| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Chico n the Hornets |
Posted - 07/19/2004 : 12:02:04 PM
I apologize up front. I have nothing to do and I already washed the dishes. This will be long and potentially boring.
Fresno is a small town and up until I left the scene, every band was connected in some interesting way.
The summer of 1990, my friend Kyle and 'Stinky' Painter took me to small all ages show at the Metro where I first saw and heard ska.. Let's Go Bowling to be exact. I was instantly mezmorized and threw myself head first into finding out all I could about this music. Shortly thereafter, I found out that a high school buddy (Brian Dixon) was starting a ska band. I think it was called the Spiral or Cathedral or something. I played tenor sax from high school so I bid to get in... unsuccessfully. I can't remember why, but they later let me in. Our horn section consisted of myself, Stinky, and Jason Olmstead. Brian played guitar, Adam Ament on drums, Djinni Christner on vocals, and some skinny dude named Jeff Martin on bass. We established a new name, "Checkmate" and we practiced our asses off in Brian's garage a couple of times a week. It was a strange music, kind of a mix between punk, ska, and inexperience. We played one house party and were ready for the ... uh... big time.
A friend of mine at work was the girlfriend of (the late) Dave Molina who played guitar for the only other ska band in Fresno, Let's Go Bowling... seriously... no other ska band had even attempted to play ska because LGB ruled the land. Dave hooked me up with Deon Watts who was the then manger of LBG and he allowed us to open for LGB at a local 21 & over venue. None of us were old enough to be in there so they made us split directly after our show.. but we got enough of a taste to know that we were hooked.
We picked up a couple more musicians, Lenny Munoz on 'bone, and 'punk-rock' Nikki Nelson on trumpet. Nikki had a beautiful DD rack so I instantly made her my girl. She was very competitive and she began to despise Stinky Painter and his lack of musical vision. She attempted to oust him from the band but was unsuccesful due to the fact that Stinky was Brian's buddy. It was about this time that I heard a band called Jump with Joey... and I was transformed. This was ska at its best and this is the style I wanted to change to. So Nikki siezed this opportunity and convinced me that I was better than Checkmate and to start my own band. This was pretty easy for me to wrap my head around cuz I have a wicked superiority complex...LOL. My new band was named by Javier Molina.. the Tabasco Fiasco.
Tabasco Fiasco sported Scott Ables on the drums, me on tenor, Terry Crouch on guitar, Nikki on trumpet, and I took Jeff from Checkmate for bass. Nikki was not a good trumpet player so I kicked her out (I know... I'm brutal) and started to look for a new one. It was about this time that Scott realized he was too good for us and went to play with Hepcat. So in a lurch, I was lucky to locate Guss Gomez for drums and a jazz musician from Fresno State on trumpet, Tony Luna. Tony brought some bone player... I can't remember his name... but he was practically blind. It was a VERY rough start because Tony and Gus had NEVER heard of ska before... and they were clueless to the culture. I lost Jeff to some goth band so I put in my best friend Kyle Christner (later, the bass player for Linkin Park). We started to gain some local fame and things were going pretty good, save a bit of notoriety between me & Brian from Checkmate.
-to be continued-
|
| 15 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Jerky-Miah |
Posted - 04/02/2005 : 12:11:04 AM
Jerky-Miah here (former trombone player for chico and the hornets)
Thought Id just chime in and say 'hi' and hopefully connect with some old friends...
I left fresno in 97, and played in Monkey in SF, and SJSU latin jazz group...
Day job = web manager for a tech company in silicon valley, on weekends. When the boss is not looking, I manage one of the largest import car clubs in the bay area. On the weekends, im a very active salsa dancer in the SF Salsa Scene, I'm on the other side of the stage...this time on the floor with my fiance'
Also, I still scratch my ass...it's a modified stink finger workout...
Jeremiah, who misses the good ol days.
|
| Monkeyboy |
Posted - 11/06/2004 : 09:33:05 AM
I heard he was pouring concrete in vegas?! Something like that.
Support local music!
BOOK MY BAND!!! |
| no more damn cat in naybahood |
Posted - 11/05/2004 : 11:48:54 PM
Kermit on Crack? That must have been a re-set first said by Brian or Eric. Does any one know where Lenny Munoz is? I lost touch with him when I moved to L.A.
|
| Chico n the Hornets |
Posted - 11/04/2004 : 3:13:42 PM
Shawn?! Wow, I thought you would have been playing soccer for Team USA by now!! What are you up to these days, man? Send me an e-mail, we can take it offline...cool? Hope everything is going great for you...
Yeah, I remember those ol days, too. That very first backyard show...LOL. That's where I met Nikki Nelson and we got it on a few days later. It was just a taste of the rockstar lifestyle that we all lived...LOL. In fact, just for kicks, I was playing that Spinout hornline just the other day and I was thinking to myself "was I on crack back in the day?" That horn line is stupid complicated....LOL
"...hey, that's my sack" |
| Flat Topper |
Posted - 11/03/2004 : 8:59:19 PM
HAHAHAHA man o man I type in tabasco fiasco in google and what do I find but all the old dudes reminiscing (spelling?? ah who cares).
Since y'all are going down memory lane..I thought I'd throw in my two cents. I remember playing Checkmates very first show EVER in the backyard of Colleen Ament's backyard. Me and Djinny trying to bang out some god awful lyrics and loving it.
I remember sitting in Brian's garage with Jeff and Adam coming up with the name Chekmate!
Writing the lyrics to 21 and over and then watching Brian with an evil grin throw in a punk rock guitar lick in the middle LMAO so sweet.
Brian you might not remember this one but...think back to the Cadillac Club and we opened for the Selecter...remember Adam bumping some dude around on the dance floor then he turns around and hits me and we go tumbling to the ground and you super fly snooka'd him to the mat before he got thrown out by Security??? Good times man...
I remember Manu and Scott playing spinout together over and over and over in the garage and outside the knights of columbus getting ready for the show..I can still hear that sax bit in my head.
But my best memory in my 2 years in the dawn of checkmate was the crowds man....first show 40 people..then suddenly out of no where by our 3rd or 4th show we were pulling in hundreds....remember the shows at Metropolis??? I remember one of em where we drew a bigger lot than the headliner..and I think it was the Untouchables or something....all those kids and young adults singing the lyrics to our songs in the crowd...Black Fry dancing in the crowd
The good ole days...
Shawn aka Flat Top
|
| Monkeyboy |
Posted - 11/03/2004 : 09:38:42 AM
I miss talking to him at the comic shop. It was the one time I could get my brother to drive me anywhere. Eric's shop had a lot of the newest/rearest comics that my brother liked. I just liked talking to him about shows and music.
I LOVE your vocals on judas Brian "Kermit on crack" vocals as John and I used to call them at Hoover! HA!!!
Yes the inverted mohak. Sigh...no wonder I never got laid in high school
Support local music!
BOOK MY BAND!!! |
| Chico n the Hornets |
Posted - 11/01/2004 : 11:08:36 AM
HA HA... scared of me?! I was terrified of you, John...LOL. Didn't you notice me walking on egg shells and afraid to make eye contact? Eric told me you were a brawler so I didn't want to put you to the test...
"...hey, that's my sack" |
| boomboomdj |
Posted - 11/01/2004 : 11:00:22 AM
Haaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!11 D00D...... "No more damn cat in neighborhood!" I remember recording that!!! Dennis Cabuko didn't show up to the studio and Eric was making fun of him. Classic. Damn, I miss Eric. 
b
www.theaggrolites.com
"It's only Gay if the balls touch." |
| no more damn cat in naybahood |
Posted - 10/31/2004 : 01:41:11 AM
Crazyness! I am one of the many guys that was in Checkmate. I was the drummer for nearly all of my teenage years, I started when I was 14 or 15 and left at 19 when the band disolved. October was the month that we lost Eric Magargee so being the last day of the month it is cool to see that people still remember Checkmate and the shows, mainly the all ages ones that Eric created. The only thing better that Erics Halloween parties were his 4th of July parties, what a guy and what a loss. Eric was always cool. He would pick me up and drive me to gigs because I was to young to drive. Funny as all hell too. We would go to Denny's after gigs and the waitress would give me a childrens menue because I looked like I was 11 and would talk to Eric like he was my dad. Eric would play it up a fake verbally abusing me in front of the waitress, scolding me and calling me a "shitty son".
|
| no more damn cat in naybahood |
Posted - 10/31/2004 : 01:22:44 AM
Here is what I remember about my early days with checkmate.
1. I was scared shitless of Manu. I don't know why. I think I was just intimadated. Manu, Lenny (still the coolest), Brian, Kevin and the others were in into the skinhead/rudeboy thing and I was not at the time. I would wear a Zildjian shirt under a flanal shirt, pretty stylin' huh?
2. Lenny was cool as hell. Just a cool guy to hang with. He also introduced me to Northern Soul and played drums in my Northern Soul Cover band the Sensations.
3. Everyone always would eat Dennys breakfasts after gigs.
Mid Years
1. Ska -tastrophy all ages shows with 500 kids. Still the best gigs ever.
2. Tons of fun. Regan Holmes, Scott Moore, Justin, Nate Ketner, Eric, Lenny, Jessica. I think that line up was Checkmate at its best. Those years when we were recording and gigging in support of Revelations and all the ska comp discs. That was cool.
Later Days
1. Checkmate became like ska P Funk with 35 people on stage doing God knows what. We had like 8 horns 2 keyboards, 3 three guitars, bass, drums and what ever hot looking girl was singing that week. All we needed was a guy in a diaper.
2. The last time we played as Checkmate was an Eric service
It's been fun to reflect. Hit me up.
John
P.S. How can you forget Todd "Monkey" B. The inverted Mowhawk or the "Ghangus Khan" hair he had is a Fresno Classic!!!!!
|
| oldskaguy |
Posted - 10/13/2004 : 2:15:30 PM
[/quote]
Obi One has taught you well.....The Circle is now complete!!  
Hey Eric, How you doin' man!! Did you ever get my email from a while back? I think you emailed me thru our website and I had miss-filed it with some online merch orders. I found it about a month after the fact and replied to you, I think it was you anyway??
King Sugar is it? That's a cool band name. What kind of style are you guys busting? Who have you got playing in the band? How many pieces? How long have you had the band together? Cover tunes? Original tunes? Enquiring minds want to know!! 
.....
Well back to work for me. I am still playing regularly and I work for Pollstar Music Magazine...so even if I wasn't still playing music. I'm still working in the music field. Which all who know me is my first and foremost love...without music we would all be DOOOOMED!!!
Peace, Mark
[/quote]
Hey Mark,
yes I did get your email, but everytime I remembered to reply to it, I was at work, and when I got home I always forgot! Not a great excuse, but it's the truth.
King Sugar came about because a friend and I were getting completely burned out with our other band Bev. There was way too much stress involved in putting our shows together and writing songs, so we wanted to create a new "stree-free" project playing music that we liked and to be honest, simple (overall that is). So I thought we would put together a rocksteady/ska project that played 95% music from the 60s/70s. Old cover tunes from bands like the Ethiopians, Alton Ellis, Bob Andy, etc... Right now we are a 6 piece project, but are looking for a 7th (trombone possibly). The band has only been together a few months and we only get together once a week right now. It is made up of myself on drums, Mario Rosso on guitar, Matt Wall on bass, Lou Standifer on vocals, Manu on sax/vocals, and Brian Richburg on keys. Probably not your typical players, but we make up a pretty good sound. We're going for the more R&B style rocksteady. We'll see how it evolves. We are looking for gigs starting next month. If you have any leads, let me know.
I'll email you later, to comment on the other stuff you wrote. Don't want to bore the world with our reminicing. It is great to hear from you and I would like to hook up sometime. I'll talk with you soon though. Kyber Rifles reunion. That would be great. I guess we'd have to do it via broadband over the net!
Eric
|
| Monkeyboy |
Posted - 10/13/2004 : 1:46:23 PM
Supreme Love Gods...haven't heard that name in a while. God, I miss the mid 90's Fresno live music scene. We had some AWESOME ska, punk, rock bands out playing shows!!! :)
Support local music!
BOOK MY BAND!!! |
| YeOldeSkaDog |
Posted - 10/13/2004 : 10:46:38 AM
quote:
Yo Mark,
looks like I've come full circle after 20 years! Went from Ska (Kyber Rifles) to a Style Council influenced band (Society Blue), to Brit Pop style (Supreme Love Gods) to Goth (The Shroud), back to Brit Pop (Bev) and now back to Rocksteady/Ska with King Sugar!
Love to hook up some time and find out what the other ex-Rifles are up to!
Obi One has taught you well.....The Circle is now complete!!
Hey Eric, How you doin' man!! Did you ever get my email from a while back? I think you emailed me thru our website and I had miss-filed it with some online merch orders. I found it about a month after the fact and replied to you, I think it was you anyway??
King Sugar is it? That's a cool band name. What kind of style are you guys busting? Who have you got playing in the band? How many pieces? How long have you had the band together? Cover tunes? Original tunes? Enquiring minds want to know!!
As for the old Kyber Rifles folks, I only know what the K-town people are up to these days. Joey got married for the second time this summer. He moved back here from Ventura where he was teaching last year. He's now a grade school teacher in Kingsburg. I see him pretty often. Geoff B. is also married and has been living up in Seattle since '89, and he is an architect. When LGB was touring full time I got to see him all of the time. Anna C. is living in Salt lake City and is an editor for the major Salt Lake newspaper. I think she's married also, but I'm not for sure. None of them are doing anything with music anymore. I always thought it would be a blast to have a Kyber Rifles reunion gig, but alas...it will never happen. Everyone's just too spread out.  ...
Well back to work for me. I am still playing regularly and I work for Pollstar Music Magazine...so even if I wasn't still playing music. I'm still working in the music field. Which all who know me is my first and foremost love...without music we would all be DOOOOMED!!!
Peace, Mark
|
| oldskaguy |
Posted - 10/12/2004 : 4:24:26 PM
Manu,
I agree, the King Sugar sound is coming together nicely and you are adding a great sound to the project! Looking forward to our next meeting.
Eric
|
| oldskaguy |
Posted - 10/12/2004 : 4:20:50 PM
Yo Mark,
looks like I've come full circle after 20 years! Went from Ska (Kyber Rifles) to a Style Council influenced band (Society Blue), to Brit Pop style (Supreme Love Gods) to Goth (The Shroud), back to Brit Pop (Bev) and now back to Rocksteady/Ska with King Sugar!
Love to hook up some time and find out what the other ex-Rifles are up to!
|
|
|
