The Coast of Pacific Beach Restaurant Walk
Chronic Meter in 1994 After being apart for 16 years, alt-rockers Chronic Meter are playing a reunion show to raise money for two children of a departed fan.
From 1992 to 1996, Chronic Meter were known to deliver political songs in the style of Deftones and Rage Against the Machine, often playing at venues like The Casbah and SOMA. The band’s members have since moved on to new things, and one now lives outside California. But they decided to get back together when they heard the news about Chris Kaufman, a devoted fan and close friend of the band and a former business associate of bassist James Thompson.
Kaufman and his wife, Amy Kaufman, died in an apparent murder-suicide in Hawaii in February. According to news reports, Chris went to the Oahu home of a man Amy was visiting and allegedly shot her before killing himself; the other man was injured. Amy had recently filed for divorce, and friends said Chris was distraught.
The couple is survived by two young sons, and the band is raising money to help support them. Thompson has set up a trust fund for each child, and the band is taking donations at indiegogo.com/chronicmeter. They’ll also release a CD of unreleased material.
Chronic Meter will play with I Wish I, Modern Rifles and Ghost Notes for Ghosts at The Casbah on Saturday, July 21. Proceeds from the door and a raffle will go to the kids.
After that, band members say, there are no plans to keep playing. “The most important thing is if we can raise some money for these kids,” Thompson says. “It’s really a tragic thing that happened.”
Correction: This article originally reported that two members of Chronic Meter now live outside California. In fact, only one does. We apologize for the error.
The licensing deals just keep coming for local bands. The latest lucky artist is one-man band Low Volts, whose song, “Blame it on the Breakup,” appears in a recent episode of the Showtime series Weeds. The song—which has been nominated for Song of the Year in the San Diego Music Awards—plays for 40 seconds during a scene at a roller-derby rink. “They timed it out to this girl getting clothes-lined right to the beat,” Low Volts’ Tim Lowman says.
Lowman’s also been working on licensing with Stone Brewing Co. and the Michael Kors fashion label, he says, and he hopes the Weeds placement will open up other licensing opportunities. Meanwhile, he’s getting ready to record a new album, which he plans to have out by December.
Email peterh@sdcitybeat.com or follow him on Twitter at @peterholslin.
