They’re Not Rockabilly

A big Cinco de Mayo rockabilly bash is coming to the Ban-Dar in Ventura on Saturday night, headlined by the Paladins. Buzzsaw rockers Luck of the Draw also will be on the bill, although they are definitely not rockabilly. They play so fast, they could incinerate Brylcreem and a ’57 Chevy.

The gearhead greaser connection will be readily apparent, with a classic car show in the parking lot. Old, huge gas-guzzlers are the rides of choice here--think ’67 Chrysler or ’58 Cadillac or some other heavily armored vehicle.

Luck of the Draw is fronted by guitar player Todd Bugs--he will be the guy in the ugly, battered cowboy hat--and includes Ed Kasper on lead guitar, Chris Blackavar on drums and Ricky Reyes on bass. As usual, they are a bunch of guys from somewhere else.

“We’ve been Luck of the Draw for like pushing five years,” Bugs said. “We’re pretty much from all over. Chris has been a Southern California boy and I used to live in Nebraska, Ed was in Arkansas and Ricky was in Kansas. So we’re from all over the place, and we’ve all been in different bands, and it just kind of came together. We met in Southern California.”

As with most out-of-staters, Luck of the Draw chose to pursue its rock-star dreams in Los Angeles, because that is where all the labels are. But the downside of the L.A. scene became quickly apparent.

“It’s such a clique and you have to fit in with the right people,” Bugs said. “Especially when we were down there, there wasn’t much of a scene for the type of stuff we do. There was a lot of metal and a lot of that rap-core stuff, and the Bar Deluxe in Hollywood was the one club that had Wayne Hancock and Hank Williams III, and just the country side of it. And once they closed, then it was really pretty bad--everyone just kind of wandered around for a while, then a lot of people moved to Bakersfield.”

The band set its sights farther west, though.

“We moved up here maybe three years ago and we’ve been trying to concentrate on the Ventura and Santa Barbara area,” Bugs said. “I’m starting to like it, but it took me awhile. . . . At first it was really tough to get people to come see us, and the scene was almost like L.A., where you had to know people to come see you. It was just a little difficult at first.”

This will be Luck of the Draw’s second gig at the Ban-Dar. The band’s most happening local venue however, is the Red Cove in Ventura, a former dive bar that has been upgraded and now has live music on weekends while still offering quarter pool.

“What we did was we played anywhere that would let us,” Bugs said. “We played the Roadhouse [in Oxnard] and we played Nicholby’s. . . . We played the Red Cove a couple of times and it wasn’t even that packed, then all of a sudden we started getting the buzz. The record came out, people were buying it and I was getting recognized on the street. Now we do really well at the Red Cove. We pull a big crowd there.”

Bugs was inspired by a number of eclectic artists such as Ozzy Osbourne, Johnny Cash, Johnny Horton and early American punkers such as Black Flag. While there is certainly some country influences in there, don’t call them a rockabilly band. They have much more in common with local rockers Jackass than they do with the Paladins.

“We get called rockabilly a lot and that really bothers me,” Bugs said. “I’m getting really sick of the ties--that whole tag. I guess it’s because we’ve played with a whole lot of those bands. We’ve been called twisted country and I kind of like that, or cowpunk. It’s definitely not twangy guitars--it’s more in your face.”

So far, Luck of the Draw has one seven-inch CD and appearances on a trio of compilation albums. Plus, it has another CD due in two months. The master plan for the band includes more touring in the middle of the month to Las Vegas, then three dates in Utah. The guys have been across the United States already, so they have the road-dog scenario figured out. But does the crowd have them figured out?

“It depends,” Bugs said. “Sometimes they dance, sometimes they stare, sometimes they throw stuff.”

DETAILS

The Paladins, Thirteen Stars, 18 Wheeler, Phantom Rider, Relapse and Luck of the Draw at the Ban-Dar, 3005 E. Main St., Ventura; 9 p.m. Saturday; $5 with classic car, $10 without; 642-2119 or 643-4420.

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Many bands pretend to be somebody else. All those Elvis impersonators are a mini-industry unto themselves, and there are more than 100 so-called tribute bands in SoCal alone.

Many of them can be found with regularity at the Ban-Dar in Ventura. There are Grateful Dead tribute bands, Doors tribute bands, Kinks tribute bands, Led Zeppelin tribute bands, Eagles tribute bands, even a Partridge Family tribute band--the list is endless.

Imagine, who will perform tonight, is one of the best Beatles tribute bands. Since Paul, George and Ringo probably won’t be playing any time soon, this is about as good as it gets, apart from closing your eyes and listening to a CD.

The fake Fab Four starts its set wearing suits and skinny ties, just like the real thing from “The Ed Sullivan Show,” but without Ed. There is no left-handed bass player and the drummer’s nose is too small, but these guys certainly sound right. Imagine has the inflections figured out perfectly and the lyrics are completely audible, probably because those million screaming teenage girls have all grown up.

Imagine’s repertoire runs from “Love Me Do” to “Let It Be” and the band does 60 Beatles songs with costume changes over three sets.

DETAILS

Imagine at the Ban-Dar; 9 p.m. Friday; $10; 643-4420.

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Suzanne Paris, that tall Texan who is just about the best singer in these parts, will bring her brand of folk rock Saturday night to the jangled but attentive folks at Butler’s Brew House in Simi Valley. They brew coffee there, not beer.

“This is a very classy place with a very loyal clientele,” Paris said. “The guy who owns the place used to have a coffee cart in Simi Valley somewhere, and he built his clientele before he opened his shop. He loves music and he played my CD there for a week, and when I came to play, there were 40 or 50 people there and the place was packed.”

Paris is working her latest CD, “Pink Lipstick,” a collection of her own originals plus a few by her partner, David Holster. Although she is running low on gigs, she will do a solo acoustic show at 66 California on May 15 and then a birthday bash at Genghis Cohen in L.A. on May 20.

It’s worth the drive to any of these gigs just to hear Paris sing “Primordial Vibration” or her steamy cover of Kathleen Wilhoite’s “Wish We Never Met,” a song that could elicit tears from a statue of J. Edgar Hoover.

DETAILS

Suzanne Paris at Butler’s Brew House, 575 Country Club Drive, Simi Valley; 8 p.m. Saturday; free; 577-5980.