GRAVEDIGGER V
The Gravedigger Five – often shown as Gravedigger V – was a garage rock revival band formed in 1984 in San Diego, California. The band was part of the Paisley Underground, a musical movement centered on Los Angeles, California, which referenced 1960s West Coast pop and garage rock. When the Gravedigger Five broke up, members of the band went on to form The Morlocks and Manual Scan. (More from Wikipedia)
The Voxx Records retrospective CD, Be a Caveman: The Best of the Voxx Garage Revival (2000) presents one incredible song after another that has led me to buy several full albums by the bands on the CD; besides the Crawdaddys, the CD includes songs by the Vertebrats, DMZ, the Chesterfield Kings, the Pandoras, Gravedigger V, the Miracle Workers, the Fuzztones, Hypstrz, the Surf Trio, the Steppes, Dwarves, and many more.
(January 2015/2)
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Mike Stax joined with Ray Brandes, Bill Calhoun and David Klowden of the Mystery Machine in creating the Tell-Tale Hearts, along with Eric Bacher who had been in a band called Freddie and the Soup Bowls. Their first gig was in September 1983 at a yard party; Gravedigger V made their debut at the same event, though they were known as the Shamen at that time. The Tell-Tale Hearts seemed to hit San Diego at just the right time and quickly became a fixture in several local clubs, serving as the house band for Studio 517 for a time.
(September 2017)
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And then there are the numerous albums of new music that have been released by Bomp! Records and their affiliated labels over the years; besides the bands that have already been mentioned, early examples by comparatively well known bands include those by the Pandoras, Nikki and the Corvettes, the Modern Lovers, Gravedigger V, the Last, the Barracudas, and many more. The music of many of the past UARB’s can be found on these Bomp! records.
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Yet another SS-20 song, “Still I’m Sad” (the Yardbirds song) is on a split 45 that was given away by an Italian magazine called Lost Trails, with the other side being a live performance of the Patti Smith Group song “Dancing Barefoot” by the Australian punk rock band Celibate Rifles. Discogs has several more of these free 45’s listed that feature other bands from the Bomp! Records roster, such as past UARB the Tell-Tale Hearts, Gravedigger V, the Fuzztones, the Steppes, and the Miracle Workers.
(December 2017)
