Not Fade Away

By now, everyone should know that Big Bad Voodoo Daddy is playing tonight at Nicholby’s in Ventura as part of the venue’s fifth-year anniversary weekend. Unless you know someone, better get in line for that one. BBVD, famous rock stars these days and soon to play during halftime at the Super Bowl, will be making its first hometown appearance in ages.

Saturday night, in a continuing yet thinly veiled ploy to make lots more money, Nicholby’s will host Ventura’s ultimate party band, Raging Arb & the Redheads. The Guy Martin Group, playing its brand of rockin’ blues, will open.

The Redheads--with 16 years’ experience but no actual redheads--belong to a group that doesn’t go away but is never around long enough to wear out its welcome. There is absolutely no danger of burnout or overwork for this band, which continues to adhere to a grueling one-gig-every-three-months schedule.

“I don’t know why we don’t play very much anymore,” singer John Drury said. “I guess it’s because we don’t look at it as a job or a have-to thing; and that way, it makes it more fun for us.”

“You know, other priorities have come into play,” guitar player Toby Emery said. “We just do it when we can now. The band used to be the No. 1 priority, but some of us have families now, so we’ve slowed down, plus it’s hard to get six or seven people together to practice.”

Five of the six original Redheads still rock. In addition to Drury and Emery, John House (Arb himself) plays bass, Ross Emery is the drummer and Glen Ansberry plays harmonica.

The current incarnation includes a couple of new Redheads. One is lead guitarist Erik LeMaire, formerly of Ariel and Enok. LeMaire replaces Bill Benson, who replaced Billy McCraw. A career Arb fan, LeMaire has seen the band so many times that, according to Drury, he probably knows their songs at a molecular level.

“He’s been down here on the beach all his life,” Drury said. “I gave him his first Mohawk when he was 12 years old, but made him promise not to tell his parents who did it. We’ve known Erik for 20 years and he’s really mellow--he can hang with anything. He’s got his own sound and we’re not going to inhibit him.”

The other new guy is former Bad Religion and Signicci drummer Pete Finestone. Which means there will now be two drummers.

“Pete is more Signicci-oriented and Ross is more Arb-oriented,” Toby Emery said. “With Pete, we don’t want to clutter the sound, but add to it and fatten things up. We’re like the Allman Brothers now.”

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The new Redhead sound--a lot like the old Redhead sound and nothing like the Allmans--is high-energy, dance-inducing bluesy rock, as though the Rolling Stones had gone to the beach.

Going back to their beginnings, the band is once again starting its set with “I’m a Man” and ending festivities with a lengthy jam version of “Not Fade Away.”

“We want people to get up because we know they didn’t come to sit,” Emery said.

Over the years, a series of transgressions too numerous to itemize has left the Redheads with a notorious legacy: For a while, even the Black Death had better publicity. They may have mellowed, but the Redhead attitude of part Yosemite Sam and part beer remains. Drury explains:

“The attitude is pretty much not a No. 1 priority anymore, but it’s still an important part of our lives. I guess people expect it because at the gigs, all that adrenaline starts to flow again.”

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And the Redheads may put some of that excess energy to use, causing them to play twice in one month. A benefit is in the works for the family of slaying victim Kali Manley. Her father, Chuck Manley, used to book the bands at the former Charlie’s in Ventura, the funniest music venue ever. The Redheads, Spencer the Gardener, Durango 95, Primitive Radio Gods (formerly the I-Rails) and Big Wheel Deluxe are some of the bands that have been contacted. Stay tuned.

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And finally, the Redheads are actually making some new music. They released a vinyl album in 1984, then a CD in 1994 and are threatening another new album before the end of the millennium. It will have about half a dozen songs in varying states of readiness, Emery said.

“We’re cutting the time in half. The first CD took 10 years, and now this will be done in five years. Maybe we can do the next one in 2 1/2 years,” he said.

Drury, who runs the Beach Hut in Ventura, continues the thought: “I think we’d rather put our energy into writing songs for a new album instead of putting the energy into practicing for a live gig. There’s no career-driven thing here anymore, but we are driven to write good songs and record them.”

* Raging Arb & the Redheads and the Guy Martin Group at Nicholby’s, 404 E. Main St., Ventura, 9:30 p.m. Saturday. Cost: $6. Call: 653-2320.