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.
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While these preferences would inform Mike Stax’s sensibilities as the founder of Ugly Things magazine, also in 1982, they created friction within the Crawdaddys. Keith Fisher for one hated American garage rock music; after finding a very rare 45 by the Texas garage rock band Zakary Thaks, he threw it across the room at Mike Stax on his 21st birthday and ruined it. Stax quit the band on the spot after that, though he was planning to leave the Crawdaddys in the summer of 1983 anyway.
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The bandmembers in the Crawdaddys listed on the Here ’Tis CD are Ron Silva, Fred Sanders (actually Keith Fisher, with the name petulantly changed due to his threats to file suit to prevent the release of the CD), Peter Michael Miesner, Jack Lopez, Mike Dixson Stax, Gordon Moss, and Steve Horn. Also mentioned are Carl Rusk as “production consultant”, Josef Marc as “sort of the producer” on some tracks, and Jeff Scott as “definitely like a father to us”.
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On May 29, 2011, at a Rhino Records pop-up store in San Diego, the Crawdaddys showed up unexpectedly with a reunion concert that included former members Ron Silva, Peter Miesner, and Keith Fisher. After noting the surprise at the Crawdaddys being there at all, the L.A. Weekly report on the concert continued: “Another surprise was how hot and vital the band sounded, even after being dormant for so many years. You could certainly hear where latter-day ’60s revivalists like the Hives got their ideas, as singer-guitarist Ron Silva snarled his way through a set of Crawdaddys originals and vintage covers of primal rock classics like ‘Oh Baby Doll’, ‘Slow Down’ and ‘Let the Good Times Roll’. The group were at their best on Rolling Stones-style blues rockers like ‘Bald Headed Woman’, but they also deftly pulled off poppier tunes like the Knickerbockers’ Beatles sound-alike ‘Lies’ and a yearning, affecting version of the Velvet Underground’s bittersweet ‘There She Goes [Again]’.”
(January 2015/2)
