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If you are new to this blog... READ THIS FIRST! And so it begins...

2009-10-08T11:04:00.000-07:00

hi,
bob here.

welcome to the blog for the reactionaries 1979 record on water under the bridge records.

what is water under the bridge records you ask? it's a new san pedro based record label run by craig ibarra and myself (bob archer).

how did it start you ask? easy, craig called me up with an idea and i said, "OK" to it.

see, craig's an idea kind of guy. you might know him from such projects as s.a.d. cassettes, the punchline, the rise and the fall fanzine, rig, etc. dude's even writing a book about the forgotten history of san pedro punk. so he's a good guy to have ask you to be a part of something he's putting together.

the reactionaries circa 1979 - martin tamburovich, mike watt, george hurley and d. boon.
photo by noel tamburovich-vuoso.

LONG STORY SHORT
craig's idea for the first release was to document a 9-song practice tape of san pedro's first punk band (the reactionaries) that was recorded in george hurley's parents garage in 1979 (as a 7-inch) on the a-side and a b-side of 38 pedro-related musicians covering the same 9 songs. but first we had to get mike watt's permission and not only that but we had to see if it was possible for him to remember or transcribe the lyrics because you can't really understand what martin is singing on the tape. without the lyrics this record wasn't possible. here are some exchanges between craig and watt:

Subject: the reactionaries possible 7-inch.
Sunday, November 9, 2008 9:57 AM

mike,

me and (pedro) bob archer are thinking about starting a new record label with the money we make off of the new issue (12) of the rise and the fall. we wanted to see if we could put out the 9 songs from the reactionaries tape as the first release on a 7-inch. the idea is to put the original 9 songs on side a. on side b we want to do the same 9 songs, but with various members from different bands past and present from the town doing them. what we would do is put the names of the various members (interested) in a hat and pick them and the first 4 members picked would do one of the 9 songs and so on. i plan on asking rawl and kevin if they would be interested in doing the recordings at their home studio. i wanted to see if it was ok with you if we could go ahead and do this project first. if you are cool with it there is one thing that i was worried about is the lyrics. do you have these written down or is there any chance that you remember them? let me know what you think...

xx craig

craig,

I don't think you could get all ten reactionaries songs on one side of a seven inch, craig. I'd be into it. I wrote all the music and the words to all but two - pretty lame but they were some of my first songs ever.

thank you for thinking of us.

on bass, watt

10 SONG 12-INCH
this 7-inch idea quickly turned into a 12-inch. we decided that we wanted to start with 500, 12-inch vinyl records for the first pressing. there is a website called corndogs.org that posts live and rare audio and video from various mike watt incarnations and mike watt sent them 9 songs from the reactionaries practice tape to post. that's how craig found out that the tape existed. we also found out that the song "tony gets wasted in pedro" was also part of the same reactionaries tape and was used on the minutemen the politics of time (sst records) record and that's why it wasn't on the corndogs site. so now, 9 songs turned into 10. (big thanks to sir demon brown and his corndogs.org site for the inspiration.)

JOINT RELEASE WITH 45 RPM RECORDS
after pondering if kid kevin would be up for doing the recording and how much it would cost, craig came up with an idea. craig talked with kid kevin and raul morales who have their own pedro based label called 45 rpm records and struck a deal with them. the deal was if they recorded the record for free that we would make it a water under the bridge / 45 rpm joint release and we would give them 100 of the first 500 records pressed. both sides were happy with the deal.

RECORDING / CALI MUCHO STUDIO
kid kevin has an 8-track analog home recording setup and recently recorded his band killer dreamer's latest record 1,000 years of servitude (razorcake/45 rpm) in his bedroom. kid came to the realization that it would be unfair for his girlfriend and roommate to deal with 38 different musicians coming in and out of his bedroom to record so he decided to take it to the basement. not long after his decision, the basement was transformed into a two room studio complete with window and control room in less than two months, thanks to bradley williams and friends. cali mucho studio was born.

flip video footage: craig ibarra

LYRICS
we couldn't believe it, mike watt eventually came through with the lyrics to all 10 songs. he said he had to listen to each song a million times to remember and figure them out. big thanks to watt for coming through. we couldn't have done this record without the words.

COVER ART / RECORD TITLE
victor gastelum mentioned to craig that he should ask joe baiza (saccharine trust) if he was up for doing the cover art. craig ran it past mike watt and watt said that he'd be honored to have baiza do it. baiza also did the minutemen buzz or howl under the influence of heat (sst records) cover art among many others. baiza agreed and he needed a title so craig came up with 1979. an easy pick since it was recorded in 1979.

Fantasy Draft!

2009-10-07T11:56:00.000-07:00

the day (02-22-09) we drew the groups for the reactionaries recording was pretty exciting. for some, there would be the chance to play with dudes such as mike watt, chuck dukowski and george hurley. for others the chance to play with people they've never met before. both are pretty awesome opportunities. we (me, craig ibarra, vince giobbe, kid kevin and raul morales) each drew two groups from four separate plastic l.a. dodger cups and a ups coffee jug. here's the original (fantasy?) draft sheet for the groups that will be making up the record. photo & scan: craig ibarra

here is the email that craig sent out to the 37 musicians asking them if they wanted to participate:

Subject: WE WANT YOU TO PLAY ON OUR RECORD!!!
Friday, February 6, 2009 7:48 PM

Hello folks,

If you are receiving this email than you are basically being asked if you would like to participate in a recording project that we have come up with. Here is the skinny on an idea that has been brewing: I have decided to start a record label (WATER UNDER THE BRIDGE) along with my partner Bob Archer that will put out only San Pedro bands (for now) and what better band to start out with than San Pedro’s first punk rock band the Reactionaries (1978-1979) which featured Mike Watt, D. Boon, Martin Tamburovich and George Hurley. Our idea is to put out the 10 song Reactionaries practice tape that was recorded on a boom box (most likely) at George Hurley’s (shed) house in San Pedro circa 1979. We plan on remastering these 10 songs and releasing them on a 12-inch vinyl record on SIDE ONE. Here is where you come in… we want to consolidate a bunch of musicians from past and present San Pedro punk bands and record these same 10 songs on SIDE TWO. My idea is to ask 10 different singers, 10 different guitar players, 10 different bass players and 10 different drummers if they are interested in participating in this project. Once I get everyone to agree and fill all 40 slots, I will then get four hats. One hat will be filled with 10 vocalists, the next hat will be filled with 10 guitarists, the next hat will be filled with 10 bassists, the next hat will be filled with 10 drummers and the last hat will be filled with the titles to the 10 reactionaries songs that we will record. We will pick one vocalist, guitarist, bassist, and drummer from each hat which will make up ONE GROUP and then we will pick one Reactionaries song from a hat and that will be the song that, that ONE GROUP will record. Does that make sense? We plan on recording these songs from the 10 groups at a home recording studio here in San Pedro on various scheduled days. We thought this would be a fun project to start out with and we want you to participate. Please let us know if this sounds like something that you would be interested in so we could pencil you in…

Thank you.

Craig Ibarra

along with Bob Archer

Here are 9 of the 10 songs that we will be releasing and recording (free to download): http://www.corndogs.org/

Here are some people we have in mind to fill the slots:

VOCALS

1. Cindy Vodovoz-Bradley

2. Jack Brewer

3. David Love

4. Jimmy Mack

5. Alma McLay

6. Todd Congelliere

7. Craig Ibarra

8. Christian Wabschall-Moreno

9. Mike Watt

10. Sean Cole

GUITARISTS

1. Joe Baiza

2. John Blazing

3. Rick Pugliese

4. Alex Sandoval

5. Jacob Gaxiola / Kevin "Kid Kevin" Carle

6. Todd Congelliere / Sean Cole

7. Vince LaFarga

8. Adam Gaxiola

9. Bob Archer

10. Jessica Feeney

BASSISTS

1. Chuck Dukowski

2. Erik Korte

3. Lina Sedillo-Litonjua

4. Luis "Madmax" Maldonado

5. Christian Wabschall-Moreno

6. Tony Cook

7. Casey "Chachi" Ferrara

8. Mike Watt

9. Vince Giobbe

10. Ethan White

DRUMMERS

1. George Hurley

2. Pat Speers

3. Dirk Vandenberg

4. Raul Morales

5. Denis Fleps

6. Jerry Trebotic

7. Mike "Jimmy" Felix

8. Ritch Wilder

9. Jacob Partida

10. Joey Simeoni

Please get back to us asap...

Thanks.

MORE USELESS INFO: Some of the people (Erik Korte, Lina Sedillo-Litonjua, Rick Pugliese and Pat Spears) from the list above could not participate. RJ replaced Erik Korte on bass because Erik now lives in Virginia and we couldn't work it out. Vinnie Vegas took Lina Sedillo's spot on bass. We were originally gonna pair-up (guitarists) Kevin "Kid Kevin" Carle and Jacob Gaxiola and also Todd Congelliere and Sean Cole to make room for more guitarists but since Rick Pugliese could not participate and Jessica Feeney could not be reached (her MySpace page was not working correctly), we decided to split them up. Pat Spears could not find time with his busy schedule and was replaced by Casey "Chachi" Ferrara. Jack Brewer also asked if he could do dueling vocals with Freda Rente which we agreed on.

GROUP PRACTICES

we basically left it up to the various groups to get together and learn the songs. vince giobbe offered his lockout at koos (harbor building) rehearsal studio in pedro with a full backline to any of the groups for free. this was very helpful indeed.

the practice room has a nice view of the harbor, really though.
photo: craig ibarra

"brigate rosse" practice. christian wabschall-moreno (bass), casey "chachi" ferrara (drums) and john blazing (guitar). cindy vodo-bradley (not pictured). photo: craig ibarra

The truth about the Reactionaries

2009-10-06T08:20:00.000-07:00

minutemen pr by mike watt, 1983. courtesy of joe carducci

Recording Session #10: MY HEROES

2009-07-26T00:16:00.000-07:00

MY HEROES (clockwise from bottom left): joey simeoni, casey "chachi" ferrara, philo van duyne, craig ibarra and jessica feeney. photo: shanty cheryl

the tenth and final recording session took place on july 26, 2009 at cali mucho in pedro. playing on "my heroes" was matt army doing the intro, craig and jessica doing the singing, joey playing drums, philo playing guitar and chachi playing bass. courtyard dwellers included: cheryl groff, laila reyyes, cari, rawl morales, paloma banuelos, kolen kemph, nicole scott, jacob gaxiola and kid kevin doing the engineering.

shortest song on the record. photo: shanty cheryl

joey played drums in no comply, the skanks and currently plays in sunken city. photo: shanty cheryl

chachi played drums in can of beans and currently plays bass in toys that kill and plays percussion and keyboards in the underground railroad to candyland among many others. photo: shanty cheryl

philo played guitar in mass confusion, swa, fishcamp and currently plays in the jack brewer reunion band. photo: shanty cheryl

matt did the intro: "matt's a fucking jerk!" matt currently plays guitar and sings for that's incredible. photo: shanty cheryl

craig sang in no comprende and rig among others. photo: shanty cheryl

jessica played guitar and sang in can of beans and currently plays in cavegirls, yayk and stoned at heart. also check out jessica f's solo shit. photo: shanty cheryl

shanty is in the mix. flip video footage: craig ibarra

Recording Session #9: 1979

2009-07-19T08:24:00.000-07:00

1979 (clockwise from bottom left): jack brewer, freda rente', "kid" kevin carle, mike watt and dirk vandenberg. photo: shanty cheryl

the ninth recording session took place on july 19, 2009 at cali mucho in pedro. playing on "1979" was jack and freda doing the singing, dirk playing drums, kevin playing guitar and watt playing bass. courtyard dwellers included: cheryl groff, joe grzeskowiak, vince lafarga, rawl morales and paloma banuelos. also present were craig ibarra, bob archer, vince giobbe and kid kevin and jacob gaxiola doing the engineering.

"wake up to the times." photo: shanty cheryl

dirk played drums in tragicomedy and the rub among others and currently plays in seatbelt and the pecking order. photo: shanty cheryl

mike played bass and sang in the reactionaries, minutemen, firehose and played bass in the stooges among many others and currently plays in mike watt + the secondmen and mike watt + the missingmen among others. photo: shanty cheryl

kevin played guitar in the four letter words and played drums for lipstick pickups and currently plays guitar and sings in killer dreamer and plays drums in that's incredible. photo: shanty cheryl

jacob gaxiola engineered the music. photo: shanty cheryl

freda currently sings in the jack brewer reunion band and has sang in many other bands. photo: shanty cheryl

jack currently sings in saccharine trust and the jack brewer reunion band. photo: shanty cheryl

"now it's our turn." photo: shanty cheryl

kevin settles back in for the singing. photo: shanty cheryl

"no wonder phil spector needed a gun." -jacob gaxiola
flip video footage: craig ibarra

Recording Session #8: VIDEO MADONNA

2009-07-16T22:41:00.000-07:00

VIDEO MADONNA (left to right): vince lafarga, mike watt, rawl morales and tony cook. photo: shanty cheryl

the eighth recording session took place on (music) july 16 and (singing) july 21, 2009 at cali mucho in pedro. playing on "video madonna" was watt doing the singing, rawl playing drums, vince playing guitar and back-up singing and tony playing bass. also present were craig ibarra, vince giobbe and kid kevin doing the engineering.

warming up wasn't hard. photo: shanty cheryl

rawl played bass and drums in tons of bands and currently plays drums in the leeches, killer dreamer, mike watt + the missingmen and lou barlow and the missingmen among others. photo: shanty cheryl

tony played bass in the jag-offs and ss fun and currently plays bass in the leeches and killer dreamer. photo: shanty cheryl

vince played guitar and sang in second to last, the skanks and frijoles negros among others. photo: shanty cheryl

vince and mike go over the singing. photo: shanty cheryl

cheryl, kevin, vince and mr. giobbe doing back-up's.
photo: shanty cheryl

one of many cheat sheets floating around calimucho.
photo: shanty cheryl

playback (day one). photo: shanty cheryl

playback (day two). photo: shanty cheryl

watt helping with the knobs. photo: shanty cheryl

other side of the window this time. flip video footage: craig ibarra

Recording Session #7: TONY GETS WASTED IN PEDRO

2009-07-12T14:29:00.000-07:00

TONY GETS WASTED IN PEDRO (clockwise from top left): adam gaxiola, jerry trebotic, sean cole, ethan white and aaron white.
photo: shanty cheryl

the seventh recording session took place on july 12, 2009 at cali mucho in pedro. playing on "tony gets wasted in pedro" was sean doing the singing, jerry playing drums and back-up singing, adam playing guitar and back-up singing and ethan playing bass and back-up singing. other back-up singing included: aaron white, raul morales, kolen kemph and jacob gaxiola. courtyard dwellers included: cheryl groff (for pics), lena orlando, nicole "lil' puppet" scott, matt army, paloma banuelos, danny partida, jacob partida and tony cook. also present were craig ibarra, vince giobbe (briefly) and kid kevin doing the engineering.

the hottest day yet for recording. don't ask why ethan has a sweatshirt on. photo: shanty cheryl

jerry plays drums in mike watt + the secondmen among others.
photo: shanty cheryl

ethan plays bass in absorbi ng jr. photo: shanty cheryl

adam played guitar in chingas de mingus and mike watt's we go speedro among many others. photo: shanty cheryl

sean played guitar and sang in f.y.p and currently plays in toys th at kill and that's incredible. also check out c hristy twins.
photo: shanty cheryl

check out these headphones! AWESOME! photo: craig ibarra

two takes for the music, two takes for the lead singing and multiple takes for the back-up singing. photo: craig ibarra

"toe-oh-knee." flip video footage: craig ibarra

Recording Session #6: INNUENDO

2009-06-21T22:59:00.000-07:00

INNUENDO (left to right): joe baiza, george hurley, vince giobbe and jimmy mack. photo: bob archer

the sixth recording session took place on june 21, 2009 at cali mucho in pedro. playing on "innuendo" was jimmy doing the singing, george playing drums, joe playing guitar and vince playing bass and singing back-up. courtyard dwellers included: r.j. blanks, nicole "lil' puppet" scott and matt army was in the vicinity. also present were craig ibarra, vince giobbe, bob archer and kid kevin doing the engineering.

george played drums in the reactionaries, hey taxi!, minutemen, firehose, the red krayola, the farmers and unknown instructors among others. photo: bob archer

vince played bass in kill nine nine and tijuana knife fight among others. photo: bob archer

joe currently plays guitar in saccharine trust, the mecolodiacs and played guitar in mike watt + the black gang and universal congress of among others. photo: bob archer

jimmy did the words and electric bagpipes for his solo project, jimmy smack. photo: bob archer

jimmy's eye view at the mic. check those lyric notes. photo: bob archer

vince taking care of back-up vocals. is it "woah" or "ooh?"
photo: bob archer

innuendo: an indirect (and usually malicious) implication.
flip video footage: craig ibarra

Recording Session #5: CHEAP FALSE TEETH

2009-06-07T21:38:00.000-07:00

CHEAP FALSE TEETH (clockwise from bottom left): danny partida, todd congelliere, ritch wilder, chuck dukowski and jacob gaxiola. photo: shanty cheryl

the fifth recording session took place on june 7, 2009 at cali mucho in pedro. playing on "cheap false teeth" was todd doing the singing, jacob playing guitar, chuck playing bass, ritch playing drums and dannylou singing back-up. courtyard dwellers included: chris kohler, dick (shark pants), jack spralja, shanty cheryl, scott aicher, matt army and kolen kemph of course. also present were craig ibarra, vince giobbe, bob archer and kid kevin doing the engineering.

chuck played bass in würm, black flag and swa among others and currently plays bass in the chuck dukowski sextet. photo: bob archer

jacob sang and played guitar in no comply, the jag-offs and ss fun and currently plays guitar and sings in killer dreamer.

photo: bob archer

ritch played drums in saccharine trust, hari-kari, slivers and mood of defiance among many others. photo: bob archer

todd sang and played guitar in f.y.p and currently plays in toys that kill, the underground railroad to candyland, bible children and stoned at heart. photo: bob archer

dannylou played percussion in frijoles negros and melting pot and currently sings and plays guitar in absorbi ng jr. photo: bob archer

3 takes sets the bar. halfway done, folks. flip video footage: craig ibarra

after all was said and done, chris kohler finally shut up and fell asleep. j/k. chris would like to say hi to richard bonney. "hi rich!"
photo: craig ibarra

scott aicher came by and took some photos of some pre-recording prac. he busted out this painting of chuck and jacob the next day i think, woah.

Recording Session #4: BRIGATE ROSSE

2009-05-31T19:46:00.000-07:00

BRIGATE ROSSE (left to right): john blazing, cindy vodo-bradley, christian wabschall-moreno and casey "chachi" ferrara.
photo: shanty cheryl

the fourth recording session took place on may 31, 2009 at cali mucho in pedro. playing on "brigate rosse" was cindy doing the singing, john playing guitar, christian playing bass and chachi playing drums. courtyard dwellers included: john's friend ana nana, raul morales was there briefly and then went to work, matt army, cheryl groff and colin of course. also present were craig ibarra, vince giobbe and kid kevin doing the engineering.

drilling "brigate rosse." the first session without beer. i think john was sipping on wine. mota? yes! photo: shanty cheryl

chachi played drums in can of beans and currently plays bass in toys that kill and plays percussion and keyboards in the underground railroad to candyland. photo: shanty cheryl

christian sang in bedlam, played bass in hippie temptation and skinhorse, played bass and sang in rig and played guitar in 400 blows. photo: shanty cheryl

john played guitar in salvation army and hari-kari among many others. photo: shanty cheryl

cindy sang for the wigs. photo: shanty cheryl

"brigate rosse / turn it upside down / no tomorrow / gonna burn it down." flip video footage: craig ibarra

Recording Session #3: GETTING EXISTENTIAL ON THE BEACH

2009-05-02T16:35:00.000-07:00

GETTING EXISTENTIAL ON THE BEACH (left to right): sean cole, mike "jimmy" felix, luis "madmax" maldonado and christian wabschall-moreno. photo: shanty cheryl

the third recording session took place on may 2, 2009 at cali mucho in pedro. playing on "getting existential on the beach" was christian doing the singing, sean playing guitar and singing back-up, luis playing bass and jimmy playing drums. courtyard dwellers included: vinnie vegas, frank laponovich, angela, matt army, daniel holden, susy sharp, cheryl groff and colin of course. also present were craig ibarra, vince giobbe and kid kevin doing the engineering.

kid kevin prepares to deal with shaved tape. photo: shanty cheryl

relating to "getting existential on the beach." photo: shanty cheryl

jimmy plays drums in toys that kill and the underground railroad to candyland. photo: shanty cheryl

luis played bass in saccharine trust and hari-kari. photo: shanty cheryl

sean played guitar and sang in f.y.p and currently plays in toys that kill and that's incredible. also check out christy twins.
photo: shanty cheryl

christian sang in bedlam, played bass in hippie temptation and skinhorse, played bass and sang in rig and played guitar in 400 blows. photo: shanty cheryl

frankie ha ha gives the new track the thumbs up. ha ha.
photo: craig ibarra

getting existential in the studio. flip video footage: craig ibarra

a break in the action. flip video footage: craig ibarra

Recording Session #2: GOD AND COUNTRY

2009-04-19T16:37:00.000-07:00

GOD AND COUNTRY (left to right): alma mclay, jacob partida, vinnie vegas and todd congelliere. photo: shanty cheryl

the second recording session took place on april 19, 2009 at cali mucho in pedro. playing on "god and country" was alma on vocals, todd on guitar and back-up vocals, vinnie on bass and jacob on drums.

getting down with "god and country." that's alma's son kyle helping with practice vocals. photo: shanty cheryl

vinnie played bass in no comprende, food chain and rig (briefly). vinnie also played second-guitar in no comprende (briefly) and elvis knievel. photo: shanty cheryl

jacob currently plays drums in absorbing jr. jacob is 12-years-old in case you were wondering. photo: shanty cheryl

todd sang and played guitar in f.y.p and currently plays in toys that kill, the underground railroad to candyland, bible children and stoned at heart. photo: shanty cheryl

alma did vocals for hari-kari. alma and todd laying down vocals. photo: bob archer

Recording Session #1: THE BIG LIE

2009-04-18T12:22:00.000-07:00

THE BIG LIE (clockwise from top left): bob archer, denis fleps, r.j. blanks and david love. photo: shanty cheryl

the first recording session took place on april 18, 2009 at cali mucho in pedro. Playing on "the big lie" was david on vocals, bob on guitar, r.j. on bass, denis on drums and craig ibarra doing back-up vocals.

kid kevin behind the knobs. kevin is engineering all the songs for the reactionaries record. photo: shant y cheryl

laying down "the big lie." photo: shanty cheryl

denis played drums in rosemary's billygoat, spinning ceilings, e.coli, toys that kill and currently plays in epic debauchery.
photo: shanty cheryl

r.j. played bass in ss fun and currently plays in the couches.
photo: shanty cheryl

bob played guitar in pigsty and halfdead. photo: shanty cheryl

mr. love did vocals for dig it. photo: bob archer

craig ibarra and david love for effect. photo: bob archer

focusing on playback. photo: bob archer

r.j. did this pencil sketch in the studio while we went on a beer run.