There couldn't have been a more appropriate ending for The Retardos.  Only two audience members witnessed their final show that Tuesday in 1996.   Drummer Kathy Walker and Mexican Brian Hermosillo, concluding that they had not yet reached the point of complete humiliation, started playing with Gavin May as The Fevers.  Adopting the same ideals as the Retardos, they developed a ten-or-so song set list of nothing but covers.  Thus began this much too short-lived version of the 'rockin' Fevers. They became the New Retardos, playing only in support of their friends' bands.  It wouldn't take long for history to repeat itself for the forever-doomed Kathy-Brian team.  The Fevers were considered 'boring' by the San Francisco 'elite underground' because they didn't 'rock out' and did not have neat haircuts (see England).  However, they gained a devoted following of at least a half-dozen people.  One of these persons put out their first record and it eventually sold out. And then Kathy quit and moved to Los Angeles. No neat haircuts = no big shows.  Was it pure coincidence that a young, pretty Sicilian that went by the name of 'Jimmy Sweet' would end up as The Fevers' next drummer?  I'll let you decide.  Filling Kathy's oversized rubber-tipped shoes was not an easy task. Gone was the 'rockin' Fevers and, as a result, at least three of the original six Fevers fans defected during Jimmy's tenure. However, he was a decent drummer in his own right and was solely responsible for the band's new female audience.  In addition, the band introduced the novel idea of playing a few originals during their mostly-cover set.  Playing a series of really tight shows, The Fevers gained small groups of fans in northern and southern California. The three defectors (all male) finally embraced The New Fevers and things were looking up.  Too good to be true, in fact.  Realizing the potential of his under-utilized talents (or 'why am I playing drums in this stupid oldies band?'), Jimmy quit to pursue a music career with other people who had similar hairstyles.  What are we doing wrong?  Since jumping on the hair-bandwagon backfired on Brian and Gavin, they decided to use a different approach in finding their third drummer.  They thought, 'Wouldn't it be funny if we had TWO Mexicans in the band?'  Chris Santamaria had just moved up from LA because he thought Oakland had much more to offer.  He agreed to be the third Fevers drummer.  By this point, however, Brian and Gavin seemed tired.  The little momentum they had gained eventually stalled.  One could sense the 'same songs-different drummer' desperation a band gets just before they decide to call it quits forever.  Fickle San Francisco was ready to let go of The Fevers and had already moved on to other things during the drummer-juggling.  Mostly friends attended their shows during this period.  A repeat of the Retardos career seemed eminent.  Chris discovered that Oakland wasn't any better than his native Los Angeles and moved back. The Fevers were done with.  All hopes of recording that great Fevers album were shattered. Now without a band, Brian was free from commitment and jumped at the chance when he was asked to moonlight on bass for The Flakes at a Memorial Day weekender in Minneapolis, called Rock Action.  There he met the organizer, Travis Ramin, and found out he played drums.  Its obvious to see where I'm going with this, so I'll just tell you that he became drummer number FOUR.  Travis agreed to play hired-hand for The Fevers so that Brian and Gavin could put out that album they wished for so badly.  However, they got much more than that. While recording the album in Minneapolis, they played a show while the songs were still fresh and received an arena-sized reaction in a small bar.  This confirmed the theory that there is an audience out there for every band---its just not in San Francisco. Brian returned to San Jose with news that he had fallen in love and was moving to Minneapolis.  Goodbye cruel world, indeed.  A tape of their recording reached Germany and received interest from a record label, immediately securing the release of the album. The previous four sentences took about a year to happen, and it was now time for next Rock Action weekender (sorry, didn't know how to get back to the story.)  Anyway, all six original Fevers fans made the trek to the Midwest to witness the 'rebirth' of the Fevers.  Our heroes would have one last opportunity to prove that they still possessed the magic that made them so special in 1996.  They had all AND nothing to lose. I wouldn't bring you this far without a happy ending. Brian, Gavin and Travis played an unbelievable live set of the album to a packed Turf Club.  The crowd danced during the rockers and cried during the love songs.  The Fevers were at the top of their form.  It was the show they had always deserved to play.  The turbulent past plagued by ever-changing drummers, bad shows and empty clubs had come to an end.  They were finally being judged not for their lack of neat haircuts, but rather for their great music.  And our tale doesn't end in Minneapolis The record comes out and serves as a beacon of hope to the small population of the world that still looks for inspiration in Chuck Berry and Little Richard records. It didn't sell millions or hundreds of thousands or even tens of thousands but it was perfect from beginning to end (despite the Small Faces cover---yuk!).  Interest in a European tour and second (!) album follows.  One more thing.  In August of 2002, The Fevers returned to San Francisco - the city that didn't even notice their disappearance two years earlier.  The town that paid no attention to the band that played nothing but the best covers of original songs that you never heard.  It would be their only headlining show in the city and they played like it was their first show ever.  They sliced opened their chests and lay their hearts and souls before the clamoring audience. Everyone in the sweaty room throbbed to the triumphant sound of pure rock n roll. The Fevers invited all who were there to let go of every inhibited thought in their heads, to forget about going back to work on Monday, to not even remember the name of the girl who left you the night before......The Fevers demanded everyone's full attention and asked only that the audience responded honestly...like the way they played their music. -Darin Raffaelli