No Days Off

In what is virtually a home game for those raucous road dogs named after a car, the Cadillac Angels will be throwing an all-ages CD release party tonight at Rocket Fuel in Ventura. One of the few working bands in the area that actually survives by playing music, the Santa Barbara-based Angels, formerly the Roadhouse Rockers, have been around a long time. Their latest album is “Playing With Fire.”

The Angels are the danceable result of the long-term partnership between front man-singer-guitar player Tony Balbinot and upright bass player Micky Rae. The band used to play retro rockabilly, but the Angels have broadened their horizons over time to become a sort of roots rock-hillbilly-surf band, having been influenced by the likes of the Beatles, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Duane Eddy and one of Balbinot’s idols, legendary guitarist Link Wray.

The band tours incessantly, but when at home, the group has sponsored the Rockabilly Roundup, which this year became the American Music Bash. It’s been one of Santa Barbara’s most successful charity fund-raisers for a dozen years.

As to the venue, Rocket Fuel is a retro coffee shop that seems time-warped out of 1958. Located in a mall on Johnson Drive in Ventura, the place is small, and because any live band can get mighty loud, the fans inevitably end up standing out on the sidewalk.

Balbinot discussed the gig and more during a recent interview.

Your new album “Playing With Fire” has a 1999 date on it; what’s up with that?

That’s when it was recorded, but it’s just now being released in your neck of the woods. That’s our newest release, and I believe, that’s No. 7, and we have No. 8 in the can. We’re negotiating with an independent label in Phoenix, Hayden’s Ferry Records.

How long has the band been together?

Micky Rae and I have been playing together for 15 years now, and the drummer, Cowboy Bob, has been with us for two years. We don’t even talk about the other band much anymore. That was a whole different group. It was a four-piece that did a lot of covers. We do a couple of covers now, but we pretty much do all originals. We’ve put out five albums as the Cadillac Angels, and at last count, I’ve written about 340 songs.

So why are you the Cadillac Angels and not the Rambler or Yugo Angels?

Because a lady almost killed me in a Cadillac. I was riding my bicycle after a band rehearsal and this old lady who could barely see over the top of her steering wheel ran me off the road. So there I was sitting on the curb, and all I see are these angels with bobbing heads in the back of her car as she drove off. It was like a rolling shrine. She had four or five Virgin Marys, a bunch of plastic Jesuses on the dash and all those angels. She didn’t even see me. We were looking for a new name anyway. We had found 12 other bands with the name Roadhouse Rockers, so you can sort of say I stumbled or fell into that name.

What do you think the band sounds like?

Well, Hayden’s Ferry is an Americana label and some DJs seem to think of Americana as more country-sounding, but Dave Alvin tends to think any American music is Americana. When we fill out applications for festivals to describe our music, they’ll list all these categories for the style of music you play but there’s always one category that’s not there--rock ‘n’ roll. So I just call what we do rock ‘n’ roll.

So is the Americana category a good thing, or have people just run out of adjectives?

Well, I think Americana is a good thing if they stay at it. You can go into some of the bigger record stores, or I should say hip record stores, and there’s an Americana section. You’ll see any number of bands we’ve shared the bill with before--everyone from Trish Munoz to Dave Alvin. I mean, how do you classify someone like Link Wray?

I remember his song “Jack the Ripper” from a long time ago.

We played with him twice and I managed to get a private sitting with him backstage after a gig in San Francisco. He was very nice, and he asked me how long I’d been listening to his music, and I told him that actually my mom got me hooked on electric guitar. I told him she had come all the way up here too. He said, “Get her in here, I like moms.” So he sent the security guys out there to get her. After they introduced themselves, my mom told him, “Well, you keep practicing and one of these days, you’ll be as good as my son.” He turned to me and said, “See, that’s why I like moms--they’re always in your corner.” He got the biggest kick out of that while I was feeling about 2 inches tall.

Along with Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and very few others, your band is one of the few successful groups from this area I can think of--how have you managed to survive?

Micky Rae and I have been supporting ourselves playing original music for about eight years now. Sometimes I forget that. Once in a while, someone will come up to me in a record store or somewhere and congratulate me for doing what I love and making a living off it. You get into anything long enough, and you don’t necessarily take it for granted, but it’s just kind of the rut you’re in. Then when somebody on the outside is cheering for you, it’s kind of like, “Oh yeah, I forget--a lot of people don’t like what they do.”

That’s right. A lot of people hate their jobs.

But I really do love mine. I had a point in time where I’d be thinking “What am I doing in this bar?” because our environments change so quickly. One day I’ll be at the most prestigious club in San Francisco and the next night, I’m in Coalinga at somebody’s 50th birthday party. But then again, these people hired us because they want to hear what we do and not our version of somebody else’s songs. And that’s hip and I will go to Coalinga and do that because I’m more at ease with that now. We’re still getting to play the songs we’ve written and the songs we’ve worked hard to develop. We’re not up there playing Buck Owens. I’ll play anywhere anyone wants to hear what we do.

How often does the band play?

We do about three gigs a week. We’ve had two weekends off in one year during the last 12 years. I haven’t taken a vacation in a long time because I love what I do and I love to travel. You get to see lots of things. It looks like we’ll be going to England in June and maybe Italy in August, and we’re going out on the road again in May with Wanda Jackson.

What’s the secret of surviving on the road?

The secret is don’t drink and work . . . and eat right, exercise and keep your head clear. If you eat right and exercise, then you can get up, because we don’t have drivers and we don’t have roadies. If you have to drive 10 hours, you don’t party, then get up, because then your show’s going to stink.

Who goes to see the band?

It depends on where we’re at. In Arizona, which is our home away from home, we attract college-age along with blue-collar; and I mean heavy blue-collar like biker types. The bikers have been really loyal to us. . . . In the Midwest, there’s really a lot of young women that look up to Micky Rae. They see pictures of her standing on her bass and they think “Wow,” because she really is in a man’s world. I know for a fact that we’ve lost some gigs because the other guy that plays upright bass doesn’t want her on stage. You know, musicians are insecure anyway, and we get those guys who think women don’t belong up here. It’s mostly those die-hard rockabilly types.

What’s the story on this gig?

Well, we needed a gig in Ventura that was all ages. In other towns, we end up with kids hanging around out front that can’t get in. I think that’s kind of strange because if you’re 18, you can vote and get drafted but you’re not old enough to go into a club and see a band.

What advice do you have for aspiring musicians?

Don’t let people pull you down or pollute your mind, taking the wind out of your sails, breaking your spirit. People do that sometimes unknowingly, unconsciously, probably because they’re unhappy. It’s not easy going against the grain. The other day I drove past the old Burroughs Corp. building in Goleta where I used to work, and three or four of the supervisors had strokes and are dead now, and for what? It was a cockeyed approach to life, and a cockeyed sense of priorities.

DETAILS

Cadillac Angels and the Phantom Riders at Rocket Fuel, 2855-X Johnson Drive, Ventura; 8 p.m. today; free; 642-2119.

*

One of the smaller armies in recent memory, the Army of Freshmen--all six of them--will be hosting a free all-ages CD release party tonight at the House of Praise in Ventura. After a couple of EPs, the band’s self-titled debut will be released on Blue Hand Records. Opening at 7:30 will be Psycho Cafe.

The Army, peerless purveyors of “offbeat mojo folk engaged in Wagnerian combat against the sick dawn of the electronic age,” are the result after front man Chris Jay wrote something like 500 songs and drove out here alone in a van from New Jersey to start a band, claiming influence by the likes of Weezer and They Might Be Giants.

The band played its first gig at Bagel Rock in 1997 and has played all over town since, including a hometown show at the Warped Tour last summer.

They’re going on tour themselves next month.

“We’re going to be gone all summer with this tour, and I’m hoping it’s rock ‘n’ roll time from now on,” Jay said. “We leave for this tour on May 20 and our first date is in Utah. It’s called the Extreme Moto Music Madness Tour.”

The new album was produced by Jay Ferguson of Spirit fame and recorded at his studio in Montecito. This show will be the first musical event at this venue, located in the industrial part of Ventura. Jay, for one, is all excited.

“It’s going to be strong, dude. All ages. Free. The venue is very cool--it’s like a mini concert hall. We’re hoping to get 300 people there.”

DETAILS

Army of Freshmen and Psycho Cafe at the House of Praise, 1956 Palma Drive, Ventura; 8 p.m. today; free; 644-2729.

*

Ojai’s favorite Scottish musicians, the Battlefield Band, will return to the heart of their Ventura County fan base for the eighth time at a Tuesday-night show at Matilija Junior High School. These veteran players, along with new member Katrine Polwart on vocals and guitar, will bring to life the band’s motto, “Forward With Scotland’s Past.”

The Battlefield Band has been together for more than three decades and features Highland pipes, Scottish small pipes, fiddle, accordion, keyboards, guitar, flute and whistle. Dedicated to the stirring music of Scotland’s past, the band plays reels, marches, ballads and about everything else in between. Named for the Battlefield section of Glasgow, the band has released 20 albums, its latest being “Happy Daze.” There should be no shortage of material.

DETAILS

The Battlefield Band at Matilija Junior High School, 703 El Paseo Road, Ojai; 7:30 p.m. Tuesday; $15 advance or $17 at the door; 646-5163.

* Bill Locey can be reached by e-mail at [email protected].