah, he was doing that.
35:12
And I, you know, turn on the lights and shut
35:14
off the mics and during that show and, and just
35:18
basically just. Because that rule, it's like
35:21
an old rule that I guess my dad had at one time
35:25
that people still thought was like the main rule
35:28
there. It was like no cussing, which was actually
35:30
untrue. So I kind of just brought that up and
35:34
said, oh, it's because you guys are cussing.
35:38
But yeah, the capitalist casualties show, Loser
35:43
Life played it. I don't know who, I can't remember
35:45
who else played, maybe like Contaminators or
35:47
something when a Ronald advanced. Yeah, when
35:50
my dad kind of wanted to, like, step away from
35:52
it a little bit, he gave me a little bit more
35:54
freedom to do stuff because I would book shows.
35:56
I found bands I liked in town, like, you know,
35:59
people I got friends for the rest of my life.
36:01
I'd book local bands I liked, you know, like
36:03
Squatcho, for instance. There's a band called
36:06
The Promenade I liked a lot. The Polyrhythm.
36:09
I don't think they played that often. Like I
36:11
said, there was some bands I liked a lot where
36:13
there was some bands that were dedicated to Jerry's.
36:18
I could be wrong on this, but I think I heard
36:21
something about Nate having a contract with some
36:24
of the bands. Like, oh, you can't play somewhere
36:25
else if you want to play here as often as you
36:27
do. I could be wrong on that. I don't know because
36:30
I didn't do that, but I heard something about
36:32
that. So there was a lot of bands that played
36:34
at Jerry's that didn't play at the Boiler Room
36:37
or the Gate because they were devoted to Jerry's
36:40
Pizza. There was one band that I remember being
36:42
at that I liked a lot. They didn't have a lot
36:44
of people come to their shows. But they were
36:46
one of my favorite local bands at the time called
36:48
Near Miss Mallet. They were kind of like the
36:54
whole kind of like the Coldplay, early Coldplay
36:57
sound, I guess is a good way to say it. Radiohead
36:59
-ish. It was a husband and wife. I think they
37:02
actually used to live in this area where you're
37:04
at. So then they moved to Reno. But Brock and
37:09
Melissa Wiggins. They were just really talented.
37:13
Her voice is beautiful. They still play. They're
37:16
in a band now called The Bird Channel. And so
37:19
they still play. But their band, Nervous Mallet,
37:22
it was Brock and Melissa Wiggins. Their bass
37:25
player was Chris Page, who used to write for
37:28
the Californian. Oh, yeah. I do know Chris Page.
37:31
Because Chris Page, I read his column a lot when
37:36
I'm looking up local bands in the archives. the
37:41
reason it's there because he covered this obscure
37:43
Bakersfield band. Yeah, he was a bass player.
37:46
He played in a ska band called The Skeptics.
37:47
I remember that. Oh, cool. So they were cool.
37:50
I think they played the second show at the gate.
37:54
Let's see. I used to book Vendetta Red a lot.
37:57
Like they used to play at Jerry's all the time
37:59
in the early days. But then Zach, their singer,
38:02
got tired of dealing with Nate and that whole
38:06
thing. And he had a good relationship with my
38:08
dad back in the day, like when he was in Plebeian
38:09
Cry. Yeah. Plebeian Cry would play at the gate.
38:12
And so I went to, I loved Vendetta Red at the
38:15
time. Like I thought they were just the coolest
38:17
like thing from Bakersfield. You know, they put
38:20
on a good show. They, you know, they had, they
38:23
were at the right time. You know, Zach had the
38:25
crazy long hair when everybody was into At The
38:27
Drive -In and the Cedric and Omar like fro. Zach
38:30
had it and he went crazy on stage. It was fun
38:32
to watch. Nice. And so anyways, I went to one
38:36
of their shows in LA and ran into Zach and talked
38:39
to him. We exchanged phone numbers. And then
38:41
he started calling me. And I think I booked him
38:43
probably like two or three times. But they never
38:46
played the Boiler Room because they were too
38:48
big for the Boiler Room. So we got Vendetta Red
38:50
to play at the gate, like the main stage is what
38:54
we called it. Yeah. One of the coolest ones that
38:57
we booked was them. And there was this other
39:02
band that kind of had this like Halloween horror
39:04
rock and roll sound. I don't know who to compare
39:07
it to. They were called Schoolyard Heroes. Okay.
39:10
And then one of the... One of the opening bands
39:12
that wasn't even known yet, and they're huge
39:14
now, is Bayside Played. Oh, yeah. So I wasn't
39:18
into Bayside. That wasn't really my style of
39:20
music. But the fact that they were involved in
39:23
that was like, oh, man, I booked Bayside. But
39:25
I didn't really book them. Zach booked them through
39:27
me. Is there any other memorable shows that you
39:30
booked or played at? Yeah. So I would do a lot
39:37
of noise and experimental shows early on in the
39:40
Boiler Room. Like I was saying, I'm kind of like
39:43
an idealist. So at the time, I really wanted
39:46
sort of like a kind of experimental noise scene
39:50
in Bakersfield. So I would kind of book a lot
39:52
of these noise shows. And there was Pedestrian
39:56
Deposit. I booked there. At the time, I think
40:01
they were just... Or Pedestrian Deposit was just
40:04
becoming... you know, a project of somebody's,
40:09
but like now they're kind of like a standard
40:12
within the noise scene these days. But I remember
40:16
booking pedestrian deposit there. And of course,
40:18
like no one would show up to these shows. You
40:29
did the melt banana show, but that was pre boiler
40:32
room, right? So the melt banana show, it was
40:35
originally supposed to be in the boiler room.
40:37
Too many people showed up. So we had to like
40:40
move it into the, you know, the gate building.
40:42
And so, yeah, that one I did. So I was really
40:45
into Melt Banana since like, I think I started
40:49
like listening to them in like 98 or something
40:51
like that. They were like kind of like my dream
40:53
band. Like they were everything I wanted in music
40:56
at that time. I went and saw them in LA in like
41:01
2001, I think. It was like during one of their
41:03
tours. And then they were doing another one that
41:07
following year. I think it was like 2002, maybe
41:11
2003. Somehow I got in touch with the booking
41:14
agent for Melt Banana and somehow convinced them
41:20
to come to Bakersfield. They sent me a contract,
41:23
signed all of that, told me how to set up the
41:25
stage, said there should be no recordings and
41:30
all that stuff. I booked it, and it was originally
41:34
going to be in the boiler room. And then I started
41:37
realizing more people were going to show up within
41:40
the valley, like Fresno and Santa Barbara and
41:43
that whole area, not just Bakersfield people.
41:47
And so we eventually decided we're going to just
41:51
move it into the gym there. And so when I did
41:55
that, once the word got out that I booked Melt
41:58
Banana, I wasn't really in with the scene, I
42:02
guess, at the time. There was a message board.
42:06
that the gate had on their website. And a lot
42:09
of people were commenting on it. And some of
42:11
them were like, um, upset that I was doing the
42:14
show and that Ronald wasn't or, or, uh, Nate
42:18
wasn't. And when I look back on it, I think it
42:21
was just people trolling people that just like
42:24
thought I was some like newbie or something like
42:27
that. It felt like people were, you know, you
42:30
know, coming against me booking the show because
42:33
I wasn't like. you know in the in crowd and i
42:36
was doing it at the boiler room which at the
42:38
time was thought of as like kind of the christian
42:40
club so uh nate berg who uh ran jerry's pizza
42:44
um i found out he was one of the ones on the
42:48
message boards kind of trolling as different
42:50
people and he was actually uh getting in contact
42:54
with the booking agent of melt banana telling
42:59
him that Some kid was running the show. He doesn't
43:03
know what he's doing. He just said I was like
43:06
15 years old. I was like 1920 at the time. He
43:11
was just saying it was just some kid and that
43:13
it's going to fail if they don't move it to a
43:16
better venue. And the booking agent would email
43:21
me and say, hey, we're having some second thoughts
43:25
about this show going on. They're saying that
43:28
you don't know this and that. that your venue
43:31
isn't even real. And, um, you know, just, uh,
43:35
he was like sabotaging it. And so, um, and there
43:39
was like others, um, that I remember that were
43:42
just like upset that I was the one doing it.
43:45
And, um, so, um, I think, um, my dad kind of
43:54
encouraged me to just keep doing it. Cause I
43:56
kind of wanted to just give up on it. And, um,
43:59
and he's just, he kind of encouraged me to sing.
44:02
Just do it. Who cares what everyone's thinking?
44:03
Which is right. You know, who cares? So yeah,
44:08
during that time, there was that going on. Literally
44:11
the night before the show, my grandma died. And
44:16
it was just like this, you know, just like bad
44:20
things always like happening, you know, just
44:21
like one after another, it seemed like. And so
44:25
I remember like that night, you know, seeing
44:28
my grandma die, you know, and then. driving over
44:32
the night before the show to set up the stage
44:35
and like put everything together that was like
44:39
really depressing at that time and um and i thought
44:42
that no one was going to show up because it seemed
44:44
like you know through these message boards that
44:47
like everybody was just like upset with me uh
44:50
doing the show and so some band canceled i don't
44:54
remember who it was but i ended up um uh, Stephen
44:58
Koontz's band, I think they were called 10 stabs
45:01
to the throat at the time. Um, that night before
45:04
I, I messaged him on aim and asked him if they
45:10
could open the show. And so they opened the show.
45:13
And, um, I remember he was like very encouraging
45:16
too. Like he was just like, who cares what everyone's
45:19
saying? Just do it and stuff like that. And,
45:21
um, so yeah, he, uh, um, his band played. And
45:27
that night, I remember there was this guy that
45:34
I met at a coffee shop in Bakersfield. And he
45:39
had like a really interesting project called
45:41
The Jealousy. And what it sounded like to me
45:45
was like, he was really into Tom Waits, but he
45:48
would like play music on a synthesizer and keyboards.
45:54
His music sounded very much like, I don't know
45:55
if you've ever heard the group The Residents.
45:58
No. Yeah, so it's very avant -garde kind of weird
46:04
stuff. But he would play Tom Waits -type stuff
46:07
on a synthesizer, his own original stuff. And
46:11
he was just some guy I met. He wasn't part of
46:14
anything. I booked him at that show, too, because
46:16
I thought his stuff was really cool. And so when
46:20
we get to the show, after 10 Stabs plays, he's
46:23
supposed to go on next. What happened was he
46:25
told me, he goes, oh, I can't go on next because
46:27
I have some jazz thing I have to go to. So he
46:34
dipped out right before he went on to go do some
46:38
jazz thing with his class or whatever. I was
46:41
like, this show is falling apart now. I ended
46:46
up getting my cousin to go up. He had like his,
46:50
the guy left his keyboard at the show. So I had
46:55
my cousin go up there and start pounding on the
46:57
keyboard. And I was doing my like stupid, like,
47:04
you know, performance art, you know, bullshit
47:06
thing that I was doing at the time. It was like
47:09
running around doing like stupid stuff while
47:11
my cousin was like pounding on this keyboard.
47:13
And it was just at that point, I was just like,
47:16
I don't even care anymore how I was handling
47:19
it because I was just like so like burned on
47:21
everything. But yeah, he was like pounding on
47:23
this keyboard and for about like 15 minutes.
47:28
And then another band, I think they were Masked
47:32
and Transom, which was another like local kind
47:35
of experimental band played after that. And then
47:37
Melt Banana played. And so after Melt Banana
47:39
played, it was like great. And there was more
47:42
people than I expected there. And it turned out
47:44
really good. But after they played, that guy
47:48
showed up. And he was like, so when do we go
47:51
on? I'm like, the show's over. You missed it.
47:57
You're not going on now. And I never talked to
48:01
him again after that. Wow. That show was very
48:05
stressful for me at the time because of all the
48:08
drama. what's going on behind the scenes and,
48:11
and, uh, you know, my own personal stuff going
48:14
on too. So the boiler room time era for me was,
48:18
I think it started in 2001 and I kind of like
48:21
veered away from the gate in the boiler room,
48:25
probably around 2006 when I moved to Hollywood.
48:28
Okay. And that's kind of like when I stepped
48:29
away, like started doing my own thing. It was
48:32
like, Oh, that's old news. But for, but for that
48:35
five years, like 2001 to 2006, there was There
48:38
was a Jimmy world fad that was going on. And
48:41
so, uh, there was, my dad would get like these
48:43
press packages from bands that wanted to play.
48:46
Yeah. And so there was, uh, so we listened to
48:49
it like, Oh, can we book a tour? Like nobody's
48:51
going to know who these guys are. So, uh, sorry,
48:54
we're not available that night. It was just kind
48:55
of, you know, we'd try, but we couldn't be open
48:58
every day. It was, we had certain times that
49:01
we could, but we got one press package from this
49:04
band called number one gun. And we put it on,
49:07
and they were like a Christian version of Jimmy
49:09
Eat World. Like, they sound just like him. They
49:11
were really good, and me and my dad would go
49:13
out clean pools in the summertime, and we'd listen
49:15
to it. I think we went to the bookstore and bought
49:18
their CD, and then we'd listen to it. We're like,
49:21
we got to book these guys. They're really good.
49:23
And so Number One Gun was another band that stood
49:26
out. The 1AM Radio, it was cool watching my dad.
49:32
have no clue who they were and then watching
49:34
them but when they played like i already knew
49:35
who they were yeah um and i was like oh it'd
49:40
be cool but i thought he was gonna play like
49:41
solo and acoustic i think is how he used to do
49:43
it i didn't know he's gonna have like a whole
49:44
orchestra with them almost of like six or seven
49:47
people that played with them there's two other
49:51
shows that i don't know one of them sticks out
49:54
for sure but there was a there was a band that
49:56
came in there were a bunch of kids they all look
49:59
super young And as they walked up, I was kind
50:02
of burned out at the boiler room. I was tired
50:03
of music at the time. Yeah. Just a lot of like,
50:07
I was wanting like good bands to play and I was
50:10
just tired of seeing bands I thought were terrible.
50:14
So I see these kids come in. I was like, oh,
50:17
another boring boiler room show. They come up.
50:22
I'm just thinking they're going to play like
50:23
the crappy hardcore at the time. There's everyone
50:26
was playing hardcore and I was so burned out
50:28
on it. And so this band comes in. They look like
50:32
they're going to be a crappy hardcore band. They
50:34
go up there and they play. They sounded so good.
50:37
Their singer sang. He had a really cool voice.
50:43
And they were called Blessk. His voice kind of
50:46
sounded like the girl from Beach House. Okay.
50:49
Yeah, he had like him, but I remember him being
50:52
17 years old at the time. And his voice was like
50:55
perfectly on pitch. And he put like a delay reverb
50:59
thing on his voice when they played. And he had
51:01
this keyboard thing going on. And you could just
51:05
tell they really worked hard on their songs.
51:07
I like them a lot. I've been trying to find one
51:10
of their CDs for a long time, and I can't find
51:13
it. Their singer ended up going on to be in a
51:15
band that got pretty well known called Dreamers,
51:18
I saw. But he played drums. Okay, yeah. Dude,
51:21
stick to playing or singing and playing guitar
51:23
because that was cool. Okay, then my all -time
51:35
favorite show that ever happened was there was
51:39
these guys that came in, and there was maybe
51:41
like 10 people to show, and this band from Boston
51:45
came up. You could tell that they knew what they
51:49
were doing. They were a little bit older. They
51:50
looked cool. They weren't all black, and it was
51:54
like, oh, these guys are, you know, when they
51:55
walked in, you're like, they're going to be good.
51:58
They came in. They're called Junius, and the
52:02
nicest guys in the world. uh there was like 10
52:04
people at the show i wanted them to come back
52:07
so i was like hey i called my dad's like hey
52:10
can i give them a little extra money i was like
52:12
they came in they're the coolest guys they're
52:13
on tour from boston i was like i'm gonna give
52:15
up my pay for the night you know just got paid
52:17
a couple bucks an hour at the time but i was
52:19
like i'm gonna give my money away is i can't
52:21
give them a little bit extra my dad's like yeah
52:23
absolutely i was like i really want them to come
52:24
back so they came and uh they stayed over at
52:27
my friend nick's house for the night we made
52:30
friends with them And then sure enough, they
52:32
came on tour again. And they're starting to blow
52:35
up. Even now, they're still playing. But they
52:38
came two or three more times after that. Yeah,
52:41
the last time they played at the Boiler Room,
52:43
not a lot of people were there. But they were
52:45
my friends at this point. And I was 21 at the
52:47
time. And so they get done with the show. And
52:52
I was like, hey, let me try to get you guys somewhere
52:53
else. I think more people would like you. But
52:55
I can't guarantee you money. They're like, yeah,
52:57
we're here. Let's try to get more fans. I was
52:58
like, all right. So I walked over to the Mint.
53:01
And that was back when Greg Looney was working
53:03
there. Okay, yeah. From Savage Radio? Yeah. So
53:07
I went up to Greg Looney as he's working in the
53:08
mint. I was like, hey, I got this band from Boston.
53:11
They're really good called Junius. I was like,
53:13
can they play on the back patio right now? I
53:15
think everybody would like it. And he's like,
53:17
dude, heck yeah. I was like, oh, thanks, Greg.
53:21
That's awesome. That's cool. So a bit more people
53:25
knew about them after that. But I think after
53:26
that show, they haven't come back to Bakersfield
53:28
because they got signed. They're on Prehistoric
53:31
Records now. They just released a new album a
53:33
couple months ago. And they're kind of blowing
53:35
up again. But yeah, that was one of my favorites
53:37
because they were just like super cool, humble
53:39
guys. And yeah, still talk to one of them every
53:43
once in a while online and just cool people.
53:46
But that was probably my favorite show ever booked.
53:48
There was another show that I wanted to mention
53:53
too. There's these two bands that came in. One
53:58
was called Locale AM. And they were kind of this
54:00
cool, like, pop emo sound, but they had this
54:03
rap sound that they did really well live. It
54:06
was cool. And there was another band that opened
54:08
up for them that was on tour with them, and they
54:11
weren't really known at the time. But then all
54:13
of a sudden, like, years later, up until now,
54:15
like, they're still, like, they're huge. But
54:18
the band that played in the Boiler Room and not
54:19
a lot of people were there was Plain White Tees.
54:21
Oh, wow. Yeah, they played in there. And I remember
54:24
that being a really cool show. We talked about
54:26
some already. What obstacles did you deal with
54:30
running shows? Most of the obstacles I had was
54:34
nobody showing up for the ones that I booked.
54:41
The ones that I would have just at any show were
54:47
just assholes on stage. There was one show I
54:54
remember. It was a metalcore show. and these
54:58
guys were um kind of just causing uh trouble
55:01
they were like tipping over um like uh tables
55:05
and um that were out in the back area kind of
55:08
messing up the bathroom and you know i'd be like
55:11
the only one running the show and no one else
55:14
would be there and i'd have to like deal with
55:15
these guys by myself and i'm just like in my
55:19
early 20s dealing with jocks i would just call
55:22
them jocks because they were just guys that couldn't
55:25
make the football team they decided to get into
55:26
music because they were it's just another way
55:29
to become popular and so they would just act
55:32
like that and i'd have to deal with that by myself
55:34
also other things i guess because the gate took
55:38
like some of the money that came to the door
55:40
because they had a you know a staff um sometimes
55:43
not enough money would come through and you'd
55:46
have like a um a touring band and you know, it
55:51
sucks after being in a touring band now, um,
55:55
knowing it sucks when you're not getting paid.
55:57
And so, so a lot of times that would happen.
56:00
And so I'd have to call my dad and say, Hey,
56:03
not enough money came. Is there anything that
56:06
we can work with? He'd just say, yeah, just give
56:08
him some money, you know, from, but I'd have
56:10
to like, make sure he answered the phone to let
56:12
me know. Yeah. Instead of like, uh, like just,
56:16
you know, my hand to it but um there's certain
56:19
things that i kind of like learned over the years
56:21
um working there like doing donations was one
56:25
that i learned i actually learned from uh babe
56:30
montoya in his shows is that if not enough money
56:33
came in he would just like kind of ask for donations
56:36
for the bands and that was one way to um you
56:39
know get them their money uh for gas so yeah
56:43
that's smart So there's a bunch of different
56:47
places that had shows. So some of the obstacles
56:49
was like trying not to step on anybody else's
56:53
toes or like, you know, just not making anybody
56:56
mad. Like, yeah, sometimes the guy from Jerry's
56:59
would, you know, call the cops on us to get us
57:02
shut down. And the cops would show up because
57:05
a noise complaint that none of the neighbors,
57:07
all the neighbors that lived across from where
57:09
the boiler room, the gate were, they were cool.
57:11
They never called in a noise complaint. It was
57:12
always. The guy from Jerry's, you know, trying
57:15
to shut the gate down so his shows would be more
57:18
people. And that was one of the bigger obstacles.
57:21
How did the boiler room end? No one knew when
57:24
it would, you know, just it happens sometimes.
57:28
You know, you don't know when things are going
57:29
to end. So you got to cherish it while you got
57:30
it. I loved it for a time and I got burned out
57:34
for a time. And then now I think about it and
57:36
I was like, oh, it's such a huge part of my life.
57:38
Like everything in my life has to do with like
57:40
the music scene and how I've grown up. Pretty
57:43
much I could like, you know, anything in my life
57:45
I could go back to and just, you know, click
57:49
it with a gate and my upbringing and that whole
57:52
scene somehow up to my work, having my kid, everything
57:55
like it has some way to tie in with the gate,
57:59
you know? Yeah. But yeah, it was just like one
58:02
day it wasn't there anymore. Like I didn't see
58:05
the whole transformation. I think I was living
58:07
in Hollywood at the time. So when my dad was
58:11
talking about. Um, they had this whole thing
58:14
going on to the church, like with the revival.
58:16
Yeah. Yeah. They were doing that whole thing
58:18
while I was living in Hollywood, just drinking
58:20
all the time and partying. And that was my life.
58:22
So I wasn't involved with church anymore. I don't
58:25
remember the boiler room ending, you know, but
58:27
it ended around that time. So the boiler room
58:30
did end because of that revival meeting that,
58:34
that I was talking about that happened because
58:37
it was going on at that. in the gym there because
58:40
that's where the church was. So they needed the
58:42
space. So yeah, they needed the space. And, um,
58:46
and so they, uh, my dad ended up shutting down
58:49
shows for a while and it eventually moved to,
58:53
um, the O street location where it eventually
58:56
ended, um, several years later with email. Yeah.
59:02
So did you ever book shows at the O Street location?
59:06
Or once the Boiler Room kind of ended, then you
59:09
were kind of out of it? I was out of it by the
59:12
time the O Street came around. So it was the
59:15
gate, the original gate, then the Boiler Room,
59:18
and then the new gate. I wasn't really a part
59:20
of the new gate. Like, I've gone. My band, Red
59:23
Adair and Niner Niners, both played there a couple
59:25
times. And my old band was Ghost Town Parade.
59:28
We played there a couple times, too. But that
59:30
wasn't my gate. Liked it, but I didn't go there
59:33
often because I was out of it at that point.
59:36
What are your future plans for music? Right now
59:40
I'm playing in a band with Dan Thompson and Gary
59:44
Rink. So Dan Thompson, he was in Farewell Space
59:46
Cadet. Oh, cool. Him and Gary Rink were both
59:50
in Modern Wives recently. And then Cass Fulkenberry
59:54
is our drummer. Oh, yeah. He played in choirs
59:57
for a while. And his other band that's doing
59:59
really well is Transmissions. One of my favorite
1:00:02
bands in town right now. That's cool. And his
1:00:04
wife, Beth, is singing. It's her first real band.
1:00:08
She was in a band with my brother back in the
1:00:09
day, but it was a joke band. They were called
1:00:11
The Runs. Oh, yeah. We talked about that. Yeah.
1:00:14
I talked about that with Bobby. Yeah, so she's
1:00:17
singing with us. So it's her first band that
1:00:19
she's singing. Yeah, it's her first real band,
1:00:23
but she's doing really well. But we haven't played
1:00:25
a show yet. We got our first show coming up on
1:00:27
October 24th. It's going to be a house show.
1:00:31
Cool. It's hard playing in a band with Gary Rink.
1:00:36
I'm his bass player, and he's the best bass player
1:00:38
in town. Everybody will say that. They're like,
1:00:40
you're playing bass with Gary Rink, the best
1:00:42
bass player in town? I was like, yeah. It's nerve
1:00:45
-wracking, but he's super cool. Yeah, he's cool.
1:00:50
Side note, he's the one who sold me my first
1:00:53
guitar at Guitar Center when I was a kid. Oh,
1:00:55
okay. Yeah. So I don't really have any future
1:00:58
plans for music. But you have a radio show, right?
1:01:02
Yeah, I have a radio show that I do out here.
1:01:04
So I live in a small mountain town about like,
1:01:07
you know, barely over a thousand people live
1:01:10
here. But they have a radio station that I volunteer
1:01:13
at and do a show on Sunday nights. And I just
1:01:17
play, you know, underground music, a lot of like
1:01:20
newer shoegaze. And I mix in a lot of older stuff
1:01:24
into it too. A lot of punk and noise rock. But
1:01:28
that's basically the only thing that I do musically
1:01:31
right now. As far as playing music goes, I've
1:01:35
been away from playing music for so long, I feel
1:01:37
like there's an imposter syndrome with me if
1:01:41
I were to get involved again in playing music.
1:01:45
It's just so far gone from what I do today. And
1:01:51
most of this town... is really into like mountain
1:01:55
music, like bluegrass and jam band stuff. So,
1:01:59
I mean, there's no one around here that I could
1:02:02
get involved with. What current or past Bakersfield
1:02:07
artists do you want to shout out? So my all -time
1:02:10
favorite Bakersfield band was Plebeian Cry. Zach
1:02:14
Davidson's, I think that's his last name, from
1:02:17
Acrylics, his other band, before he ended up
1:02:20
going on to Vendetta Red. in Seattle. Plebeian
1:02:24
Cry was awesome. I loved all of their stuff when
1:02:28
I was a kid going to their shows. Of course,
1:02:31
Burning Image, I've always really liked Death
1:02:34
Rock. And so Burning Image was always one that
1:02:37
I loved. Melted Gumby was actually the first
1:02:40
tape that I had from a local band when I was
1:02:43
getting into punk. I didn't even know that they
1:02:46
were local when I had that tape. I kind of wore
1:02:51
it out listening to it all the time. Eventually,
1:02:54
I remember overhearing somebody singing one of
1:02:56
their songs saying that they were a local band.
1:02:59
I was like, oh, wait. So that band is local?
1:03:04
It was like a pizza. The song was called Pizza
1:03:06
and Donuts. I remember somebody singing that
1:03:09
song later on and figuring out that they were
1:03:15
a local band because of that. Another one, Lebex.
1:03:20
Farewell Space Cadet are kind of classics in
1:03:23
the late 90s Bakersfield scene, especially within
1:03:27
the gate. Both of those bands were awesome. Cradle
1:03:31
of Thorns, I've always liked. The Lonely, I had
1:03:34
a CD for The Lonely. I like that one. Of course,
1:03:37
Hips and Only You. Oh, yeah. Yeah, so Only You,
1:03:44
they were very short -lived from what I remember,
1:03:47
but they were very good live. Their CD, from
1:03:52
what I've heard talking to somebody, their CD
1:03:55
was recorded horribly. And so their CD doesn't
1:04:00
sound good at all, like from what I remember
1:04:02
them sounding like live. But live, they were
1:04:05
awesome. And then, of course, The Pine, they're
1:04:08
awesome. You know, Stephen's in that band. Bill
1:04:11
is in the band. Or is, both of them are still
1:04:13
in the band. Yeah. Actually, the first time I
1:04:16
saw The Pine was at the gate, the main stage
1:04:17
gate. They're like, oh, Roger's in the band.
1:04:20
I remember Fletcher when I was like, you know,
1:04:22
in junior high skateboarding. And I remember
1:04:26
thinking like, who's Roger? And but that's what
1:04:28
everyone was telling me is like Roger's in it.
1:04:32
And it was one of their very early shows that
1:04:35
they played. One from the old gate time was probably
1:04:39
my favorite album of all time. You know, I used
1:04:42
to listen to it on repeat. There was a band called
1:04:47
Only You. I don't know if you heard them, but
1:04:50
their stuff is on the Bakersfield Music Archives.
1:04:53
You can listen to it on there. But I used to
1:04:55
listen to that CD. It came out, you know, they
1:04:57
had a CD release show at the gate and they broke
1:05:00
up afterwards. And then their singer guitar player
1:05:02
went on to go play drums in Vendetta Red. He
1:05:05
passed away, I think, in 2020. And the other
1:05:08
two guys, I don't know what they've been up to.
1:05:13
But yeah, that Only You CD was like pivotal for
1:05:16
me. Like that was my... you know, my CD, I felt
1:05:20
like I was like, Oh, this is like, how I really
1:05:23
got into something passionate about, you know,
1:05:26
there was like two songs, there was, they don't
1:05:27
have song titles. But I remember track seven
1:05:29
is the best song ever, in my opinion. And then
1:05:33
track 10 is this long, like piano song, in my
1:05:36
opinion, is just as good as Bohemian Rhapsody.
1:05:38
You know, I'm probably the only person that feels
1:05:40
that way. But anyways, that was like my favorite
1:05:43
album that was ever released in Bakersfield.
1:05:47
I don't know how many people know that, but there's
1:05:49
some people that I know that we talk about, and
1:05:51
they're like, oh, yeah, it's great. Some people
1:05:53
say it's a terrible recording. I'm like, just
1:05:55
on one part of one song, it's terrible to me,
1:05:57
but the whole thing sounds great, in my opinion.
1:05:59
Yeah. Other bands I liked a lot was Johnny Come
1:06:05
Lately was cool. Their songs were fun and catchy.
1:06:09
Lil' Abex, of course. As far as the Boiler Room
1:06:12
era, There's one that I finally found a CD for
1:06:17
and got it digitized. Nobody could have it. I
1:06:20
talked to Gabe Zarzody. I don't know if you know
1:06:22
him. He played in Melted Gumby, Closing In. Oh,
1:06:25
Melted Gumby. I've heard of that band. Yeah.
1:06:28
So I finally talked to Gabe Zarzody. I've been
1:06:30
looking for the, there was an old local band,
1:06:32
The Polyrhythm. Oh, I haven't heard of them.
1:06:35
Their singer, or one of their singers, they had
1:06:37
two singers, but their singer, Colin Cook, is
1:06:39
one of my good friends. And he's like, I don't
1:06:41
know. Anybody has it. And like people talk to
1:06:43
all four members and nobody could find that CD.
1:06:46
And so I was searching for it forever. It finally
1:06:49
talked to Gabe Sarzodi. He's like, yeah, man,
1:06:51
I got a copy of it. And so I was like, dude,
1:06:53
let me borrow it. Got it digitized. That's cool.
1:06:56
Send it off to Colin. Colin texted me immediately.
1:06:59
He goes, dude, I got tears in my eyes. I didn't
1:07:00
think I'd ever hear it again. But that CD was
1:07:03
that was a good one. I love Farewell Space Cadet.
1:07:07
So it's an honor playing with, you know, Dan
1:07:09
Thompson right now. Squatcho. I got to, you know,
1:07:12
I loved Squatcho at their time before I was friends
1:07:14
with Dylan and Granny. And Dylan and Granny were
1:07:16
both in Squatcho. And I got to play with them
1:07:19
in Niner Niner. So that was, they were one of
1:07:21
my favorites at the time. There's a couple more.
1:07:29
Oh, Diary. How could you forget Diary? It felt
1:07:33
like they were going places for a while. Like
1:07:35
they were just super good. Yeah. Do you have
1:07:39
any advice for up and coming musicians? especially
1:07:41
nowadays don't be afraid to experiment and like
1:07:44
do something different you know there's a lot
1:07:46
of musicians that kind of hold on to what they're
1:07:50
familiar with and you know humans are kind of
1:07:54
creative beings so i think that like music should
1:07:58
be very creative and and like pushing yourself
1:08:01
um try to like do something that has never been
1:08:05
you know, heard before, or at least do something
1:08:08
that you've never seen yourself do, seen somebody
1:08:11
do yourself. So experimenting is like the biggest
1:08:16
thing for me. There's too many bands that sound
1:08:19
the same. So like, why not try to sound different?
1:08:22
You know, that was the one thing I did like about
1:08:24
Loser Life during that time is that we didn't
1:08:28
sound like the generic, you know, punk bands
1:08:31
that were. kind of rehashing old discord, um,
1:08:36
sound or, um, some of those like danger house
1:08:40
sounds, um, during that time that was like, there's
1:08:44
a lot of generic bands that just kind of tried
1:08:46
to rehash the 80 sound. And we kind of did our
1:08:49
own thing. We're like noisier. I'm pretty proud
1:08:52
of that. So yeah, just push yourself. My, uh,
1:08:56
suggestion for, uh, musicians keep playing. You
1:09:01
know, don't stop. If you love it, do it. Keep
1:09:03
on writing. Try to not be, don't give up in playing
1:09:09
cover bands only. Oh, why are you just playing
1:09:11
in a cover band? You could, you know, do so much
1:09:13
more because you're good enough, you know. I'd
1:09:15
say keep doing it and enjoy what you got while
1:09:18
you got it because you don't know when things
1:09:20
are going to end. This has been episode 23 of
1:09:27
the San Joaquin Sound Podcast, The Boiler Room.
1:09:30
Stay tuned for next episode where we talk to
1:09:33
E -Man about the final era of the game.