Friday, December 28, 2007

Favorite Local Bands of 2007 As Told By The Best Bands

So, I did this little informal poll of some of my favorite San Diego musicians. "Tell me your top 5 local bands that were active in 2007, but you can't include your own." Some people took "Top 5" to mean 'best', while others maybe considered 'hardest working', 'personal favorite' or some other standard. I was gonna use this for my CityBeat column, but I liked the idea of posting it here to make sure I included every response, instead of having to condense it into a neat little column. All of the bands named are well worth paying attention to, although some are no longer around or have had some lineup changes over the year. Still, I think 2008 will be an even bigger and better year for San Diego's thriving music scene and I hope you all continue to support the scene. If you're there, I'm there...we're all in this together.

Christian Dines, Firethorn
Someday Assassin
The Long and Short of It
Hostile Combover
Demasiado
Homeless Sexuals

Erica Putis, The Predicates
Long Live Logos
Swedish Models
Truckee Brothers
Frantic Romantic
The Modlins

Aaron Thompson, The Stranger’s Six
Reeve Oliver
The Drowning Men
Pierce The Veil
The Prayers
The Holy Boys

Matthew Binder, Hotel St. George
The Muslims
The Vision of a Dying World
The Sess
Grand Ole Party
Delta Spirit

Michael Rennie, Roxy Monoxide
Swim Party
Wendy Darling
Billy Midnight
Squiddo
Secret Apollo

Cullen Hendrix, The North Atlantic
Fkenal
Get Your Death On
Sirhan Sirhan
Donkeys
Firstwavehello

Adam Gimbel, Rookie Card/Cover Me Badd
Vision Of A Dying World
Matt Curreri & The Ex-Friends
Billy Midnight
Grand Ole Party
San Diego School of Rock

O, Reeve Oliver
Grand ole party
Mr Tube and the Flying Objects
Kill me tomorrow
Bartender’s Bible
The Long and Short of it

Dustin Paul, Swedish Models
Cory Wilkins
Bunky
The Gift/Curse
New Loser Studio
Hialeah

Fred Mintz, The Postals
The Bugs
Rich White Males
Hostile Combover
Syndicate
Dan Padilla

Matthew Strachota, The Long and Short Of It/Bartender’s Bible
vision of a dying world
red feathers
batwings
kill me tomorrow
hostile combover

Tate Ziff, Di Nigunim
Vaginals
Bologna Ponies
Fantastic Magik
Trashcan Fires
Grim Luck

Sean Myott, Firethorn
Someday Assassin
Hollywood Begs
The Long And Short of It
Hostile Combover
The Mojave

Adam Rusch, Life Crisis
crime desire
sleeping people
bumbklaatt
homeless sexuals
the mice

Andy Ralph, Writer
the softlightes
swim party
joel p. west
drowning men
the album leaf

Abraham Nunez, Team Abraham
Bartender’s Bible
Pinback
The Long And Short Of It
Grand Ole Party
Golden Hill Ramblers

Nick Venti, Republic Of Letters
Dynamite Walls
War Stories
Transfer
Swim Party
The Modlins

Joe Gastelum, The Roman Spring
Swim Party
Fifty On Their Heels
Dirty Sweet
Vinyl Radio
Fing

Martin Niwinski, Republic of Letters
Writer
Swim Party
The Blackout Party
Stripes and Lines
Roxy Jones

Matt Molarius, Transfer
Apes of Wrath
Vitro
Swim Party
Sleeping People
Microphone Mike

Petro Halcowycz, Swim Party
The Vision Of A Dying World
Writer
The Modlins
Roxy Jones
Silverbird

Rob Kent, Apes Of Wrath
Modern Rifles
Transfer
Vitro
Roxy Jones
The Muslims

Dave, Vitro
Transfer
The Muslims
Apes Of Wrath
Grand Ole Party
Jezebel

Cooper, Transfer
Vitro
Apes Of Wrath
Swim Party
Get Back Loretta
The Blackout Party

Jason Cardenas, Transfer
The Donkeys
Earthless
Hialeah
Manuok
Ilya

Andy Robillard, The Tighten-Ups
Delta Spirit
Grand Ole Party
The Roman Spring
Sleeping People
Earthless

Phill Tornroth, SayVinyl
FirstWaveHello
Delta Spirit
The Nurses
Manuok
Helen Earth Band

Matt Sheridan, The Modlins
Swim Party
Matt Curreri & The Ex-Friends
Billy Midnight
The Donkeys
The Vision of A Dying World

Alex Smith, The Modlins
Swim Party
Apes of Wrath
Secret Apollo
The Roman Spring
Frantic Romantic

Keith Hilton, Vinyl Radio
Hotel St. George
The Swedish Models
Writer
The Roman Spring
Transfer

Laura Jane, The Tighten-Ups
Vinyl Radio
The Swedish Models
Hotel St. George
Team Abraham
The Roman Spring

John, Diablo Dimes
Lady Dottie and The Diamonds
The Deere Johns
Bartender’s Bible
Creepy Creeps
MEX

Brian Holwerda, The Blackout Party
Transfer
The Roman Spring
Anya Marina
The Silent Comedy
Lady Dottie and the Diamonds


John Finkbiner, The Stereotypes
Deverb
The Drowning Men
Qu'est-ce Que C'est
The Shambles
Swim Party

PS- If you'd still like to submit your list, e-mail me or comment on this post.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

that was a pretty fun year, might be kinda hard to top it but next year should have some fun surprises.

Unknown said...

Oh, I forgot to say... Hey Matt and Keith and Foley, if any of you see this, long live the safe in Texas.

Happiness is a hammer and a safe.

Unknown said...

T-Bone/Bartenders Bible
1.Hostile Combover
2.The Vision of a Dying World
3.Bunky
4.The Sess
5.Silent Comedy

Unknown said...

great list of bands, i stand by my top five but reading the list i said "fuck, i should have picked them" like ten times.

Lazy John said...

I'm no musician (I'm a retired DJ), but my favorite local bands of 2007 were as follows (in no particular order):

Grand Ole Party
The Golden Hill Ramblers (with Dave from the Hacienda Brothers on steel)
The Stereotypes
Bartender's Bible
The Muslims

I'll also give Adam Gimbel, Matt S and Mocha Joe Camacho props for being adept at so many musical types. San Diego needs more of that.

Andy Robillard? Is that guy still around? I saw him once at the Casbah after he stopped bartending at The Tower. I like the guy. All my schlockabilly ex-friends seemed to have a problem with him, and I never understood why.

brian said...

ROSIE!!! I know I was drunk when you asked me this, BUT... You must've gotten a wire crossed...

No offense to the fine artists who you had me down for, but I never would've put them up top...

My list would've read something like this:

1. Demasiado
2. Transfer
3. Swedish Models
4. Sirhan Sirhan
5. Earthless