By Amber Shaffer, SDAM Staff Writer
©Copyright 2024 SDAM.com/Amber Shaffer

I had my fill of politically charged benefits, concerts, and festivals during my college years at UC Santa Cruz. So when I heard I was covering a benefit show at Che Café, a cozy little venue with surprisingly good sound, nestled just within the entrance to the UCSD campus, you can imagine I was a little wary. But it turns out this wasn't the type of benefit I expected. See, originally this South African band called Boo! was supposed to perform, but our lovely country denied their visas just before this show because they are a political band that doesn't necessarily support the war our country is attempting to wage. So four other bands were called in last minute to fill the bill. I walked in to find two guys sitting on the stage, and not too many more in the audience, with a couple acoustic guitars and the stage's one spotlight glowing harshly on them. I claimed one of the several couches as my own and determined that this must be Urban Evergreen. As Seth Torma sang a song about how "I waited so long to meet you" with the kind of lyrics that make girls sigh in a beautiful, strong voice I could listen to for hours, I wanted to go grab him off his stool, stow him in the back of my car and take him home with me. But the odds of successfully completely my mission in such an intimate setting were slim, so I behaved and enjoyed the rest of the set instead. Actually, even though I only caught the end of the set, I was impressed with the acoustic arrangements Urban Evergreen had put together of their songs. I enjoyed watching Seth and bassist Torin O'Sullivan exchanged nods and words of appreciation when one of them did something slick with their guitar work; it was clear they were trying stuff out as they went along and it was working out nicely for them. It's rare that the boys play unplugged, but their drummer, Jordan Medina, is in LA for the next couple of weeks doing session work so they had to change their upcoming gigs to an acoustic format at the last minute. Torin and Seth each talked to me a little after their set which is how I came to find out about their drummer, and how I discovered why their Web site is down (that's my main source for researching bands; I don't know how critics, or anybody really, functioned pre-Internet). [Editor's note: We'll hook that site back up right away...once the band gets it fixed! Basically they neglected to renew their URL and are in the process of re-registering their site. I also proved to myself, once again, what a nerd I am when one of them said they were looking forward the review and hoped it would be a positive one. And what did I do? I gave him the double thumbs up sign and a cheeseball grin. Turns out, that was just to be the beginning of what I like to refer to as my Moron Moments with the boys of Urban Evergreen over the next few days. I'll spare you the details. Torin and Seth, I owe you boys a round of cocktails. I have much more control over my writing than my mouth and actions. The other three acts performing that night were from out of town. Two (Lithargia and Yoko Deathray) were LA-based and the third, Analogue, was down from San Francisco and had played the night before with Urban Evergreen at Blind Melons. One of the members of Lithargia put it right when he said "This is so sad. I'm so glad I'm baked," in reference to the size of the audience, which probably peaked at around 8 non-band associated members due to the lack of promotion for this event. And when I say lack, I actually mean there was none at all. It was like being at band rehearsal and I felt for the bands that had traveled. Not to mention San Diego missed some good music. I have to give all the acts credit for still putting heart into their performances. Lathargia's singer broke a guitar string and rather than calling it quits since he didn't have a back up guitar or much of an audience, he somehow managed to play 2 more songs, without them sounding too crappy, and earned himself the nickname "5 String" for the rest of the night. Yoko Deathray also suffered an equipment emergency when their guitarist's amp blew and started smoldering. It really was the Show from Hell for the LA bands, what with no audience and the equipment problems. The amp actually had to be thrown away, but they played through it while Lithargia loaned them one of their amps for the rest of the set. The sound changed a bit because there was no reverb, but the music retained it's high energy. The bassist had some cool effects going on, giving their music a kind of punky-space-rock sound. And their drummer was great to watch, although I thought at any second he was going to break a drumhead the way he was banging away back there. A pit of three (musicians - I'm not sure if there were three regular folks around at that point) started for awhile. Yoko Deathray also brought along a friend, who I swear was on crack, but did a lot to provide some energy for all the acts that night, dancing by herself in the middle of the floor, throwing metal horns, shouting requests, and generally goofing around and making sure her loud voice was heard by all. But I'm sure it was for herself as much for them; it kept her from getting bored and she seemed like the type who enjoys attention. Analogue, the night's last act, was pure Smashing Pumpkins with a hint of Radiohead. I mentioned the sound at Che Café wasn't too shabby for the size of venue, but it really wasn't suitable to Analogue's music, mostly because they played so loud. And the stage, which isn't much bigger than a sand dollar, was too small to contain their guitarist who came and wondered about the room, playing songs from the couch or the back of the room. I'm reading my notes from the show and see that I have written here, "yummy, grungy bass". When did yummy become a descriptive for music? And that was the night. I'm looking forward to seeing more shows at Che, and hopefully they'll be better promoted. It's a cool little venue, kind of like being in the living area of your cabin in the woods. If you were to have a stage built. And of course assuming you have a cabin. I'm also looking forward to catching Urban Evergreen plugged in; I know Torin was itching to find an amp and plug in by the time he had seen everyone else play. If Yoko Deathray ever makes it back to San Diego despite this less than stellar experience with our sunny city, I recommend you got take a look/listen. Plus they'll give you free copy of their CD, and each one has it's own unique cover of some hot girl or another in various stages of undress. Who'd want to pass that up?