Music
Press
'09 marks the 30th anniversary of Los #3 Dinners, the party band from Jefferson High School that proves you're never too old to rock 'n' roll. The Dinners, known as Los #2 Dinners back in the day, have been celebrating all year, but the official birthday party is Friday night at Sam's Burger Joint. Soda Pop Social will open.
“Lenny” Eric Friedland (guitar, vocals), Frank Karpienski (guitar), “Surfer” Joe Shortt (guitar, vocals, harmonica), Dr. Bart Nichols (bass) and Rudy Sanchez (bass, percussion, vocals) grew up rocking and rolling together. Drummer Jake Perales is the youngster, but he went to Jefferson High, so he fits.
The Dinners have played house parties, art gallery openings, barrooms, festivals and street dances. Their shows at the old Friendly Spot are the things of S.A. rock legend. While band members have day jobs ranging from carpenter to dentist to lawyer, they never sold their rock 'n' roll souls and they're always ready to serve up original songs about Woodlawn Lake, South Presa and Taco Land and play “Louie Louie” until somebody drops.
----Jim Beal, Jr., San Antonio Express-News, 10/29/2009 - Jim Beal, Jr.
Readers' Picks for the Best of San Antonio 2007
BEST ROCK BAND Category
Number 3 Dinners
"Dog Men Poets’ loyal crowd always comes out in big numbers for Best-of votes, but the Poets couldn’t quite match a large turnout for veteran rockers Los #3 Dinners, a band once praised (in its previous incarnation, Los #2 Dinners) by Butthole Surfers frontman Gibby Haynes."
----San Antonio Current, 4/25/2007
- San Antonio Current
Discography
LPs:
Quiero Un Camaro
Can't Stop...Gotta Rock
Live at KSYM
LOUD
Photos
Bio
Los #3 Dinners are a San Antonio legend that have kept the hard partying going for three decades.Their stripped down garage band sound of guitars and drums have entertained street criminals to the mayor and everybody in between on their wild run through the clubs and neighborhoods of San Antonio. The band was formed in 1979 by boyhood friends whose mutual love of rock and roll required a response to the rise of disco. They began playing at parties, art galleries and ice houses combining a mix of party rock classics with originals written to make people dance, laugh and think all at the same time.
In 1980, Texas Monthly named them the Best Local Band in Texas after an editor witnessed some of the mind bending, sweat drenched gigs at the infamous Friendly Spot. After that, Los #3 Dinners began performing nonstop with occasional trips to the studio to record a string of 45s and CDs. The readers of the San Antonio Current Magazine voted them Band of the Year in 1987 earning the Dinners a showcase at SXSW when it was held at a handful of clubs along 6th Street. No strangers to Austin (the guys in the band grew up hanging out at the Vulcan Gas Co. and the Armadillo), they played the Continental Club numerous times. In 2006, Los #3 Dinners won the S. A. Current's award for the Best Rock Band in the Last 20 Years and in 2007 were once again the Reader's Pick for Best Rock Band. If you were ever fortunate enough to experience the late and great Ram Ayala at his bar, the legendary Tacoland; chances are that if a live act was not on stage, Ram's fingers had punched in a #3 Dinners song on his well endowed juke box . . . the ultimate San Antonio musical endorsement. They were the perennial favorites of Ram and played at his club regularly until his untimely death. The sound of Los Number #3 Dinners is a high-energy mix of guitar-driven garage rock, South Texas soul, surf-instrumental, reggae and the blues. Their repertoire includes original songs reflecting on life in San Antonio and covers of rock classics pared down to their two and three cord essence.
"LOUD", the Dinners' latest indie CD, blares out thirteen songs that span blues, rock 'n' roll, psychedelia, and, of all things, folk music. As was the case with their previous CDs, "Quiero Un Camaro" and "Can't Stop...Gotta Rock", most of the tracks on "LOUD" were recorded in one take . . . as for the others, never more than two. We have played the Alamodome and we've played Tacoland...we like the Stones, the Kingsmen and the blues. It's all about having a good time.
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