Southern Rockers from California? The Regulators Rock
Southern California might not seem like a hotbed for Southern Rock bands, and truth be known, it isn't. However, there is one band there that has all the heart and soul of a band out of Macon, Georgia or Jacksonville, Florida, and that band is The Regulators.
We spoke by phone with bassist Randy Smith about the trials and rewards of being a Southern Rock band from the West Coast, during a time when everyone else is playing rap and dance music.
Where are you guys located?
We're in Southern California.
When and how was the band formed?
My brother Jimmy, who you hear on the first album, was in the band. Jimmy was the founder and main song writer at first. It was him and me and another guy Johnny Barnes who is in the band also, started out many years ago as the Smith & Wesson Band. We slowly evolved into where we were totally original, with a Southern Rock sound. We love Lynyrd Skynyrd and The Allman Brothers, Molly Hatchet and all the Southern bands. So our music kind of represented that here in our area. We evolved into The Regulators around 1987 and we got signed in 1989 to Polygram. Then we played around here quite a bit. We went to Hollywood and started playing, and worked our way into a record deal. Not long after that record was released my brother passed away, he had been shot. That's why there was so long between records, negotiating with Polygram if we were going to keep going or what we were going to do. There were a lot of politics involved in that. If you look at the cover you'll see the name Left Bank as well. There was controversy between them two companies, so needless to say we were like ants, you know when you mess up their trail they kind of scatter. But we regrouped, and me and the drummer Mark started writing most of the material, me and him and Johnny Barnes. And we went ahead and put together the "Bar and Grill" cd.
How did your brother get shot?
It was real controversial. It made the front page of the newspaper out here. They say that he shot himself. But there was so much proof that he didn't. It's kind of an unsolved mystery. It gets kind of deep.
But you guys don't believe he killed himself, right?
No, absolutely we don't feel like he did. He had a lot of love in him, and he always spoke against anyone taking their own life. Plus, we had just gotten signed to a major record deal, why would he do that? He was loving life. So, what his wife says happened, and what other witnesses say happened are two different stories. But the police department would like to say it was him taking his own life. Close the book.
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