In the liner notes for Be a Caveman, Greg Shaw recalls those heady days:  “At the end of the 1970’s, there was no scene for ’60s garage music.  No label released it.  Less than a handful of bands played it.  Then came Voxx Records, and over the course of a decade, everything changed.  Voxx was as much a concept as a record label.  The idea was to present young bands doing pure mid-’60’s roots music, garage, psych, surf, beat, folk-rock, and various hybrids thereof. . . .  The catalyst was a young San Diego combo called the Crawdaddys, who actually came to me via a very good new wave band, the Hitmakers.” 

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As Ron Silva of the Crawdaddys left high school, he advertised for a rock band that he was thinking of forming; after being contacted by vocalist Jeff Scott (who had just left the seminal punk band the Dils) and drummer Josef Marc, he instead became the guitarist in their new band called the Hitmakers.  They quickly became part of the growing DIY music scene in San Diego.  A joint show in 1977 at the Adams Avenue Theatre by the Hitmakers, the Dils and the Zeros was the first big punk rock concert in the city.  Later Steve Potterf joined the Hitmakers as their second guitarist, and Joel Kmak became their new drummer. 

The renown of the Hitmakers grew through the state, and the band decided to relocate to San Francisco.  The day before they left town, the band fired Steve Potterf because they said that they didn’t like his attitude.  About two days later, Ron Silva decided to start his own band that became the Crawdaddys. 

Jeff Scott phoned Ron Silva, and they patched things up over Silva’s leaving the Hitmakers.  Scott was about to go to L.A. to play their band’s demo tape for Greg Shaw at Bomp! Records, and he offered to bring him and Steve Potterf along if they could lay down some tracks first.  The Crawdaddys assembled in the Silva garage and recorded two original songs plus Chuck Berry’s “Oh Baby Doll” and Bo Diddley’s “Tiger in Your Tank”. 

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Meanwhile, back in San Diego, drummer Dan McLain was in another band called the Penetrators that was being courted by major record labels; and Steve Potterf also played with the Upbeats, his side project with Paris Trent – this band was thinking of moving to Los Angeles.  Steve Potterf left first in late 1979, and Dan McLain left the Crawdaddys in 1980.  The 16-year-old guitarist Peter Miesner joined up on guitar, while the drummer was, briefly, Joel Kmak, who had previously been in the Hitmakers.  Keith Fisher was added later on keyboards. 

(January 2015/2)