Cardiff-Based Guitar Maker Scores a Hit on Rock Scene

When the Canadian heavy metal band Slik Toxik opens for guitar hero Yngwie Malmsteen at Sound FX on Sunday, guitarists Rob Bruce and Kevin Gale will be playing electric axes custom-made for them by local luthier Pat Bubien. The two guitars represent the first installment in a recently inked, one-year endorsement deal between the Capitol Records artists and Bubien’s one-man, Cardiff-based company, Guitarification.

The agreement calls for Bubien to deliver six guitars to Bruce and Gale within the year, during which time the two will (publicly) play only Guitarification instruments. Bubien, 23, has been creating guitars since 1985, when a friend visiting from New Jersey showed him the ropes.

“When I finished my first guitar, I said, ‘This is what I want to do for the rest of my life,’ ” Bubien said in a phone conversation earlier this week. Two years later, Bubien crafted “Spooky,” a ghost-shaped instrument that won a blue ribbon in the woodworking competition at the Del Mar Fair.

In 1990, Bubien rented an exhibitors’ booth at the Foundations Forum, a national hard rock/heavy metal convention held in L.A. There, he was approached by such major-label rockers as Jerry Cantrell (Alice in Chains), Jani Lane (Warrant), and Alex Masi (Masi).

Since then, the Torrey Pines High School grad has made electric guitars for Jan Kuehnemund of the EMI Records band, Vixen, as well as for such San Diego musicians as Wild Truth’s Sven-Erik Seaholm and Flyweil’s Danny Donnelly (guitar) and Steve Kelly (bass). Last year, Bubien received a phone call from Slik Toxik’s manager. The band was impressed with Bubien’s work and wanted to make a proposal.

“According to our contract, (Slik Toxik is) only paying me for the cost of materials, because I can’t afford to do it completely for free,” Bubien said. “But it’s worth it to me because I expect to get a lot of national exposure and referrals out of this.”

Recently, Bubien got national exposure of another sort. He had made a clock in the shape of a small, red guitar for Riki Rachtman, host of MTV’s hard-rock segment, “Headbangers Ball.” Rachtman displayed the item on the air and raved about Bubien’s skills, prompting a flood of calls to Guitarification. But until the calls bring more money, Bubien must keep his day job--making custom doors for Jensen Door Systems in Carlsbad.

“I’m not making much money at (making guitars) right now,” he allowed. “But my goal is to make guitars full time. Hopefully, the Slik Toxik deal will get me a little closer to that goal.”

GRACE NOTES: The San Diego Original Music Assn. has organized a benefit concert for Camp Stepping Stone, a summer retreat for children with rheumatoid diseases, sponsored by the San Diego Area Chapter of the Arthritis Foundation. “Camp Rock ‘n’ Roll” will take place Saturday at the Organ Pavilion in Balboa Park. Featured performers include CiCi Porter (noon), Kathryn Calling (1 p.m.), Big Talk (2 p.m.), Natasha’s Ghost (3 p.m.), China Lake (4 p.m.), Blind Tribe (5 p.m.) and Bastille (6 p.m.).

Between sets of music, drawings will be held for prizes that include concert T-shirts, albums, hairstyling gift certificates, and other items donated by area businesses. Tickets to “Camp Rock ‘n’ Roll” are $5, and can be purchased at Blue Meannie Records (El Cajon), Off the Record (San Diego State area, Encinitas, Hillcrest), Guitar Trader (Kearny Mesa), Sound Asylum (Encinitas) and Wild, Wild Wear (SDSU area). For more information, call 286-9771 or 277-2931.

A lot of concert acts begin tours in San Diego, but not many of them end their careers here. A quartet of self-described radical-lesbian rockers from Austin, Texas, known as 2 Nice Girls, will prove the exception this Saturday by playing its final live gig in our town.

Dubbed “the lesbian Beatles” by the San Francisco Examiner, 2 Nice Girls specializes in blunt, irreverent lyrics and quirky political humor applied to a variety of musical genres--from rock to madrigals, from disco to bluegrass. Last year’s concert here sold out, so the grand finale at the San Diego Women’s Club (Third Avenue and Maple Street) should do so even sooner. Tickets are $15 and are available at the Blue Door Bookstore and at Paradigm Women’s Books. For more information, call 298-4916 or 296-0306.

BOOKINGS: (Tickets for the following concerts will be sold at all TicketMaster outlets unless otherwise specified) The British bands Ride and Pale Saints will double dip at UCSD’s Price Center Ballroom on Sunday. Tickets are on sale now at TicketMaster outlets (278-TIXS) or at the UCSD box office (534- 6467). . . .

The June 7 show featuring Foghat with Lonesome Dave at Sound FX has been canceled by the band’s management because of scheduling problems. . . .

The Sports Arena will be in a new configuration for the June 26 concert featuring Pantera, White Zombie and Crowbar (on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday). Huge curtains will be used to create a more intimate atmosphere at one end of the arena, for a total of 2,400 fans, who will be able to choose between general admission seating on the floor (“festival”-style, no chairs) or in the permanent seats. Promoter Avalon Attractions claims the new configuration will fill the void in low- to medium-capacity hard-rock venues in San Diego. . . .

Peter Murphy and the Nymphs play Copley Symphony Hall on July 1 (on sale at 3 p.m. Friday). . . . Australia’s Little River Band will perform July 4 on the driving range of the Rancho Bernardo Inn as part of the “Symphony on the Green” series (on sale Thursday at various locations, call 487-3773). . . .

The Allman Brothers Band and Blues Traveler constitute a powerful two-biller at the San Diego Convention Center (“under the sails”) July 19. Tickets for the 3 p.m. show are $15, $22.50 and $27.50, and go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday. . . . Crosby, Stills and Nash return to SDSU’s Open Air Theatre on Aug. 9 (on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday).

CRITIC’S CHOICE

PSYCHOTIC WALTZ IS BACK IN SHAPE FOR SOMA CLUB

Things looked a little bleak for San Diego’s Psychotic Waltz when we checked in on the hard-rockers last November. Guitarist Dan Rock was slowly recuperating from a near-fatal, 40-foot fall while rock-climbing, and vocalist-lyricist Buddy Lackey was using the down-time to work on a solo project for a German record company. Group momentum-wise, it was a time of much water-treading.

Fast-forwarding to the present, we find the band again intact, healthy, and in sufficient demand to have sold out downtown’s 1,100-capacity SOMA club on a recent evening. On the heels of 1991’s critically hailed “A Social Grace,” the Waltz is gearing up for their next recording project. In the meantime, the quintet will return to SOMA Friday night as headliners on a bill that includes Danse Macabre, Dark Illusion, and Judgement. The cover charge for the all-ages show is $7. SOMA is at 555 Union St., below Market. For more information, call 239-7662.