Chris Isaak and Jimmy Wilsey and The Chris Isaak Band

I guess I was kind of lucky to be in San Francisco in the late eighties for two reasons. (1) Within a couple of years there would be a major earthquake which would cause the removal of several off ramps making it harder to get in and out of the city.

(2) The second reason I was able to check out bands that don’t play there anymore and clubs that ceased to exist once we moved into the 21st century. One such band was the Chris Isaak Band.

Having worked at Tower Records on Columbus and Bay, bands playing in the city would stop by the store making them both visible and accessible. I don’t remember Chris Isaak ever stopping by, but one of our co-workers was friends with his drummer. They both had moved from Texas to play music (presumably in Northern CA).

Two things I picked up from watching this band play: Chris Isaak could be incredibly funny and sarcastic between songs. One riff he did was about arriving at the San Francisco Bus Station with a sock puppet in hand. The other thing was this seemed to annoy Jimmy sometimes.

If anyone is familiar with the relationship between Roger Daltrey and Peter Townsend in the Who I would say it was kind of the same thing. Probably with most of the friction having occurred offstage.

There are a few things I really like about Jimmy. The first he came up with a really original synthesizer sound that bested the toy robot sounds that most guitar companies had come up with.

The other thing is he seemed to fit the look and feel of the band. Unlike Ringo who was brought into the Beatles right before most of their international fame, Jimmy played on most of the important Chris Isaak records.

Once he left (for reasons unknown) it seemed like there was an immediate slow down to the rocket of their success. I vaguely remember that the band somehow segued into a popular HBO TV show. I am trying to not draw any comparisons to the Monkees. Especially since the Monkees were created specifically for TV.

But I do miss seeing Jimmy onstage and whatever that thing is bands lose when an original member goes onto other things. The bands that keep that undefinable quality seem to break up and/or reform with the original members intact.

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