LOCALS ONLY

U.K. invades San Diego music scene

New British indie label Inka Records has gone on a mini signing spree in our backyard. Of the first six acts on the imprint, half are from San Diego, with an album from The Creepy Creeps in shops now and releases on the way from The Heartaches and Thee Corsairs.

“We contacted bands from all over Europe and the U.S. It is a coincidence” that so many are from San Diego, said label head Dan Doyle. “We didn't set out for Inka Records to have a specific sound or location.”

The Birmingham-based label specializes in instantly collectable, 500-copy limited editions. The packaging isn't your run of the mill jewel case-it usually includes colored vinyl, picture discs or die-cut CD sleeves, depending on the act.

Doyle visited San Diego in October to see the Creepy Creeps' CD-release show; it was the first time he'd met The Heartaches and Thee Corsairs in person.

“I would say San Diego doesn't have a ‘sound,' but the scene there is really healthy,” commented Doyle. “There always seems to be lots of cool bands springing up. Pity the same can't be said about the U.K. anymore, where bands only want to be on MTV and play arenas after [only being together] for two days.”

The Creepy Creeps signing to the label is another MySpace success story.

“We put up a bulletin on MySpace saying something like, ‘Hey, we're broke. Who wants to put out our album?” explained Creepy Creeps bassist Dia De Los Creep. “They responded in less than 10 minutes. These people are very good, honest fucking people. They put out a full-length vinyl release, and we maintain all of the rights to everything.”

While a pressing of 500 copies isn't going to make either party rich, the album has picked up significant airplay on Britain's BBC Radio 2.

“People say we pander to the record collectors' market, but at the end of the day, we want to produce something that is visually nice to own and great to listen to,” Doyle said. “Maybe we can raise the bar a little in what people expect from small, independent releases.” www.inkainc.com.

Kids ain't comin' out

Has live music lost its cool among the kiddos?

A Dec. 2 show at the Spring Valley Moose Lodge with Fifty on Their Heels, Atoms, The Jakked Rabbits and L.A.'s The New Motherfuckers has been cancelled. The promoter-local blogger and owner of Cat Dirt Records Scott Pactor-says the event, the fourth in a series of Moose Lodge shows, was canned after “dismal attendance at the first three.”

While the cancelled show was to be a 21-and-up affair, the first three were all-ages events. The measly response has convinced Cat Dirt to stop throwing shows for the kids, at least for a while.

“I look forward to next summer, when I may or may not try to do another all-ages show,” Pactor says. “My thought is that there is a general lack of enthusiasm for the effort.”

Attempts to contact to the Che Café and Epicentre were unsuccessful as of press time. Casbah owner and promoter Tim Mays confirmed that “attendance has been low” for all-ages shows this year.

“Consistency is the biggest thing,” Pactor commented. “A place like 924 Gilman”-the all-ages club in San Francisco-“does four or five all-ages shows every week, and that becomes a venue where kids know they can go. Here, we are doing one show a month at a venue that doesn't ever do shows. I think the odds are probably against us in terms of drawing a big crowd.”

Pactor already has plans for another Golden Hill Block Party next year, as well as a return of his successful “Sessions Fest,” a four-band outdoor summer concert, but he's unsure about trying all-ages events again.

“I don't mind losing money, as long as it's just a little bit of money,” he joked. www.catdirtsez.blogspot.com.

Notables...

It's been a rough year for funk band Tubby. First, they lost in the finals of NBC-TV's Star Tomorrow contest, and now their rhythm section-drummer Bill Ray and bassist Matty Hanafin-has left the band due to the usual “creative differences.” The band will hold auditions from Nov. 28 through Dec. 1 for a new lineup that will debut at the “Big Night Out” New Year's Eve party. www.myspace.com/tubbyfunk.

UV Tigers have resolved their own drummer problems with the addition of Andy Robillard, formerly of Lady Dottie & The Diamonds and also currently playing in GoGoGo Airheart. The rockers perform at The Casbah on Nov. 25. www.myspace.com/ultraviolettigers.

If it seems like San Diego's music scene has taken a hard hit this year from the Grim Reaper, you're right. Shitgiveit bassist Ron “Noxious” Durham is the latest casualty. Durham, a long-time veteran of the local club scene and founder of the band in 1994, died from a heart attack on Nov. 16. www.geocities.com/Sun setStrip/Alley/6627.

If you missed this year's San Diego Music Awards, the event will be televised Nov. 25 on Cox Channel 4. People pick up trophies, people announce awards without reading off the nominees (ahem, Steve Poltz), and bands perform live, including Switchfoot, P.O.D., The B-Side Players, Dirty Sweet, Transfer, Arabella Harrison, Greg Laswell and a collaboration between Gregory Page, Gilbert Castellanos, A.J. Croce, Jeff Berkley and Dirty Sweet's Mark Marino.

Singer-songwriter Eben Brooks will have a CD-release show for his sophomore album, Mirrors, at Lestat's on Nov. 25. www.music.ebenbrooks.com.

To celebrate the opening of the San Diego African Film Festival, The WorldBeat Center will host a free tribute concert to the late Los Angeles bandleader Horace Tapscott on Nov. 24. Admission is free. This is big for jazz fans, with a performance by legendary alto sax-man and San Diegan Arthur Blythe, who played alongside Tapscott during the '60s. www.worldbeatcenter.org.

Noise rockers extraordinaire Holy Molar release their latest single, “Cavity Search” (available on both vinyl and CD), on Nov. 28 via 31G Records. Essentially an offshoot of hardcore noise grinders The Locust, the indie super-group includes Justin Pearson (The Locust, Some Girls), Gabe Serbian (The Locust, Cattle Decapitation), Bobby Bray (The Locust), Ron Avila (Get Hustle) and Mark McMolar (The Oath). www.threeoneg.com.