It’s Happening in Indio This Friday, December 11th @ 9 p.m.
By Lisa Morgan
It all started simply enough. The 20 year old that had thoughts of becoming a carpenter, went out with a couple of friends one weekend to a club they’d been hearing about. Jerry Miller could not have known that his world would be turned upside down that night. That club, the O.N. Klub in Silver Lake, California, would soon become a focal point of the city’s nascent mod/ska subculture, and Miller would find himself right smack dab in the center of it, soon to become an icon.
“DJ Howard Paar played all the Brit Pop, Ska and Motown that we loved to dance to,” says Miller. “Immediately, my whole way of thinking, of dancing – my entire connection to music changed.” By all accounts, the scene that developed was an odd musical metallurgy of the sounds and styles of 1960’s swinging London, the music of original and second-wave Jamaican and English ska, and American Sixties soul and R&B. At the helm was Howard Paar, a young British music enthusiast, who coerced property owner, Bob Selva, into turning his property into a music club. “It became a melting pot for those Mod kids from neighboring cities who had nowhere else to go,” Miller reminisced. “It just blew up. The place had a capacity of 150 but they’d cram about 175 – 200 in there. All the underage kids, about 200 of them, would hang out in the parking lot, making it even more of a scene. This little place on Sunset Boulevard, full of Mods and Modettes, their Vespas or Lambrettas, playing music out of their cars or on blasters – that is how it all started. We would all police it and watch out for everybody. I mean, it wasn’t a bad neighborhood, but there were elements there, and there were kids as young as 14 or 15 years old. We all looked out for each other. It seemed to work or we were lucky. I think the vibe was so good and so real, that people respected it. Even if they weren’t into it, they respected it. It was mind blowing to see. We didn’t know what we were doing – it just kind of happened. The band formed in 1980, we started playing clubs in 1981, and things really started growing. It was so much fun. I get goose-bumps thinking about it, after all this time.”
CVW: With 35 years of music under your belt, what are some of your most memorable experiences?
Miller: “I have to say, the thing that tops the list is hearing our record on KROQ for the first time. Man, KROQ was so good to us. There was a time you could show up at KROQ and say, “Hey, I got this song… There were always kids hanging out there.”
“Then there was the first time we went to England; that was mind blowing. We were ready for it and we weren’t ready for it. I mean to see big posters of The Untouchables on the side of buildings, people recognizing us so far away from home… We had sent a video that got great response, but we had no idea until we got there, just how great. People were waiting for us to arrive. We were pretty humble guys, and fans of the culture and music ourselves. We really had no idea we’d get that kind of reception. The first place I went when we landed in Heathrow was Carnaby Street. It was like Disneyland.”
CVW: You’ve shared stages with bands like The B-52’s, Black Uhuru, Bow Wow Wow, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Fishbone, No Doubt and X. Who did you like touring with most?
Miller: “We toured with a lot of really cool bands, but touring with UB40 was special. They were so cool to us. Even though they were the veterans, they showed so much respect for us.”
CVW: What was it like for you guys on the set of Repo Man with Emilio Estevez?
Miller: “Ramon Estevez was our first manager, so we’d played for about five birthday parties for the family – for Ramon, Emilio, Renee, Charlie and Martin. Martin would come in to see us play at the O.N. Klub, so being around that family wasn’t unusual for us. What was memorable though, was filming in a Latin neighborhood. Many of the neighbors would just be going about their day, doing their thing and playing their music. The music would get loud sometimes, and bleed through the filming, so the crew went door to door paying people $40 to turn their music down. Pretty soon, everyone was playing their music loud so they could get paid too.”
CVW: The music industry has changed drastically since you first started playing. Top of mind, what do you think has changed the most, for better or worse?
Miller: “We were lucky. We had a bunch of kids that didn’t just want to stay home on their computers, but wanted to come out and be a part of something. They were just waiting for someone to spearhead the scene. Our fans are what made us. Thousand of kids put us on their shoulders and said, ‘This is OUR band.’ I don’t know if that kind of thing could ever happen again.”
While there have been many changes in the industry over the years, and even among the members of The Untouchables themselves, one thing has remained – the positive and absolutely dance inspiring energy of the music and its delivery. “We play a little better after all this time, but it still has this rawness to it… it just makes me smile,” shared Miller as our interview came to a close. This show is guaranteed to take you to another place and time with its timeless, positive energy. With tragedy striking so close to home here in the recent weeks, The Untouchables may be just what you need.
The Untouchables will be at The Date Shed in Indio this Friday night, with local award winning band, Spankshaft, opening. Doors open at 9:00 pm. Tickets can be purchased for $10 in advance at www.dateshedmusic.com or for $15 at the door (and there will be plenty of room to park your Vespa).
