Rich Hopkins looks back on 20 years of desert rock
By CHRIS HANSEN ORF
Get Out

Labor Day weekend at Club Congress’ 20th anniversary bash in Tucson was like a high school reunion of sorts for some of the greatest bands in the Old Pueblo's storied rock history.
Rich Hopkins, one of Tucson rock's most famous sons, loved every minute of it.

“It was a blast!” says Hopkins, who stills lives in Tucson, of the event featuring nearly 50 of the best bands Tucson has produced over the past two decades. “It's a good feeling to know we are part of a music scene that meant something special to the music fans and friends who have supported us. Tucson doesn't have the huge ‘musical mecca’ status like Austin, or even Phoenix and Tempe, but we have had, and still have, some great bands that I believe are going to have a long-lasting impact on the listeners of the world.”

Two of those bands — the Sidewinders/Sand Rubies and the Luminarios — were in part founded by Hopkins and are arguably the finest examples of what Tucson has had to offer musically since the mid-’80s.

DESERT ROCK FORMATIONS
Before Tucson's “desert rock” sound emerged, the city was primarily known in music circles as the stomping grounds of Linda Ronstadt, the doe-eyed singer who scored huge commercial hits as a solo artist in the ’70s. It wasn't until a rousing country-rock combo named Green on Red broke through in the early ’80s with a crunchy twang that Tucson music got a face lift.

“My influences were mostly local bands from Tucson at the time,” Hopkins says of his desire to form his own group. “The Pedestrians, with Billy Sedlmayr and Dave Seger, Green on Red, Naked Prey and Giant Sandworms, were really the first. I grew up with lots of those guys, so it was the obvious influence.”

David Slutes, who was helping Hopkins record some demos, and Hopkins, who longed to be a guitar hero, formed the Sidewinders in the mid-’80s, and the band's impact on both Tucson and Tempe was firmly established with the group's disc, “Witchdoctor,” probably the best record ever recorded by a Tucson band. The group's hard-driving rock mixed with Byrds jangle, heard on Valley airwaves on stations such as The Key, influenced countless Valley bands, including the early incarnation of the Gin Blossoms, who recorded their debut album, “Dusted,” for Hopkins’ San Jacinto Records in 1989.

After the Sidewinders were sued by a cover band with the same name, the Tucson group changed its moniker to the Sand Rubies and went through a series of fits and starts with independent and major labels before calling it quits, with acrimonious feelings between Slutes and Hopkins lingering long afterward.

But there appears to be good news on the horizon for Sand Rubies fans.

“Dave and I are getting along very well now, and we are going to attempt to write and record yet another Sand Rubies album for a European label in the spring of 2006,” Hopkins says. “We just played as the Sidewinders (at the anniversary show), and it was a blast! Dave and I both know that we are doing this for fun and travel, and if we can make a few bucks, cool!”

LUMINARIOS
When the Sand Rubies disbanded, Hopkins formed Luminarios, who have garnered critical raves and earned a large fan base with their crunching Neil Young-and-Crazy-Horse-influenced sound.

“The reason I started doing the Luminarios was because of the demise of the Sand Rubies, and I didn't want to have to rely on someone else, like a pivotal singer or songwriter, to keep playing,” Hopkins explains. “So I got the nerve up to sing and write my own lyrics. The Luminarios’ music isn't as streamlined as the Sand Rubies. It's a bit more improvisational, and it's also given me lots of opportunities to play with a lot of great musicians from all over — Tempe, Tucson, El Paso, Austin and Minneapolis.”

The Luminarios, a revolving group of various musicians backing Hopkins, have recorded several albums (and are working on a new record for a 2006 release) and have become popular overseas through their European tours, which Hopkins sees in part due to the mystique of the American West.

“Maybe the fact that I'm from the ‘exotic desert’ and they see Western movie images in the music and lyrics,” Hopkins explains of his strong European fan base.

“Plus,” Hopkins says, laughing, “I think they like the way I rock!”

Rich Hopkins & Luminarios
When: 9 p.m. Saturday
Where: Yucca Tap Room, 29 W. Southern Ave., Tempe
Cost: Free
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