THE LACK OF LOVEMAKERS: I hate to wax nostalgic on you again (I seem to get hate mail every time I do), but there's no way I can let the impending breakup of Tucson's best punk band, The Weird Lovemakers, go by without mentioning it.
The band is performing two last local shows: one at 9 p.m. on Thursday, October 5, at 7 Black Cats, 260 E. Congress St., along with Fun People from Buenos Aires and Zero To Sixty; and then the grand finale, occupying its usual midnight slot inside Club Congress at the Fall Crawl on Saturday, October 7.
In a genre known for fungible bands--exactly how much can you do with three chords?--the Lovemakers stood above the pack for several reasons. First off, they had the best of both worlds in two venerable frontmen. Guitarist/vocalist Greg Petix's songs were the goofy, snotty, helium-tweaked, smart, and witty ones, while bassist/vocalist Hector Jaime's work paid homage to the type of traditional amped-up punk rock that existed before "hardcore" became part of the vernacular. The two--and their respective songs--provided the perfect balance to one another.
In all the times I saw them (a hell of a lot over the years), I never once saw a bad WL show, and that's saying a hell of a lot. Instead, literally every time out, they played like they were out to win new converts, even though every Lovemakers show I ever saw was in Tucson, where they already had a huge fan base.
Luckily, they've left us several documents from their tenure as cream of the punk rock crop: three studio albums, the latest being Back 20, just out on Star Time; a just-released live disc, Live: Bigger Than a Cookie, Better Than a Cake, on Seattle's eMpTy imprint; a 7-inch EP; two split singles; and a slew of compilation tracks by which we can all remember the good times. Plus they've been back in the studio recently to try and crank out yet another studio album for eMpTy before the impending doom.
On a slightly more personal note, no one really has reason to know this, so I thought I'd point it out: Hector Jaime was the prime protector of the Tucson punk scene, as far as I could tell. He always had bands send me stuff, then call me himself to check back, just to make sure I got it. He's that kinda guy. I swear Hector has done more behind-the-scenes work than any of you have any idea of. Thank him, willya? I will; and I'll wish him the best of luck in his new home of San Francisco, too. For that matter, thank all of the boys in the band for all the great songs and memories. If any musical event is gonna make me either cry or get so drunk I forget how to cry, it's the final pas de quatre of the great Weird Lovemakers.
GAS UP: This year's Fall Crawl is also serving as a CD release party for the new Hipster Daddy-O and The Handgrenades release, Diesel, on Jack Vaughn's local Slimstyle label. It's the first of six planned releases for the imprint in the next few months, all of which will be distributed nationally through Ryko.
Along with a shortened moniker (the band now goes by HDH), the disc displays
