Oh yes it's ladies night ohhhh what a niiiiighttt

Flip your wig!

I've been waiting FOR-EV-ERRRRRRRR for someone to upload The Wigs onto Youtube. Hallelujah!!! This super fun band is from San Diego. I found this record in the Blue Meanie Records budget bin about 10+ years ago. I don't know anything about this band, only that they put out a 4-song 7-inch EP in 1980 and the singer, Cindy Bradley, apparently founded the San Pedro Ballet Company. I could be wrong, but the record may be on the same record label that put out The Standbys (another rad San Diego punk band) record (?) Photos by Marshall Astor

Shonen Knife in San Diego

Shonen Knife is playing in San Diego on November 2nd with the amazing Shannon and the Clams and my band (Jungle Fever). More info here!

A Benefit Show For Christina Wagner

If you live in San Diego and you read this blog, I urge you to attend a benefit show on October 22 at the Til Two Club. Click here to view the Facebook invite. My band was asked to play and we couldn't say YEAH DUH OF COURSE fast enough. It's to raise money for a local woman who recently was diagnosed with cancer. Her insurance changed during her second cycle of chemotherapy and it's so expensive, she wasn't to complete the second cycle of chemo. She's married with three adorable children. Please tell your friends! RAD bands are playing as well: The Widows, JOY and The Grids (and JF).

New band alert: The Lumps

SD's Miss Liss Piss has a new band called The Lumps. If you like that late 70's/early 80's KBD punk sound, you'll dig this band a lot. Check 'em out:

Maren Parusel is looking for a drummer

Attention San Diegans: Maren Parusel is looking for a drummer. Influences/sounds like: Camera Obscura, Feist, Fiona Apple, The Cardigans, etc. She recently recorded with Kim Fowley, who discovered her on the streets of Austin, Texas! Her band plays regularly around San Diego and Los Angeles and tours a lot. Must be dedicated, able to tour frequently and able to hold a steady beat! Currently recording a full-length album with Paul Jenkins of Blackheart Procession. Please spread the word!

Q&A with Shelby from The Dabbers

Every time I see The Dabbers play live, I'm mesmerized. Everyone in the crowd is. It's not just that Shelby Gubba (pronounced Goo-buh) happens to be as cute as a button and charmingly bashful on stage with her breathy back-up vocals, but she really is one hell of a bass player. She used to be my roommate and I'd admirably ease drop when she'd practice in her room thinking no one was listening. The girl can play. And no, I'm not saying "for a girl... she can play" - she's got chops and is one of my favorite bass players (check out the video after you read her Q&A, I think you'll agree).

When we first met, you played bass in Braaiins! Were you in any other bands before Braaiins? And do you play any other instruments?

No other bands before that. I learned to play piano and bass when I was in middle school. At the time I worshiped Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers and just thought he was the coolest dude ever. I bought the cheapest bass my 7th grade allowance could afford at the Guitar Center in La Mesa on it’s closing day. I played on an off until highschool when I sold it, and didn’t get a new bass until 2007. And then shortly after that…Braaiins!


What was it like being the only female in that band in a primarily male-dominated scene?

It was fun but nothing very “special”. I mean, I just was myself and I didn’t think it was weird to be a female and play music, so I found it to be somewhat odd that the majority of compliments from fans would be a reference to my gender, not just my skill. For example, “You play really great for a girl”, or “You’re such a great girl bass player”. I didn’t get why they just could leave that out of it, but I still appreciated any positive feedback of course, and it always made me feel extra special when a girl fan would tell me that I was inspiring.

After Braaiins, you started a band with Zack Wentz (Kill Me Tomorrow, Tender Buttons) and some other friends. Whatever happened to that band?

It was called Unplanned Hands. It lasted for a few months, but it just wasn’t feasible to continue full time. It was a lot of fun playing together, but at the time I was learning drums for the first time ever (using the kit we now use for The Dabbers), so I’m sure the fact that I was on a learning curve was frustrating. Zack was playing guitar, so it was really incredible to see what he could do on a different instrument than his usual drum set up from Kill Me Tomorrow. Our friends Cristina & Andrew played bass and guitar, respectively, and it was just a really organic musical experience. I think we all kind of wanted different things out of it, and once The Dabbers kicked into “full speed ahead” and we started booking more shows, it was harder to focus our creative energy into more than one project. We split early last year, but we are all still great friends and I am so thankful for the process we went through. It really forced me to try and experiment with a totally abstract and organic process and because of this, it boosted my confidence as a musician.


...you then went on to start The Dabbers as a duo with Zack where you play bass and he plays drums and sings. You’re starting to sing a little and that’s awesome! Will there ever be any songs you sing lead on? Who are some of your favorite singers and musicians?

We’re actually working on a few songs right now that I would be doing leading vocals on. It’s incredibly new to me to be in the spotlight for vocals, and I still have a hard time totally belting out my voice for backup singing anyway, so it’s going to take a lot of practice and believing that I can do it!

I honestly never paid much attention to female vocalists before and now I am listening much more closely. One of my favorite local female singers is Aimee (last name?) from Black Mamba; she has the most gorgeous voice and I would love to sound like that, all reverby and big, plus she’s just got such great stage presence. Also, I’ve learned a lot from listening to the way Zack controls and alters his voice (while playing a mean drumbeat mind you..) and I think he is incredible (duh)

As far as other bands/musicians with amazing (and inspiring) vocalists I also love The Aislers Set & Jamie Stewart of Xiu Xiu.

Tell me about the bass you play and the amp you use. (Because it sounds as cool as it looks!)

I play an Epiphone Thunderbird in electric blue. I bought two identical basses just in case, and now that they don’t make them in blue anymore, I’m really glad that I was obsessive about it beforehand, haha. I play through a custom-ordered Avatar speaker cabinet and a vintage Road head, which I don’t know any specifics about because it’s ancient.


How would you describe The Dabbers sound and what were your influences when forming this band?

I think our sound is best described as loud garage pop. “Garage” because I think anyone could listen to it and “get it”, and that we’re not trying to go for anything complicated or super weird, we just want to make hooky songs and have fun doing it. I think it’s pretty pop influenced and at the time we formed I was listening to a lot of Guided by Voices and other 90’s pop bands. Honestly though, I think our band has been most influenced by our love & devotion to music and each other…sorry that’s so mushy!


Tell us about your and Zack's record label and your releases!

We started Rax Records because we were so excited about our recordings with Mitch Wilson that we couldn’t just wait anymore. We put our money together, came up with Rax Records (inspired by a book we both love titled Rax by Michael Coney), and went through United Record Press for our 7” first. We put it out on multi-colored vinyl and they come in every color from hot pink to sapphire blue, I absolutely love them. We only ordered 500 so they are very unique!

We then put out our full-length album through Disc Makers and designed all the artwork for the album ourselves, along with two feature photos from both Sade Williams and Alex Kacha, both incredibly talented women.

After we felt confident with our CD release, we signed up with several online resources where our album is for purchase, including: CD Baby, Insound, and iTunes.

What are your future plans? Tours? More records?

Our second album is currently in the works, and we would really like to start recording that as soon as possible with Mitch again. He was so fun to work with and I don’t think we could commit ourselves to any other recording studio after working with him.

As far as touring goes, it’s going to be a little easier because...we just bought a band van! We are looking forward to making a few “mini” tours, or at least hitting more spots up the West Coast, whereas before we were limited as to how much we could travel. Nothing big, because I am pretty committed to a full-time job and couldn’t take the time off.

Also... since we are getting married in July this year I don’t want to start planning any major trips besides our honeymoon!!

When you’re not playing music, you’re involved in a lot of art. Do you still sell stuff on Etsy and can we expect more merchandise for sale in the future? Where can we see your art and buy your stuff?


I think that my art has naturally become inseparable from the band art that we make, so making flyers for shows and coming up with new Dabbers art is more where I am headed. I want to get back into selling cute little things on Etsy, but the competition was a little intimidating the first time around and I think I should probably do my research next time...maybe sometime in 2011? I’ve gotten really inspired by DIY wedding stuff, so maybe my next adventure will be in that area (I can see customizable hand-painted cake toppers in my future for some reason...).

I don’t have any art for sale right now, but please check out my blog:

gubba.wordpress.com

I am pretty active on it and would love to have more followers who comment and give me feedback on my posts. It's pretty much a consistent flow of posts about life, love, art and music, and that would probably be the best way to keep track of all of my Gubba endeavors. Oh, excuse me, I meant almost-Mrs.-Wentz endeavors. ;)

Shameless plug

Does anyone read this thing? I doubt it. Anyways, just wanted to tell you about my band, Jungle Fever, and the new (but not mixed or anything) songs we have up on our Myspace page. We recently recorded 9 songs with Mitch Wilson, who is amazing!! We're heading back to the studio in a few weeks to record one more song (a Vaselines cover!) and to mix/master all the songs. Now all we need is a record label or two to put out a 7" and we're all set! Any takers? Hello? Anyone? ::crickets chirping::

Q&A with Maren Parusel

I'm partial to Maren because she's a close friend and former bandmate. But aside from those two things, I'm a huge fan of her music. She plays almost any instrument you can think of and her songs are nothing short of little pop masterpieces. In an effort to help maintain this blog and keep it interesting and different, I decided I wanted to send Q&A's to my favorite musicians and here's my first Q&A. Enjoy!

K: You grew up in Germany. Did American bands have a big influence on your life growing up?

M: yes! in Europe American bands are very popular. they pretty much play the same songs on the radio like here, but we also have all the European bands coming into the mix, which gives it a nice change! My mum was a fan of Cat Stevens, Simon and Garfunkel, Beach Boys and Leonard Cohen.
My dad always listened to Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones and he loved Abba. My mum also plays classical piano, so i grew up with lots of Beethoven too :) I remember loving that song "The Letter" from the Box Tops when I was 12! ...buy me a ticket for an aeroplane..lalala. so good!

K: Why did you move to America?

M: I did work as an intern at a Tv station in Germany right after High School. I was so fascinated with California, seeing it from the movies, i had always dreamed of moving over there. When the company i worked for had to let go of all its employees, i thought that i could either go to school here in Germany or move to California and become a musician. As you can see I chose the second of the two. :)

K: What was the first concert you ever went to?

M: um...i think it was a reggae festival in Cologne called Summer Jam. The stages are on an island in a lake and only connected by a couple of bridges. All around the lake people build up their tents and camp there for a week. It was so much fun and i remember not taking a shower for 4 days!!

K: First record (or CD) you remember buying?

M: My first cd i bought was for this guy i had a crush on when i was 12 or 13. He invited me to a birthday Party and I bought him "mmm" by the Crash Test Dummies, because it was his favorite song...:)
It was also the first time i ever went into a music store by myself and bought a cd. I was so intimidated by all the older cool kids there hanging out and looking through records, that i ran inside, asked the guy at the counter for the cd, bought it and ran out as fast as i could not looking at anyone... i think one of my first cds I bought for myself was Operation Ivy or Ace of Base! one of the two.

K: Recently you joined a bigger band as their guitarist to tour nationally, opening up for the Killers. That must have been really exciting to perform in front of such a large crowd. Do you prefer performing in front of thousands of people, or performing in front of a smaller, more intimate crowd, playing your own music?

M: It was pretty nerve wracking to go on in front of thousands of people but in the end i realized that its really not about how many people you play to, its more about what you can share with an audience music wise as a performer and become one with the music and the crowd and be able to share something so personal like a song with an audience. This can be in front of 20 people or thousands.

K: If you could cover any song, what would it be?

M: Right now me and my band are trying to cover the song "changes" from David Bowie. I also would like to cover" these days" from Nico (velvet underground)

K: If you weren’t a singer and a musician, what would be your dream job?

M: um... i always wanted to be an astronaut...ya, i think i would wanna be that. I'm fascinated with space!

K: You’re stuck on an island and have one record to listen to for eternity. What would that record be?

M: oh no, I can't really answer that. I don't think I want to listen to only one record for eternity. It would drive me crazy! I think I would prefer my guitar , so i can play whatever. I would get really good with all the practicing.

K: What is your favorite dessert?

M: a brownie and chai latte is all i need!!!

"Yabber-Dabber-Doo!"

Check out of my favorite ladies, Shelby, and her band with her boo-boo Zack, The Dabbers! They have a new music video and it's real cute 'n' stuff 'n' thangs:

Dandy Sandi

San Diego is home to a lot of terrible bands, but some really rad bands and artists have emerged from "America's Finest City": Tom Waits, Frank Zappa, the Tell-Tale Hearts, Zeros, sLiGhTLy StOOpiD, Battalion of Saints, the Standbys (ever heard of these guys? I have their 45 and it rules!), Drive Like Jehu and so on and so forth. You know I was totally kidding about Slightly Stoopid, right? One of the gems that came out of San Diego was a female-fronted doo-wop group called Sandi and the Accents. They were only around for about 2 years and then called it quits when one of the dudes got drafted into the army. These cats even opened up for the Rolling Stones, beyotch!!! You can buy their discography CD on their website and also hear clips of some songs, too. Below is my favorite song, You Better Watch Out Boy: