During the early 1980s, San Diego's music community produced a number of artists whose impact is still felt today. Some, like Mojo Nixon and the late Buddy Blue, remain household names. Others have kept a lower local profile, ultimately finding their greatest success abroad. Such is the case with Ray Brandes.
Although born in Tucson in 1962, Brandes major role in San Diego's music history is indisputable. In addition to more than two decades of his own music, he has served as both a conduit for local talent and a crucial lynch pin when it comes to the overseas reputation of our local music scene. His dedication to music, especially his songcraft, is inspiring.
Brandes' accomplishments are particularly amazing when you take into account that he has been a teacher in San Diego for the past 20 years, with stints at Point Loma High School, San Diego School for the Creative and Performing Arts, Montgomery Middle School, and, currently, San Diego Metropolitan Regional Career and Technical High School. He and his wife, Raquel (whom he met while on tour in Spain), have a son, Lucas.
Though Brandes' musical beginnings stem from the earliest days of the local mod scene, Brandes is no one-trick pony. His oeuvre includes everything from garage-punk to country rockers, with a lot of great stuff in between.
Brandes arrived in San Diego as a toddler in 1964. By the time he was a student at Point Loma High School he had begun to play with various combos, performing at friends' parties. Graduating in 1980, within months of leaving school he had formed his first real combo, the Hedgehogs. With a repertoire based on the Beatles' Live at the Star Club set list, the band included future all-stars Ron Silva (the Crawdaddys/the Saturn V), Paul Carsola (the Tell-Tale Hearts), and Carl Rusk (the Nashville Ramblers). A big hit on the then burgeoning teen dance circuit, no official recordings were made, but live tapes do circulate.
The Hedgehogs faded quickly as the various band members began to concentrate on their own projects and by 1982, Brandes had joined the Mystery Machine. The band was led by Rusk, though Brandes sang, with Mark Zadarnowski (the Crawdaddys/the Shambles), Bill Calhoun, and David Klowden (both in the Tell-Tale Hearts) also aboard. Though the band only played three shows before splitting, they would provide Brandes with the first notch on his discography in 1983 when their song "She's Not Mine," a minor-key gem that crosses the Zombies with the Everly Brothers, was released on Voxx Records Battle of the Garages Vol. 3.
Within the year Brandes founded the Tell-Tale Hearts, a 1960s-influenced punk/rhythm and blues band, with Calhoun and Klowden, alongside Mike Stax (the Loons/the Hoods) and Eric Bacher. The band was instantly a big local draw, opening up for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Cramps, and Jesus and Mary Chain. They also made several local TV appearances well worth seeking out, including dance segments on retro-classic "It's Happening" and a pair of songs on a Cox Cable local band showcase. Considered among the leaders of the garage rock movement, the group even appeared in People magazine, but surprisingly, save for a short jaunt to Springfield, Missouri, they never toured. They did, however, sign with Voxx Records to release a self-titled album in 1985 and an EP, The Now Sound, in 1986. Tracks from both releases were also compiled for a French release that year and a single, "Too Many Lovers," was released in Australia in 1987, but the original line-up of the group soon split.
His next group, the Town Criers, was on stage within weeks of the Tell-Tale Hearts parting ways. This time out Brandes mixed folk-rock with country influences. The rotating line up included Klowden and Zadarnowski and recorded, though nothing has been released from those sessions. This group lasted through 1990, at which time he began concentrating on solo work.
A short detour occurred when he became a founding member of the Shambles late that year, alongside Klowden, Zadarnowski, and Kevin Donaker-Ring (Manual Scan). In addition to local shows, the band toured England in 1992 with the group (I joined the band just prior to this tour) and released three songs, including his "Stuck on the Inside." The following year the band inked with Susstones Records, releasing "Fire," which was backed with Paul Revere & the Raiders' "Louise," sung by Brandes. He taped several other tunes with the band, all eventually released and re-issued several times during the ensuing years, but he soon returned to his solo career.
The mid-1990s saw a mini-revival of interest in the Tell-Tale Hearts, with demand for their music, particularly in Europe and Australia, at a fever pitch. While the group only reunited for a handful of shows, a string of discs was released, including a best of CD from Voxx, High Tide (Big Noses & Pizza Faces). A vinyl bootleg of the album was also issued by the mysterious Tapir Records. In 1997 a pair of live albums, recorded in 1985 during their Missouri trip, were also released. Wonderfully capturing the excitement of their concerts, Live in Springfield Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 are also notable for their "Simpsons"-styled depictions of the band on the cover.
All of this activity coincided with Brandes' first release under his own name, The Lonely Sock, via former Crawdaddy keyboardist Keith Fisher's label, Spun, in 1995. Followed by a single, "Monkey Planet" (also available on 1997's Staring at the Sun Vol. 4), Brandes began to draw international attention as a solo performer. In 1998 he signed with Snap!! Records, based in Madrid. The label released his second album, Continental Drifter, in 1999, which received a nomination for Best Pop Album at that year's San Diego Music Awards. Brandes toured Spain alongside myself and backing band Los Impossibles, which resulted in immediately putting together another tour of that country, this time under the name the Riot Act.
Billed as a San Diego all-star group, the group included Brandes and Bart Mendoza of the Shambles, as well as Hector Peñalosa (the Zeros), Victor Peñalosa (the Melanies), and Peter Meisner (the Crawdaddys). The group also played a few shows around Southern California and released a single, "This Town"/"Tried So Hard" (without my participation) on Snap!! Records later that year. The latter was released under Brandes' name on the Gene Clark tribute album, Full Circle, in 2000. That same year, Spain's Munster Records re-issued the Tell-Tale Hearts' single "Too Many Lovers," and Brandes took part in a loose collective of area musicians, including A.J. Croce, Mike Kamoo, myself, the Peñalosa Brothers, and Billy Lovcki (the Cables), backing Rachael Gordon for a series of recordings under the moniker the Very Idea. These have been reissued numerous times in Spain, Germany, and Japan, with Gordon recording a cover of his song "I know You're in Love Again" on her debut album, The Coming of Spring.
In 2002, Brandes released his third CD, The Rise and Fall of Ray Brandes, again via Snap!! Records. While Brandes has recorded at least another album's worth of material since then, work and married life have taken precedent and live shows have become a rarity. The exceptions have come via a pair of unofficial Tell-Tale Hearts reunions, both sans at least one original member, including a 2003 impromptu set at the Ken Club and a festival date in Spain in 2005. Confirming his status as a local music icon, on March 9, 2006, legendary author Paul Williams penned an article for the San Diego Reader, detailing the connection between San Diego musicians and Spain, with Brandes as the main interviewee.
While Brandes now considers himself retired from the music scene, the past couple of years have nonetheless seen him actively involved in local music. The Tell-Tale Hearts regrouped in 2007, with all original members for a pair of headline shows at the Casbah and the Adams Avenue Street Fair respectively. Meanwhile, Spain's Ansia de Color magazine and Italy's Misty Lane magazine published retrospectives on the band, the latter including a previously unreleased vintage live track on an accompanying CD. Spain's Party Line Records has released A Matter of Time: The Best of Ray Brandes. Available at all of the usual online locations and local shops, the album takes in 24 tracks from nearly all phases of Brandes' career, with cooperation from all the various labels. Some tracks make their first appearance on CD, but long-time fans will be most thrilled to hear three unreleased tracks that close the disc.
With a little luck, this compilation should do wonders for bringing the spotlight to Brandes' work. A songwriter and musician of his talent deserves to be heard by a wider audience. If the current spate of activity does prove to be Brandes' music biz swan song, it will cap a career that's been nothing short of spectacular. But here's hoping he still has a few aces left up his sleeve.
“A MATTER OF TIME: THE BEST OF RAY BRANDES” is now available from Party Line Records!
Purchase the tracks here via SnoCap or get the CD at CD Baby.com!
