San Diego has given the world many music legends since at least the 1940s, but it wasn’t until the 1980s that bands began to regularly break out from the area club circuit to an international level. Several excellent artists from that time frame, such as The Beat Farmers and Mojo Nixon, remain practically household names, but others deserve far more recognition locally than they’ve received. This is true of several combos, but none more so than garage-rockers The Tell-Tale Hearts.
Mixing Vox keyboard-driven rhythm and blues with fuzzed-out rock, the group’s live shows were incendiary, championing an authentic ’60s sound and taking their cues from such legendary acts as The Pretty Things and The Outsiders.
While the group has been overlooked locally in recent years, their impact worldwide “” particularly in Europe and Japan “” continues undiminished. The band is cited regularly as an influence on today’s rockers.
Numerous acts have covered The Tell-Tale Hearts’ music, including Spain’s Agentes Secretos, Australia’s Shutdown ’66, England’s Diaboliks and Japan’s Young Pennsylvanians.
The group split in 1987, leaving a few videos and a pair of albums in their repertoire for music historians to treasure. While those artifacts are a great introduction to their music, the current generation of rock fans will get to experience The Tell-Tale Hearts’ first hand when they reunite for pair of concerts that includes The Casbah on Sept. 28 and The Adams Avenue Street Fair on Sept. 29.
The combo’s beginnings can be traced to 1983, when Mike Stax (bass), Bill Calhoun (keyboards), David Klowden (drums) and Ray Brandes (vocals) all found themselves between bands.
Hanging out, listening to records and bemoaning the sad state of the San Diego music scene, the four decided, “We were not the types to simply sit around and complain, so we sought out Eric [Bacher] (guitar) and formed a new band,” explained Brandes. The quintet took their name from the classic Edgar Allen Poe story.
“We were all Poe fans, and liked the dark imagery,” Brandes elaborated.
Indie label Voxx Records soon became interested in the band. The connection was Stax, who had previously been bass player with the label’s flagship artist, The Crawdaddys.
“[Label president] Greg Shaw knew that whatever project Mike was involved in would be tasteful and reflect good taste. So after having us record a track for his ‘Battle of the Garage Bands’ compilation album, he signed us,” explained Brandes.
Though the band only had limited success commercially, Brandes feels the band accomplished more than it set out to.
“We were just five kids whose dreams were all realized when we were able to hold and look at an album with our names and photos on it,” he said. “Any success beyond that was like the proverbial icing on the cake.”
For Brandes, a point of pride is the impact the band has had on newer artists that followed in their wake.
“Whether or not we receive a lot of credit for the influence we’ve had, I am most proud of the way we have inspired others to listen to and play music from an era that tends to be overlooked in rock and roll history,” he said.
The various members of the band remained friends over the years, but face-to-face time with everyone present has been rare. Brandes has particularly enjoyed spending time rehearsing with the others.
“We’re having a lot of fun reminiscing, reconnecting and playing,” he said. “Of course, we were all a little rusty at first, and a couple of us had not even picked up instruments in quite a while. It has fallen into place really quickly, however, and we are sounding better than ever.”
Of the band’s original members only Brandes and Stax still make music on a regular basis.
This October, Spain’s Party Line Records will release a Brandes anthology, collecting material from throughout his career. Naturally the disc opens with five tracks from The Tell-Tale Hearts.
Has he ever worried about the band overshadowing his solo efforts?
“Not one bit. I have only been able to continue to write and record music because of the Tell-Tale Hearts,” he said good-naturedly. “Otherwise, who’d care?”
The Tell-Tale Hearts perform at The Casbah on Friday, Sept. 28, at 9 p.m. Tickets are $12 and available to those ages 21 and up. For more information visit www.casbahmusic.com.