For a band that never quite made it to the national stage, much less left a mark there, the Penetrators continue to cast an awfully long shadow over the San Diego music scene more than a quarter-century since breaking up.
Why should a long-defunct band that never got signed to a label be holding down Saturday's prestigious headlining slot at the Casbah as part of the venerable club's 20th anniversary?
Part of it is that members of the band went on to found and play in bands that did get signed, that did go on to the national scene. Drummer Dan McClain adopted the stage name and persona of Country Dick Montana and founded the Snuggle Bunnies before scoring with the legendary roots rockers the Beat Farmers, with whom he played until his death in 1995. Bassist Chris Sullivan was a founding member of the late Buddy Blue's East Coast soul band the Jacks after Blue left the Beat Farmers in 1986. Original drummer Joel Kmak played with the Crawdaddies and other bands before taking over drums in the Beat Farmers when Montana got too sick to play drums and sing.
And as a history of San Diego's music scene that appeared three years ago in the local music magazine The Troubadour points out, when the Penetrators began in the late '70s, most clubs in the county would only hire Top 40 cover bands. The Penetrators were not only one of the first punk bands in the San Diego area, they were one of the first to prove that a local band could write and perform original songs and draw a following comparable to that of the top cover bands -- opening the door for every band that has come out of the county since.
There have been a few reunions over the years, but as lead singer Gary Heffern lives in Finland these days, those reunions aren't particularly often.
Still, Sullivan (who plays in the Farmers with former Beat Farmers Jerry Raney and Kmak) said that when the rest of the band got together for a rehearsal ahead of Heffern's return to town, it didn't take long for the other members of the Penetrators to find their groove.
"We got together on a Monday without Gary; he wasn't here yet. I brought a ghetto blaster with our old stuff. You start doing it; you hit a few clunkers, then the second time through we all remember. It starts coming back fast. I'd say we're probably 75 percent there in terms of having the music together after one practice."
Sullivan said the band was founded in 1977 by Kmak and original guitarist Scott Harrington. They placed an ad in the paper, which Sullivan answered, making the band a trio. But before they'd even hired Heffern, Kmak left when he was offered a slot to tour with the Hitmakers. Sullivan said they ran across Heffern performing with another band at a party ("flapping around onstage like Daffy Duck") and then asked McClain, whom he knew as a keyboardist, to sit in on drums for rehearsals -- and the arrangement became permanent.
But when they were hired to open for the Ramones at San Diego State University's Montezuma Hall in 1978, Sullivan said Harrington quit in protest -- arguing that they weren't ready for so prominent a gig.
They played the show with Chris Davies as their new guitarist, and Sullivan remembered it opened a lot of doors for them with the major labels and also led to Jim Call joining on keyboards.
But nothing ever quite panned out with the labels, and Sullivan said that frustration may have led to the band breaking up in 1984.
"I think we were at at for so long -- it's a relationship with five people. For so long, people kept telling us, 'You're right on the edge, you're knocking on the door.' But there was always something that kept them from signing us. With A&M, it was going to be us or the Police -- and they went with the Police."
The lack of the breakthrough wore on the members, Sullivan said.
"We were starting to feel like we were losing our edge around '83, '84. I think the more that we all felt that, we started to feel, 'maybe our time has passed.' We just felt we didn't have the same juice."
But Heffern said when they do get back together, that juice is still there.
"I was talking to Jim Call, and I said to him that the only time I feel 'real' is when I am playing music," Heffern wrote in an e-mail exchange.
"When I was down there last time, I was just amazed at how good the band itself is. Chris Sullivan and Joel lock in so tight, and I think that Chris has his own bass 'sound.' Chris Davies has always been such an inspiration to work with and definitely has his own sound and feel. I love to be singing and looking over at Jim Call, because I never know what he's going to do next!"
And Sullivan said that the intervening years have added another benefit: improved skills.
"As kids, the youth helped quite a bit. Maybe we don't have the juice we did, but we're better musicians."
The Penetrators, with the Latino Uncles, Manual Scan, the Loons
When: 9 p.m. Jan. 24
Where: The Casbah, 2501 Kettner Blvd., San Diego
Admission: $20
Info: (619) 232-4355 or casbahmusic.com
