Dec 14

The Penetrators

Under Appreciated

THE PENETRATORS
 
 

Meanwhile, back in San Diego, drummer Dan McLain was in another band called the Penetrators that was being courted by major record labels; and Steve Potterf also played with the Upbeats, his side project with Paris Trent – this band was thinking of moving to Los Angeles.  Steve Potterf left first in late 1979, and Dan McLain left the Crawdaddys in 1980.  The 16-year-old guitarist Peter Miesner joined up on guitar, while the drummer was, briefly, Joel Kmak, who had previously been in the Hitmakers.  Keith Fisher was added later on keyboards. 

 

Dan McLain was probably the most active and most prominent musician among the former bandmembers in the Crawdaddys; his untimely death in November 1995 at the age of 40 was written up in Billboard magazine.  After drumming for the Crawdaddys and the Penetrators, McLain took the name Country Dick Montana and first formed a band called Country Dick & the Snuggle Bunnies.  The bandmembers included Richard Banke who is also known as Skid Roper, a long-time collaborator (mostly as an instrumentalist) with Mojo Nixon, who is a former member of the Crawdaddys. 

 

(January 2015/2)

 

*       *       *

 

Another bandmember in the Tell-Tale Hearts, Ray Brandes is also an author.  His book on the San Diego underground rock scene, Getting Nowhere Fast came out in December 2015.  I had previously borrowed heavily from his history of past UARB the Crawdaddys that I found online a few years ago.  The blurb in Amazon says:  “1976-1986 was a period of time in which urban tribes staked out and ferociously defended their territories; a time when San Diego began to establish for itself an identity as more than just a Navy town with a great zoo.  Getting Nowhere Fast, written by Ray Brandes of the Tell-Tale Hearts, looks at the origins of this period of ‘new’ music in San Diego, and provides an insider’s look at a handful of bands who never quite hit the big time, but who developed cult followings around the world.  The histories of the Zeros, the Penetrators, the Unknowns, the Crawdaddys, the Tell-Tale Hearts, and several more groups are presented here for the first time in print.”  Remarkably, three of the five bands on this list – the Unknowns, the Crawdaddys, and the Tell-Tale Hearts – are among the UARB’s. 
 
(September 2017)
 
Last edited: March 22, 2021