Things Are Tough All Over for Bands Seeking a Break

Plus ca change . . .

Jambay, the local quartet that relocated to Seattle last fall, has discovered that even a robust music scene comes with asterisks.

“It’s difficult to get any recognition in Seattle,” drummer Matt Butler said by phone Monday from his temporary digs in Encinitas. Jambay is in town for recording sessions and performances this weekend. “Even though there are three or four local-music magazines, a lot more writers covering the scene and more people interested in original music up there than in San Diego, there also are more bands in Seattle with a professional-quality product to push. It’s easy to get lost in the shuffle.”

But Butler wasn’t complaining. Jambay, which includes bassist Mike Sugar and former UC San Diego music students Shelly Doty and Chris Haugen on guitars and vocals, has a solid following in the outlying areas of Bellingham, Wash., and Eugene, Ore. And Butler acknowledged that Seattle’s bustling art-and-performance milieu is energizing in a way that San Diego’s beach culture isn’t. But moving closer to the action apparently doesn’t guarantee results.

Jambay, however, remains unstymied. The band has been recording a new batch of songs that will be put to a variety of uses, not the least of which is self-promotion. Butler claimed that the new tunes expand on Jambay’s established sound, one that combines Grateful Dead-like jams, upbeat dance music, jazz and King Crimson-ish progressive rock.

“We’ve been recording in a garage in Cardiff on the same 32-track digital equipment that the Cardiff Reefers recently used to record their live album at the Belly Up Tavern,” Butler said. “We have eight or nine new songs, both electric and acoustic, and we’re aiming not only to sell the finished recording, but also to use it to solicit interest from record companies, potential management, music publishers and booking agents.”

One of Jambay’s new songs will appear on “Cultivation ‘92,” a compilation of music by unsigned bands being distributed to record companies by a Bakersfield entrepreneur. Butler allowed that the band has no pending deal with a major label, but he feels that an infusion of development money to spend on recordings of a more professional quality and publicity would give Jambay the necessary surge toward that end.

“We have a West Coast thing happening here, and we’re ready to blow the doors off,” Butler said. “We’re really doing well in the Northwest, and it’s just a matter of time before we get the break we need.”

Meanwhile, San Diego fans of the band will have ample opportunity to hear Jambay this weekend. On Friday, the foursome will perform at 4 p.m. on the steps of the UCSD Gym as part of the university’s Earth Day celebration. That night, Jambay plays Winston’s in Ocean Beach.

At noon Saturday, the group will open the New Music Festival at UCSD’s Price Center Plaza, to which admission is free. Jambay will be the only non-label-affiliated band on the bill, which includes Dread Zeppelin, No Doubt, MC 900 ft Jesus and Rage Against Machine. Also Saturday, Jambay will perform acoustically at 9 p.m. at the Rumors coffee shop in Ocean Beach.

The local rock ‘n’ reggae band Naked Earth will perform Saturday near San Diego State University in a benefit for the Dineh (Navajo) families of Big Mountain, Ariz. A $5 donation at the door is requested, with proceeds going to purchase food and other aid for the Native Americans, who are resisting a forced relocation by the federal government. Saturday’s gig is sponsored by the Big Mountain Support Committee, a project of the Alliance for Survival. Non-perishable food donations will also be accepted. Call 277-0991.

GRACE NOTES: This year’s version of the Beach Boys’ almost- annual San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium concert, originally scheduled to follow the May 3 game between the Padres and the Cardinals, has been canceled, and there are no immediate plans to reschedule it. According to sources in the Padres’ promotions office, the band still hadn’t signed the contract as of last week, and, with the date fast approaching, the decision was made to scrap the event. . . . Two shows Friday night have sold out: “Q Jam VI” at the Starlight Bowl and Soundgarden at Iguanas.

BOOKINGS: (Tickets for the following concerts will be sold at all TicketMaster outlets unless otherwise specified.) Friday night at the Spirit, Buddy Blue reprises his St. Patrick’s Day revue with “Acoustic Nightmare 2,” featuring unamplified performances by Vamp, Burning Bridges, Meatwagon’s Darryl Monroe, Jose Sinatra, Sven-Erik Seaholm and Blue. . . . The Immigrants, featuring former Gene Loves Jezebel front man Michael Aston, join Monkeypaw for a show Saturday at Winter’s.

The spring-summer country concert schedule is heating up faster than the weather. Canada’s award-winning Michelle Wright plays at In Cahoots in Mission Valley on Thursday night. Tickets are $2 in advance and $2.97 (the gig is presented by KSON (97.3-FM)) after the start of the 8 p.m. show. Call 291-1184. . . . On Sunday, popular Johnny Lee returns to Leo’s Little Bit O’ Country in San Marcos for 4:30 and 8:30 p.m. shows. Tickets are $10 general admission, $15 reserved seating. Call 744-4120. . . . Carlene Carter plays the Belly Up Tavern on May 6 (not Sound FX, as advertised). . . . Restless Heart performs two shows at Sound FX on May 14, with local country standout Calman Hart opening. Hart headlines his own show at In Cahoots on May 24. . . . Don Williams and Mike Reid team at Theatre East for two shows May 15. Tickets are $24.50 and $21.50, and are available at the box office (210 E. Main St. in El Cajon) or by calling 440-2277.

Country-folk singer-songwriter Carol McComb comes to the Palomar Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Concert Hall in Vista on May 3. Tickets are $10 at the door, and reservations are suggested. Call 630-9266. . . . Tickets go on sale Monday for the June 11 Copley Symphony Hall performance of Greek-born composer Yanni. . . . Virgin Records artists The Origin will play the La Paloma Theater on May 9; tickets on sale Friday at 3 p.m.

CRITIC’S CHOICE: CAREN GLASSER, RISING STAR IN CHILDREN’S MUSIC

Caren Glasser, whose positive motivational songs have made her a rising star in the fast-growing field of children’s music, will give a free concert Sunday on the Spreckels Organ Pavilion stage in Balboa Park. Glasser’s noon concert is sponsored by the “EarthBeat . . .Music for Mother Nature” radio show on KKOS (95.9-FM), and is part of the “San Diego EarthFair ‘92” event. Glasser, who records for Rhino Records’ subsidiary label, Kid Rhino, will stay to sign autographs. For more information, call 632-0770 or 729-5945, ext. 42.