A Happy Ex-Camper, He Hopes

Victor Hanford Krummenacher, who performs tonight in Long Beach, isn’t exactly blessed with good luck. In fact, he seems almost cursed.

Since joining the alternative rock band Camper Van Beethoven in 1983 at the age of 18, his path down the rock ‘n’ roll highway has been littered with numerous pot holes, detours and dead-ends.

At the height of its popularity in 1990, the idiosyncratic CVB broke up because of personality conflicts. Bassist Krummenacher and two other ex-Campers joined guitarist David Immergluck to form Monks of Doom--but that jazzy, neo-psychedelic quartet ultimately was dumped by IRS Records in 1993.

Other side projects featuring Krummenacher (Eugene Chadbourne, Magnet and Lava) have come and gone. He may have hit bottom two years ago when his touring band, A Great Laugh, fell apart. Just two days after lead guitarist Jason Fessel left the band to deal with drug problems, near-tragedy struck in St. Louis when drummer John Nelson was hit by a vehicle while walking across an intersection.

Nelson was sent flying, landing head first in the street. In the chaotic, frightening moments that followed, a witness helped calm him until paramedics arrived.

“John was hurt very badly. He almost lost and eye and his leg was severely fractured,” recalled Krummenacher by telephone from his San Francisco home. “Then this rapturously beautiful African American woman named Loretta--a minister’s wife who witnessed the whole thing--came over and kind of administered to him--and to the rest of us. She basically said ‘He’s still breathing...He’s gonna be all right.’ She kept us from freaking out until the ambulance took him to Saint John’s Mercy Medical Center.”

Bad Shakes Lead to Introspection

As Nelson slowly recovered from his injuries, Krummenacher returned home prepared to face his own demons. On that intense period of self-examination, he said: “I had a pretty sizable panic disorder (and) was prone to anxiety attacks....I knew I had to do something to stop the downward spiral I was caught up in.

“The only way for me to avoid the anxiety attacks was by riding my motorcycle, going to the gym or playing music. So I cleaned up--turned to caffeine instead of booze--and started writing songs based on the perspective I had from that horrible tour. I wrote everything in a two-month span, and that formed the core of my latest album.”

That solo debut, titled “Saint John’s Mercy,” was released earlier this year on Magnetic Records, the San Francisco indie label run by Krummenacher and ex-Camper Van Beethoven violinist Jonathan Segel. Backed by guitarist Greg Lisher (CVB, Monks of Doom), bassist-keyboardist Chris Xefos (King Missile) and Nelson on drums, Krummenacher plays tonight at the Blue Cafe in Long Beach. Segel, meanwhile, performs in the two supporting acts, Jack & Jill and the Container.

Using a rootsy mixture of country, folk and rock strains, “Saint John’s Mercy” speaks of Southwestern sunsets, wind-swept prairies and dusty, desolate stretches of highway, a sprawling landscape that is both romantic and lonesome, subdued yet energizing.

Featuring Krummenacher on lead vocals, guitar and bass, the eclectic material ranges from mid- and fast-tempo rocker (“Tear-Stained Road,” “Nothing Outside”) to slower, acoustic tales of love, longing and redemption. Despite life’s harsher realities, Krummenacher clings to even the slightest bit of hope. In the wistful “Questa Sunset,” the nasal-voiced singer declares: “If you watched a Questa Sunset with me / Just tonight, things would be all right.”

In the song “Saint John’s Mercy,” he offers his tribute to a woman who touched their lives with her inner strength: “I remember how Loretta shined / said you’re bleeding son / But you ain’t gone / and she slipped me loose / from the hangman’s noose.”

Now 33, Krummenacher says that after spending years working the alternative rock circuit, he’s hoping to reinvent himself as a more versatile, adult songwriter.

“I’ve really descended from the cabaret and folk singer traditions and I really love what the Texas school of singer-songwriters has given us,” he said. “I mean, ‘Wrecking Ball’ by Emmylou Harris is one of my favorite records. I’m trying to write songs that maybe Jimmie Dale Gilmore or Steve Earle would...pay some attention to.”

What about the public? In today’s hit-making culture, Krummenacher lurks on the fringes. He barely survives in that gray area that defies easy categorization, relying on low-budget self-promotion and strong word-of-mouth--that is, the Internet--just to get noticed. (His Web site is https://www.sirius.com/magnetic).

“It’s very difficult right now because the whole market has completely changed,” Krummenacher said. “What we’re seeing is the decline of the do-it-yourself ethic that allowed a band like Camper Van Beethoven to survive, and to some extent, prosper. I don’t think that really exists anymore...Everyone’s after the big, quick score. No one’s interested in developing an act or band anymore.”

Still whether cursed or not, Krummenacher marches on.

“I realize that there are a limited number of slots out there for success, so you do whatever you can to somehow make it work,” he insists. “I’m financially strapped, but I’ll risk a lot to keep making music and find a wider audience out there. My goal is to keep at this long enough until people understand what I’m doing.”

* Victor Krummenacher, Jack & Jill and the Container perform tonight at the Blue Cafe, 210 Promenade, Long Beach. 9 p.m. 21-and-over. $7 (562) 983-7111.