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1/14: Dead Hot Workshop and the Pistoleros by Ed Masley - Jan. 10, 2012 The Republic | azcentral.com Dead Hot Workshop and the Pistoleros helped put Long Wong's on the map back in the '90s, when the Tempe music scene was being touted as the next Seattle and the Gin Blossoms were tearing up the pop charts. This weekend, they're sharing a stage with fellow Long Wong's fixtures Ghetto Cowgirl at the Valley's latest destination venue, the Crescent Ballroom. The Pistoleros, Dead Hot Workshop, Ghetto Cowgirl When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 14. Where: Crescent Ballroom, 308 N. Second Ave., Phoenix. Admission: $8-$10. Details: 602-716-2222, crescentphx.com. As Pistolero Lawrence Zubia says with a laugh, "It is a very typical early '90s Long Wong's weekend." The beloved Tempe venue's former booking agent Sara Cina even made the poster for this weekend's show -- in the style of the fliers she did in the '90s. "It was a fun time," says Dead Hot Workshop's Curtis Grippe, who also plays in Ghetto Cowgirl. "I left a lot of sweat up on that stage." Of course, he had more opportunities to sweat back in the '90s. Dead Hot Workshop played only two gigs last year, although they have been anxious to record their first new album in at least five years. "I've been so busy with the studio," says Grippe, who runs Stem Recordings in Phoenix. "And (singer-songwriter) Brent (Babb's) been busy with work. "Last year just kind of slipped away from us. There was no real reason behind it. It's just life as you get older, with kids and everything else. It gets away from you." It feels the same, though, when he does play. "In the early '90s, when people were getting signed and everything, there was a lot of excitement," Grippe says. "But I'm every bit as excited to play this coming show as I was any others. I get nervous. It's still fun for me. The minute it's not fun? You won't see me anymore." One thing that has changed, Grippe says, is they've gotten better. And he's not sure that's a good thing. "We still do songs that we did in the '90s," he says. "But in the early days, it was more frantic. We're much better musicians now and, on some level, that's taken a weird toll. Back when we were barely hanging on, it was more exciting than it is now. And I know that's kind of weird, but there was something almost punk about it. It was like trying to scramble over a fence and not knowing whether you're gonna make it. "Now, we have a little more control over what we're doing, so there's not that element of, 'Are we going to make it to the end of the song or not?' " The Pistoleros don't play out as often as they did then, either. "We play every Christmas Eve," Zubia says. "And, of course, my brother Mark and I have been playing in our own bands for the past five years or so. He's in Los Guys, and I'm in the Persuaders. "But we just decided that we're going to go in the studio the last week in January and record some songs as the Zubia brothers. And a couple of the Pistoleros are gonna come in and lay down their particular instruments." He says that doesn't necessarily mean a Pistoleros album. Then, he laughs and says, "We'll see what happens since everyone is showing up that was in the band before." Zubia doesn't like to push the Pistoleros thing too hard at this point. "I don't think we actively avoid it," he says. "But you know, if you look at the Allman Brothers, the Gallagher brothers, the Kinks ... brothers in a rock-and-roll band? It doesn't always turn out perfect. So before everything got all out of control or weird, Mark and I just decided to kind of unconsciously take a break and go in our own directions for a little while. It was amicable. He's still my little brother, and I love him to death. But I kind of bowed out for a while. I took a sabbatical for about five years from rock and roll entirely. I just walked away from it. I needed to. I'd been doing in for 15, 16, 17 years straight, and I needed to kind of take a step back and just chill out a little while." His main gig since he came out of retirement is fronting the Persuaders with two members of the Pistoleros and two other veterans of the Tempe music scene -- Jim Swafford of the Peacemakers and Phillip Rhodes of the Gin Blossoms. The Persuaders will release a 10-song record in about three weeks, he says. In the meantime, he's thrilled to be sharing a stage with Dead Hot Workshop. "I'm just gonna say the typical thing that all these Tempe people say," Zubia says, with a laugh. "They are my favorite band. Brent is my favorite songwriter. I'm talking Eddie Vedder, Bob Dylan, Jim Morrison, Brent Babb. I really think Brent is an unsung rock star/songwriter." Reach the reporter at ed.masley@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4495. Twitter.com/EdMasley. |