The Saga of The Del Mars

In Berkeley, summer of 1998, bassist Bill Rock and drummer Dave Indigo started an instrumental surf band and got their guitarist/keyboardist roommate Ramon Sanchez to join them. They lived on Alcatraz below Telegraph. Bill had moved from San Francisco from a residence hotel on 6th Street after a stranger randomly stabbed him in the gut in his hallway. The practice room was a shoebox with an upright piano against one wall, the door to the driveway and two windows opposite. Ramon's bedroom was at one end, the kitchen at the other. Ramon and Bill had indoor cats and the place smelled of litter boxes and roach poison. Indigo's drums were in the corner next to a funky coffee table. They needed a guitar player so Bill called John Lee. Johnny had just bought a '59 Fender Jazzmaster.

Wednesday evenings they met after work to practice. They had to stop playing by 10:00 p.m. because the neighbor across the driveway's son was in school. Bill would heat frozen burritos and cheesy stuff in his microwave for everybody. They quarreled over the bass line to Apache. Bill told Johnny, "You're the one who makes all the mistakes" and threatened to hit him when he least expected it so Johnny took his amp home. Bill vowed to find another guitarist but ended up patching things up with Johnny. The bass part to Apache caused friction for many moons.

The band needed a name. Johnny said "let's call ourselves Skip and the Choaners, I'll be Skip." The guys rejected that name. "What do you want to be called, The Del Mars?" asked Johnny. The other guys started repeating "The Del Mars" over and over. The name sounded real cool.

The Del Mar's first gig was at Mary, Miki and Wes' Stork Club when it was at 380 12th Street on May 15, 1998. They kicked off the first Hobbs Fest. Ramona the Pest, Model Americans, Goggle, and the Natives played. Jeff Hobbs played in all the bands. He played saxophone on Misirlou for the demo, arriving by motorcycle. He lived downstairs from Johnny in Montclair for years, relentlessly playing violin, saxophone, cornet, even double bass. You could hear him right through the floor late at night.

Bill, Indigo, Ramon, Johnny

On the afternoon of May 23, 1999 the Del Mars packed up their gear in Bill's black '70 Cadillac hearse and drove down Highway 880 to an industrial park in Fremont. There they recorded and mixed Pipeline, Wipe Out, and Misirlou at Kurt Foster Recording Studio for $230.00. They took a picture in the late afternoon light. Then they drove back to Berkeley.

The Del Mars' second gig was Saturday June 6, 1998, a short jaunt by hearse across the Bay Bridge to a Civic Center peace rally organized by Sputnik Julep. They played at one of Wes Robinson's warehouse parties on June 13, 1998. About this time Bill's friend Jonathan Dyer joined on saxophone. They played the Starry Plough in Berkeley with The Bomboras whose keyboardist offered to buy their Gibson organ that Alex Carlin from Psycotic Pineapple left with Johnny around 1984. They played a couple of New School Fall Bazaars. Misty Gamble invited them to play the Starry Plough again. In 1999 and 2000 the band played the Anchorage at Fisherman's Wharf for the 4th of July. They played at the Port Light, a bar near the Oakland produce district.

They played several of Mike Miro's pool parties. They'd just move the gear to the backyard because Mike was the landlord and play music, people eating barbeque, swimming and drinking. In September 2000 they played the art car show for $300.00 with the Feztones by what is now Urban Ore, in Berkeley an event at the Crucible, and the Conga Lounge on College Avenue. In 2000 and 2001 they played Halloween parties in the boat yards south of Jack London Square.

Halloween is Bill's favorite holiday. There were a few hundred costumed people at the first party and he got very excited playing, dressed in his undertaker's top hat and tails. His glasses flew off as he hopped up and down and he kept jumping and smashed them to bits. A cute Goth girl fancied him at that show and they went out for weeks afterwards.

The Del Mars played a big wave surfer party at the Pacifica Firehouse in Fall of 2001 with Dave Palmgren filling in on drums. Dave worked with Bill at Quality Brake Supply in Frisco at Heron and 8th Street near the freeway. Chris Isaak came dressed in a white suit and danced to the surf beat. Later he borrowed Johnny's guitar to sit in with Lloyd Tripp's band. They became a real band with Chris fronting them. At the end of the night everybody's children ran around and around the old wooden building overlooking Linda Mar beach.

Valentine's Day party on February 13, 2001 with Lloyd Tripp and the Zip Guns at Joe Karr's warehouse at 28th and Filbert in East Oakland. There was a rockabilly crowd at the party and they just stared except Joe who danced with a tattooed gal wearing a pleated skirt. Joe has a way with the ladies. Jonathan was burned out on the scene and his white Cutlass overheated crossing the Bay Bridge during the evening rush hour. Before Jonathan left the group they played a birthday party at the West Coast Hotel in Santa Cruz by the Boardwalk.

Wedding Dress joined on tenor sax in time for Joe's Christmas party. He got them a gig at his landlord's block party in Stinson Beach and later that summer they got a gig at a lawn party out there. Ramon had been on bad terms with Bill. James "Goose" McCarthy replaced Ramon when he left for Los Angeles with his rock opera about a sensitive musician who is writing a rock opera about computers, dragons, a damsel on Prozac and stuff. The protagonist is misunderstood by this cruel world and by his father.

The band was practicing at Bill and his fiancŽe Patty's warehouse home on 42nd Street near the Fruitvale exit in Oakland. Most of the hearses Bill collected were parked outside the security gate. Hookers broke into them to sleep. After the 4th of July Bill found a falling bullet had dented the roof of the white '66 Cadillac hearse he kept in parking lot. A heavy band upstairs from Bill and Patty made noise late at night. It was hard getting sleep so they could go to their jobs in the morning. One night one of the heavy guys pulled a gun on Bill when he asked them to quiet down. Bill and Patty fled to Hayward and their old landlord tried to keep their security deposit. Instead of practicing in the tiny garage next to Bill's vintage embalming equipment, bottles of formaldehyde and other curios Johnny got a practice pad by the Park Street Bridge next door to Vicious Rumors. V.R.'s manager Kathy Stevenson put him onto the place. It was on the second floor of the Bridgeporte Building on Ford Street. The company that built the bridge made the building with work bays downstairs and the offices upstairs that had been converted to band studios.

In 2001 Joel Hutner made a video of The Del Mars at Berkeley Community Media, Cable 24 that was broadcast repeatedly on BCM and the San Francisco public access T.V. station Channel 29. Joel did the editing with the help of his dog Boo. Robin Spalding did the sound. It's Bill, Indigo, Johnny Del Mar, Goose, and the lovely La Playa Dancers, Jody (red tank top) Joy (blue tank top) and Sylvia (brown tank top). They played Muriel and Richards' wedding in Frisco on July 28, 2001, Marta's wedding in Canyon and the Model Garage's anniversary party in Berkeley on August 25, 2001. They played at the Oakland Metro February 16, 2002 with the Aqua Velvets. They played at a surfer party in Santa Cruz. They played Kelly's birthday party on a deck in the Oakland hills. In summer they played Willa's block party in 2002 and 2003 on Stuart Street in Berkeley, at the second party Jay Rosen from the Muskrats played guitar with them.

Johnny, Indigo, Bill and Jay Rosen started recording Party Wave and Rip Tide with Charles Bochetti. Johnny and Jay practiced a bit one afternoon at Jay's studio by the rehab clinic in downtown Oakland. Charles drove a cab so he'd be waking up late Saturday morning and the Del Mars would be on the sidewalk with their Fender tube amps. They only did some basic tracks before Charles abandoned the studio. He'd got some money from his mom to put it together. Two hundred rooms of bands practice at Sound Wave Studios and it gets loud. Charles couldn't afford to stay there so that recording project crashed.

After the Del Mars played the Beach Chalet in Frisco Bill and Patty moved to Little Rock Arkansas. Indigo's wife Marti pulled down her cutoffs dancing at the gig, mightily offending Patty and Bill. She did have a bathing suit on underneath. In Arkansas Bill and Patty were able to get work and buy a house right away. Hearses there are cheap and plentiful. Bill's departure was a setback because he got a lot of gigs. Bassist Ron Giddings met the band playing at jam in La Honda that summer. The first gig with Ron was a party in Pacifica and he knew all the bass parts and everybody else's parts too.

The Del Mars went back to the drawing board in May of 2003 across the hall from the practice pad and in May of 2004 it was done. John Capobianco, who works with Jeff at Best Music Repairs plays trumpet on Party Wave. Robert David from The Bombay Crawlers recorded them. Power surges knocked the soundboard out, among other delays. The single was pressed on blue vinyl by July of 2004. Phil Dirt, DJ of Reverb Central, a surf music program on KFJC gave both tracks three stars www.reverbcentral.com. One weekend Jeff Hobbs was at a party down there and said, "That band on the radio sounds like my roommate's bandÉ it is his band." Hobbs heard KALX play the single too. Phil Dirt liked Rip Tide, he played it on August 7th, August 21st, and August 28th 2004. Phil Dirt is now off the air.

Rip Tide and Party Wave are on the single. A party wave is when surfers all take off on the same wave. They covered Penetration by the Pyramids, and Walk, Don't Run Ô64 like the Ventures. Johnny sent copies of the single to some college radio stations with surf music programs. The Tsunami Soul program played the record too www.oberlin.edu/staff/thinders. The single is scarce since the practice pad fire October 2, 2006.

May of 2004 at Berkeley's Walden Preschool Jay Rosen played with us. Then came Dress' Pagan party in Oakland around Halloween with the Funky Nixons. Johnny brought his P.A. and the Nixons sounded great. Dress's friends had taken down most of the neighbor's fence, the house being vacant, and they set up in the backyard. They covered Season of the Witch and Witchee Woman, the latter distinguished by Marti charging across the rickety stage to sing lead. Goose's bride and Johnny's girlfriend surveyed the scene and fled up to College Avenue for a quiet dinner. The Del Mars played at the New School Bazaar in Berkeley on October 30, 2004.

On April 20, 2005 the Del Mars played at noon on the campus of St. Mary's College in Moraga for $750.00. Johnny got sunburned. On June 19, 2005 the band played at the Battle of the Surfin' Bands II, a benefit for KFJC with Pollo Del Mar, The Aquamarines, The Berzerkers, and others. Dress quit the band the day before the show over musical differences. The notes he played were different from what the other guys in the band wanted him to play. If he hadn't bailed the Del Mars would have been the only band with a horn player.

The San Francisco AIDS Walk was July 17, 2005 in Golden Gate Park. The Del Mars entertained at the Star Walker tent V.I.P. breakfast. It was a foggy morning but only dripping under the trees. They set up using a little red generator on Hippy Hill. This was the first gig with sax player Charles Granich.

The band played at Brainwash in San Francisco on November 4, 2005 as a quartet because James was on vacation and four people came to see them but there were a bunch of people at Brainwash anyhow on a Friday and they met Ben Conlan, Dj Hoovie, who invited them to play at the Luna Lounge at 8th and Folsom November 17, 2005 for an hour. This time Goose came, and Indigo brought his full kit. Eight people came specially to hear them this time. The Del Mars did two sets of tunes. Then it was back to very loud psy trance, breaks, and nrg.

They played in Pacifica as a trio on December 11th because Ron called Johnny from home rather than from the BART station when it was time to pick him up. By the time they got to the gig the hostess had told Jay and Charles they could leave if they liked, as the party was thinning quickly. Somehow this was one of their best gigs with a fun crowd to play to, the band was tight. They played the San Francisco Public Defender's Office holiday party on December 15, 2005 at the Glas Kat, which used to be the Trocadero Transfer. Jay played with them, Goose having left for a vacation the day before.

The Del Mars made the BOSS 20 countdown of the Whole Lotta Shakin' radio show WITR-FM in Rochester, NY for February 2006. In a world with more gigabytes than paid gigs the band played at the KFJC surf bands benefit on June 4, 2006 at the Hotel Utah with Glen Saxon playing saxophone. Two of the tunes they played are on the Music page for downloading, Party Wave and Playa Con Dios. A few weeks later Johnny got to shake Phil Dirt's hand when Pollo Del Mar played with Slacktone at the Utah.

July 16th they played the 20th Annual AIDS Walk with Mark Scardello playing guitar. Dani Leone dubbed them his new favorite surf band in his San Francisco Bay Guardian Cheap Eats column. On Friday, September 1, 2006 the Del Mars played at Brainwash in San Francisco with Charles on saxophone and Mark. On September 16th they played in the afternoon at Willa's block party without James. Johnny fielded a request for a Neil Young song some Cal students made by singing a punk version of Teach Your Children and a rousing Keep On Rockin' In The Free World. The Del Mars booked time at Rocking Horse Studio to start working on a C.D. for Saturday, October 7th 2006 with Bombay Bob producing again.

In the early morning hours of October 2, 2006 a fire burned down the Bridgeporte building. The Straus carpet showroom and warehouse next door burned and it jumped to our building and burned off the roof. Redwood timbers fell in, and the corrugated metal panels. The asphalt roof tiles melted and dripped tar everywhere. With no ventilation in the practice pad and the guitars all in cases, luckily the gear wasn't turned into charcoal briquettes. The tube amps and speakers had water and smoke damage. Transistor gear, P.A., recording equipment, drums, seascape oil paintings perished. The ceiling collapsed dropping burning redwood timbers, corrugated tin sheets, and melted tar shingles. The fire hoses pumped two feet of water into the room.

Fire in 2006

Johnny was in the top story on 11:00 news. There were 17 musician studios in the building. The studio across the hall where the Del Mars recorded their first single was totally destroyed. Looking at the blackened devastation it is a miracle anything survived. John the landlord was about to cry picking through the wreckage of his gutted studio. Johnny was carrying smoky stuff out to the street and said "Why am I the only member of this band who moves the equipment?" John had to smile a bit at that.

About this time Indigo announced he was quitting to attend Swift truck driving school in St. Louis Missouri for several weeks and after that he would have to work for a trucking company for a year, on the road for a week at a time. They recorded drum tracks in the studio and started working on completing the recording once the amps were cleaned up and the speakers reconed. The band played at the New School Fall Bazaar at noon on October 28, 2006 as a trio with Charles Granich's brother Ralph on drums. Goose was too busy to play the gig. Jay Rosen would have liked to come play guitar but he was extremely sick and stayed home.

On November 25th, 2006 The Uptown in downtown Oakland had a benefit for the bands that were in the fire called "Blazed and Confused." Steve Iler was sojourning from Santa Barbara and came up with the name over Margaritas, served in pint glasses by the charming Genevie, with Bob and Johnny at the 400 Club. Apparently Eddie Money and some guys who work at Bill Graham Presents own the club. The bands were The Del Mars, All The New, The Bombay Crawlers, and The Sun Kings. The Del Mars were Jay Rosen, Johnny, Ralph Granich, Charles, and Ron. March 23, 2007 the Del Mars played at the 400 Club in Oakland, opening up for the Crawlers.

Hanging Out At Mike's Blue Pool Party

Who was in the band? None other than Charles, Ron, Johnny, James was back because the Del Mars get better gigs than his other group and are a better band, and Indigo was back because truck drivin' didn't work out. We covered The Last Time with Bombay Bob rocking the house on vocals. The band played at Club Hide in San Francisco on April 21, 2007. Ron got the biggest hand of applause from the crowd. Mark Scardello played guitar with us. Coincidentally Stuart the drummer from Mark's surf band The Eldorados came to see a friend play saxophone in The Floorshakers.

The Boonville Beer Festival May 5, 2007, found Jay, Charles, Ron, Indigo, Goose and Johnny playing from 2:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. under the redwoods at the fairgrounds. With several thousand people there this was the largest crowd we'd had the pleasure of meeting. www.avbc.com. The SF AIDS Walk on July 15, 1007 had something like 25,000 walkers and the Del Mars played in Sharon Meadow at the Post Walk Concert on the biggest stage we've ever played on in addition to performing at the Starwalker tent this year. Then Indigo quit the band again. Indigo won't even go the studio one more time to play drums on the recording. He thinks the recording stinks although he hasn't heard the tracks. Marti will play acoustic guitar and he's going to play electric and that's going to be their project, the Wildcat Canyon Band, country music.

Saturday night, August 11, 2007 at O'Neil's Irish Pub on B Street in downtown San Mateo. People were walking in off the street to hear us play. We rocked through our show with Ralph on drums. Then the soundman signaled one more song, so Johnny said we were going to skip ahead to our last song and do Wipe Out. At the first drum break the "Gwen" from the No Doubt tribute band got on stage and pulled the plug on us. She announced our set was over. The crowd started booing and calling for us to play an encore. The bouncers told everybody to cool it. She looked a bit green. Her drummer was apologizing to us. Soon they started their show and she's saying, "And now the band you came to see, playing your favorite No Doubt tunes, ROCK STEADY!" Guys were saying "you guys in the surfer band were way better than this stuff," as they left the bar.

The band played on, Saturday, August 24, 2007 at the 400 Club in Oakland across from our old practice space, $100, drink tickets, plus $40 to Ralph for borrowing his kit. Wait a second, Bob never paid us. Ron quit smoking. On September 22, 2007 the Del Mars played a party in Santa Cruz. The Del Mars played September 29th at the Fog Fest in Pacifica on the main stage, videotaped by the local public access TV station for broadcast. They played at New School again, Saturday Oct. 20th. Johnny did a Summer of Love Folksinger gig at San Jose Spartan Stadium on October 6, 2007 with just an acoustic guitar and harmonica.

Joel and his dog Boo

November 14, 2007 the Del Mars played at Herbst Theater in San Francisco, a benefit for Veterans for Peace, with Annie and the Vets. Jay Rosen played with us instead of James and he was ready to throw in the towel after we rehearsed at his studio on Franklin Street in Oakland and he felt the same after the gig. Ron had also given his notice, but he didn't leave. November 30 we played at the 400 Club with the Bombay Crawlers. On January 26, 2008 the Del Mars were set to play at the 400 Club with the Crawlers but the residents of a nearby condominium got their hands on a flier for the gig and took it to the police. The 400 Club doesn't have a cabaret license so police were prepared to shut them down. Bob moved the gig to John Patrick's bar two blocks away. The next night we played at the Bay View Boat Club in San Francisco. The latter two gigs featured the first performances of a new tune with vocals, "Surf Monkey." On February 15, 2008 the band played at Ristorante Milano on Grand Avenue in Oakland. One of Ron's cats got run over by a truck from the Port of Oakland so he missed the first set.

On March 3, 2008 Johnny got an email from Ron. "I'm quitting the Delmars. The same sentiments keeps coming up: I'm not having fun, I don't like our sound, I don't like the practice dynamics of the group, AND most importantly, I want to devote all my free time to launching my own musical project." Dave Wenger joined the Del Mars. On March 27th the band played at Amnesia on Valencia St. in San Francisco. March 29th at the Octopus Lounge in Pacifica with Drifting Sand, and the Rocket Dog Rescue benefit with Lava Rats, Meshuggah Beach Party and Pollo Del Mar at 1396 La Playa St. in San Francisco. http://www.fccfree.com/rdr/RocketDogSpringEvent.jpg . Dave has a practice space in his garage.

May 10 the Del Mars played a stomp out blood cancer benefit at Connecticut Yankee on Portrero Hill in San Francisco. Jay Rosen filled in for James and Ralph brought along a sax player named Nancy Wright from a blues gig earlier in the evening so we had two sax players. "The Del Mars opened a collective can of Whoop-ass on the club on Saturday. I don't think they saw that one coming," said Charles. Nancy has recorded and performed in the U.S. and Europe with Tony Monaco, John Lee Hooker, B.B. King, Elvin Bishop, Katie Webster, Joe Louis Walker, Commander Cody, and Darlene Langston. She played Carnegie Hall, Annual Sturgis Biker Rally, also the San Francisco, Chicago, and Delta Blues Festivals.

On May 24th they played at Scobie's in Alameda with the Bombay Crawlers. Ralph and Charles had been trying to get the band to play at the Hotel Utah the same night based on the ulterior motive that their other band Knees and Elbows was playing there. So we didn't have a drummer and it was Bob's drummer Dan's birthday so he was in a good mood and played drums for us until Ralph and Charles showed up. Then Johnny's amp blew up and Dave plugged him into the other band's bass rig. On June 21, 2008 the Del Mars played after the graduation ceremony of the New College School of Law at the Unitarian Church at Franklin and Geary in San Francisco, same line-up minus the extra sax player. On June 28, 2008 they played with Lord Loves a Working Man and Rube Waddell in Oakland at the 5th Avenue boat yard with Nancy Wright and Jay Rosen. Goose couldn't make it. A friend of Charles' got up and played annoying hand drum and percussion.

On July 20, 2008 the Del Mars played at the AIDS Walk in San Francisco on the main stage again. This time the line up was Dave, Johnny, Jay, Ralph, Charles, Nancy, Lida Grinfeld on castanuelas, and tambourine girl Krista Bruen. We got to play after some American Idol contestants. It was the first time in years that we didn't play Party Wave. Johnny's amp and reverb tank were back from the Rance's shop. Several people were taking videos and the show is documented. On August 1, 2008 the Del Mars played at the 400 Club. Johnny Denn died in a motorcycle crash the night before. It was a sad night. Ralph and Charles, Johnny Del Mar, Davie Del Mar, and Ron Giddings playing rhythm guitar. Bob sang The Last Time with us. On September 18, 2008 the Del Mars played at Beale Street Bar and Grill in San Francisco with the Eldorados. Jay Rosen played guitar with us as we played the originals and House of the Rising Sun. Mill Valley Plain rounded out the bill. The Eldorados played a tasty set of covers. Scotty C. was borrowing Johnny's Tremolux, and it blew a fuse so Jay let him use the ancient Fender Bassman he'd brought. Quite a bit of dancing was going on including some hula-hoop action.

October 1, 2008 found the guys being guinea pigs, lab rats, (or if you're U.C. Berkeley pathetic cats and Orangutans) at Skyline Studios in Oakland for a group of young recording engineer students who applauded after takes of rhythm tracks and said we played "feel good music." On October 25th the Del Mars played at the New School Fall Bazaar in Berkeley with Rocky Trujillo playing drums subbing for Ralph who had a paying jazz trio gig at a dog show in Walnut Creek, James on keyboard, Johnny on guitar, Charles on saxophone, Dave on bass, and Lida came to play castanets.

October 31st, 2008 the Del Mars played at the Pier 5 Law Offices and Jackson Square Law Offices 34th Annual Halloween Extravaganza with Danny Brandt Band and Deep Six at Great American Music Hall in San Francisco. James played keyboards, Nancy, Charles, Lida, Ralph, Dave and Johnny were there too. We got the gig because Jasper Monti passed along a demo of the Suicide Bomb/Teach Your Children recording to Tony Serra. You may recall this is the recording Johnny has been working on for ages with Bill Williams in Hayward. So we had to play Suicide Bomb and it went over surprisingly well, filling the dance floor with a crowd of people that was singing along. We got a dressing room which we shared with Danny Brandt band, catering, a sound check where Johnny's amp blew a fuse again but he put in a new one that lasted through the set starting promptly at 8:30, ending right before 9:50. Lights, sound people at the side of the stage, sound people out at the front of the theater, we could get used to playing this kind of place.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Mommy, what's the name of the song the band just played?

A: That song is called surf music.

Q: Can the Del Mars play at my party for free drinks? It will be real fun.

A: No. Some people don't think about it, but a band has expenses. Practice space, instruments, equipment, cars, coming to your gig, decades of musical experience, it adds up.

Q: Why don't you guys sing?

A: We play instrumental dance music. But we're a rock and roll band so you never know what we just might do or who is going to do it.

Q: Our [surf instrumental] band plays all originals! What is your band doing here with all these bands that do originals?

A: We just did five originals and only one cover.

Contact

Johnny Del Mar (415) 863-4336
15 Boardman Place, Second Floor
San Francisco, CA 94103-4727

Goose (415) 265-6296

Jamming

Credits Web design by Dylan Carlone.

Photos: Johnny Del Mar on Home Page by Willa Madden www.willamadden.com.

Surf photos of Johnny by Scott Allen, www.jellyfishproductions.net.

Hiking photo of Model Americans by Diane Hirshberg.

Del Mars at 2005 AIDS Walk and Ocean Beach by Derrick Joyner and Rie Naraoka.

Video produced and edited by Joel Hutner, sound by Robin Spalding.

Wipe Out by The Surfaris.

Music copyright 1987, 1995, 1996, 1999, 2004, 2006 John F. Lee. All rights reserved.