Getting Inked

Except for Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, no one ever gets signed from around here, right? So goes the party line.

A notable exception would be 8Stops7, a quintet of locals that was signed and is alive and well, chasing and living those MTV dreams without having to suffer through the whole L.A. schmooze thing.

Fillmore’s Evan Sula-Goff, the lead singer of 8Stops7, will do an hourlong solo acoustic set at 66 California as part of the Young Songwriter’s Showcase set for the last Wednesday of every month. The event is the brainchild of Brian Parra, who has his own group, the wacky American Cheese Band. The criteria are easy--be young (under 30) and have songs. Joining Sula-Goff on the bill will be Tina Poppy and the Mudlers.

8Stops7 played just about every local club in Ventura and Santa Barbara for a couple of years, then found the right management team, released an independent album, then enjoyed the bidding war. The group eventually signed with Reprise, where it continues to live long and prosper as well as tour extensively.

Part of the group’s success has to do with a former unlikely venue, the Bombay Bar & Grill in Ventura, once home to cover bands, but now the best place to see original, affordable local music. Even the dreaded karaoke has a part to play in all this, as Sula-Goff tells it:

How’s the 8Stops7 biz?

It’s good. Right now we’re going in to do our next album and we’re writing songs. We have two albums out, but only one on the label. We put out one ourselves called “Birth of a Cynic.” The new one actually came out almost two years ago and is called “In Moderation.” We sold about 8,000 copies of the first one, just around here. . . . I was in other bands, such as Water’s Edge and Haven’s Window, plus a couple of other bands that never had names. I’ve been playing in bands since I was 15.

*

No one ever gets signed from around here, except Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and you guys. What happened?

I would have to say a lot of luck and being in the right place at the right time. We didn’t go to L.A. but actually stayed around here, and we hooked up with our manager. The first show we ever played was at Cafe Voltaire when it was still downtown, at like midnight. Everybody I knew showed up and totally packed out the patio. Then we just started playing around at the Victoria Pub, Nicholby’s and Bombay. The Bombay is pretty much the only place besides the Ventura Theatre we play since we started touring as this band.

*

Where did you guys go?

Pretty much you name it. New York to Washington to San Diego to Florida and everywhere in between. The most people we played for was 25,000 at a radio festival with about 15 other bands. During the first six months we were playing clubs, and maybe nine times out of 10, there would be nobody there. Then as we started getting more radio play, we’d start to pack them in at places like Spokane, Wash., a place we’d never played in our lives.

*

Was the road what you expected?

It was better. I never really had any expectations. I just hoped that once we started that we would be able to survive as a band because I had heard all the horror stories. We’ve had a blast. I wouldn’t trade all the experiences we’ve had together for anything in the world. For the most part, when you’re touring, you only get to spend at the most a day in any town. Usually it’s motel to gas station to club to radio festival and so forth. We got to spend a couple days in Seattle . . . a couple days in Key West, Fla., a day in Orlando, then stopped off here and there. It was just great seeing all the wide open country.

*

What were some of your memorable gigs?

Oh man, I guess it would have to be certain pairings of bands we’ve been with. We played two weeks with Kenny Wayne Shepherd, then we played a week with Veruca Salt, both completely different bands but for some reason, we were opening for both of them. We’ve also played with bands like Biohazard, Anthrax, Slipknot and Suicidal Tendencies. We have some heavier tunes but nothing that would compare to those hard-core thrash bands, but the crowd was really receptive.

*

How would you describe 8Stops7’s music?

It’s definitely like an alternative rock--it fits into that genre, or even just straight rock. We don’t use any electronic stuff--we just plug in our guitars and run it through distortion, and that’s about it. We have two guitar players, a bass player, a drummer and me. We do everything from heavy thrash tunes to ballads and everything in between. We all listen to so many different things, we just wanted to keep ourselves open.

*

One of your bios says you guys are from Santa Barbara, but obviously, you’re not. So where is everyone really from?

I’m from Fillmore. Adam Powell and Alex Viveros are from Santa Paula, and Aaron Johnson and Seth Watson are from Ventura. Our earlier bio, which pretty much was our manager’s doing, did say we were from Santa Barbara. In the beginning, he was trying to get us to play up there, and he decided the best thing would be for us to say we were from there. And in a way, it totally helped. Just by saying we were from there, the line to get a gig there became a lot shorter, but in interviews, we would always say where we were from.

*

What do you think of the local scene?

Since I’ve been around the scene for about 10 years, I’ve seen it grow and die probably three times. I think right now, there’s quite a few good bands coming up, and it helped when Bombay kind of revamped their whole back room. We’d go in there and sing karaoke every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Bands like us, Colyzion and Psycho Cafe showed them that it could work and they could still make money and support the local rock music scene. Ever since the Bombay opened up the back room, the local scene has started to grow again.

*

What’s the story on this acoustic gig?

I’m going to play some songs off the first album, and I may bring in a couple of guys from the band to do a couple of songs, but I haven’t decided yet. I used to play acoustic in coffee shops all the time. I’ve got so many songs to pull from, right now I’m just running through them looking for the best ones.

DETAILS

Young Songwriter’s Showcase with Evan Sula-Goff, Tina Poppy and the Mudlers at 66 California, 66 California St., Ventura; 7 p.m. Wednesday; $3; 648-2266.

*

The Rincon Ramblers, those acoustic country-bluegrass-folk-what the heck superstars, will play their first local gig in a while when they take the stage at Zoey’s in Ventura tonight. Among the best musicians in the area, the Ramblers have an album, “The Green Rolling Hills of La Conchita.”

They also have a million songs in their vast repertoire and boast all-star players, locals one and all. Jon Wilcox, who is also in Marley’s Ghost, plays guitar and sings. Dan Wilson, also in the Tatters and the Jonathan Raffetto Band, plays bass, guitar and sings. Bill Flores, an eighth-generation Venturan, plays Dobro, pedal steel guitar, accordion, banjo and guitar. Phil Salazar, who is also in Acadiana, is a world-class fiddle player.

Wilson described the band dynamics: “We’re the sum of all of our parts, and we’re definitely not just a bluegrass band. This band is almost like a mini-festival all in one. We can do swing stuff, soul stuff, and sometimes we almost have a Grateful Dead feel. We get into some pretty long jams sometimes. Anyone in this band could front a band of their own and be the dominant one.”

DETAILS

The Rincon Ramblers at Zoey’s, 451 E. Main St., Ventura; 8 p.m. today; free; 652-1137.

*

The Original Sinners fronted by Exene Cervenka, formerly of X, will highlight a free three-band extravaganza Saturday night at Rocket Fuel in Ventura. Opening will be retro country rockers the Dead Billys and buzz-saw country rockers Luck of the Draw.

Cervenka and John Doe started X almost 25 years ago, choosing the name because it fit the punk rock attitude and didn’t mean anything. The band, however, meant plenty to a lot of people, defining the whole L.A. punk scene for many years. These days, Cervenka plays the occasional X show and she and Doe are writing together again; she also writes poetry.

The venue is a retro coffee shop with modern-day caffeine and vintage posters of James Dean and Marilyn Monroe on the walls, along with flyers from bands of the Americana persuasion such as the Blasters. Cervenka is philosophical about the future.

“I didn’t do this to become famous,” said Cervenka, discussing her days with X. “I have another band called the Original Sinners that I’ve been playing with for more than a year, and no one would sign us because we’re not 20 anymore.”

DETAILS

The Original Sinners, Luck of the Draw, the Dead Billys at Rocket Fuel, 2855-X Johnson Drive, Ventura; 8 p.m. Saturday; free; 642-2119.

*

Bill Locey can be reached by e-mail at blocey@pacbell.net