Rich Hopkins has performed in many bands, toured the world several times and produced a number of artists on his own label, but his real musical training began in Paraguay around 1981 when he was serving in the Peace Corps.
Rich Hopkins - An Illuminating History
By Brent Kort
Since the day little Richie Hopkins lost interest in G.I. Joes and picked up the six-string his life has been driven by his love for music.
He has performed in many bands, toured the world several times and produced a number of artists on his own label, but his real musical training began in Paraguay around 1981 when he was serving in the Peace Corps. He honed his skills and found a real knack for writing and singing before returning to the United States and his home in the desert.
With a push from his first wife and talented drummer Andrea Curtis, Rich started the famed band and footnote in rock ‘n’ roll history, The Sidewinders. It was an uphill battle with many line-up changes, until Rich, Andrea, Dave Slutes and Scott Garber (who was later replaced by Mark Perrodin in 1987) finally found their vision and started to gain national attention.
Their debut release, !Cuacha, on San Jacinto Records in the United States and Demon Records in the U.K., got rave reviews and helped get them signed to Mammoth and then RCA. In 1989, Witchdoctor was released and their success skyrocketed. They toured with acts like Soul Asylum, The Jay Hawks, Tragically Hip, Camper Van Beethoven and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Diane Padilla replaced Andrea Curtis in 1988 and then was replaced by Bruce Halper in 1990 after the release of Auntie Ramos Pool Hall. For the next few years The Sidewinders had it made. Three MTV videos for the songs “Witchdoctor,” “Doesn’t Anyone Believe” and “Santa Maria Street” helped fuel the fires of record sales and concert tickets, but all good things must come to an end.
The year 1992 was spiritually the lowest time for Rich as the bottom dropped out for The Sidewinders. Mark and Bruce left the band, they were forced to change their name and they were dropped from RCA before being picked up by U.K.’s Ensign Records. Fortunately, their new label was sold to Polygram Records in 1992, and the following year the world was introduced to The Sand Rubies. But the original vision had been diluted in the minds of collaborators Rich and Dave, so they did the inevitable and let the project rest.
Rich went on to form Underbelly with Dave Seger and released Mumbly Peg on Enemy Records. They toured the U.S. and Europe and played festivals like CMJ in New York but Rich still wanted to pursue a project where he had complete creative control.
He recorded a CD entitled Personality Crisis for San Jacinto Records with a number of friends under the name Rich Hopkins and the Luminarios. This landed them another deal with Enemy Records who released their follow-up, Dirt Town. Once again, Rich was touring the United States and Europe with a revolving door of band members. Dumpster of Love was the third release from the band before they were signed to Blue Rose Records who put out the rest of their catalog: El Paso, Glorious Sounds Of, 3,000 Germans Can’t Be Wrong, and their soon to be released Devolver. All of these recordings also feature ex-MC5 bassist Mike Davis.
In 1997, the Sand Rubies reunited for a couple of long overdue releases. Return of the Living Dead was released on Blue Rose Records and The Sidewinders’ Sessions was released by Contingency Records from RCA in 1998. This last year The Sand Rubies put out Release the Hounds and toured Europe before finally calling it quits once again.
For more information on Rich Hopkins and the Luminarios or San Jacinto Records, contact them at www.SanJacintoRecords.com or P.O. Box 44277 Tucson, AZ 85733.
