Liquid Cheese reunites for benefit show

LAS CRUCES - Start with some New Mexico State University band alums. Add a generous heaping of ska tunes and sprinkle some reggae on top. Put the concoction in a contained space, shake it up and push the nozzle for some Liquid Cheese. There you have it — the recipe for good times.

The ska group, founded in 1996 in El Paso would slowly blaze a path north over the next 15 years, becoming the band du jour to get the party started, to keep it going and to end the show on a high note for booking managers throughout New Mexico and southern Colorado.

By the late 2000s, Liquid Cheese was asked to headline popular New Mexico music festivals and even scored a gig at Burning Man in Nevada. That show, says Marco Guerrero, would be one of the band's last performances on stage. 

Guerrero, the trombone player, said band members were burned out in late 2009 after years of touring and recording. Liquid Cheese took a break. Family and career obligations took over.

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In explaining how Liquid Cheese came together, Guerrero — speaking to the Sun-News by phone from his home in Sacramento, California — unintentionally sums up life for many of the current band members.

"We grew up in El Paso, went to school at NMSU and we're like, 'Hey, we're all in the marching band, wouldn't it be cool if' ... yes, I hear you, can I finish my interview? Sorry about that, my daughter is here. We're learning about asking questions when Daddy's on the phone, aren't we? ... Now, where was I?"

Soon to be back in New Mexico, Marco.

The band is reuniting this month for two special shows, one in Las Cruces and one in Albuquerque. The proceeds for the shows will go to benefit the family of Shawn Hunton, Liquid Cheese's longtime guitarist who passed away unexpectedly last March.

Getting the band back together

Guerrero and Hunton joined Liquid Cheese in 2003, years after an El Paso awakening that would see the group open for national touring ska bands, including Reel Big Fish, Less Than Jake and the Skatalites.

The mainstays of Liquid Cheese are the Sullivan brothers — Sam (trumpet), Jesse (guitar) and Danny (drums). The trio now performs as Dusty Low, an alt-country outfit with gigs in El Paso and Albuquerque and venues in between.

Surrounding the Sullivans have been a rotating cast of horn, sax and guitar players. There's six to nine guys on stage at a Liquid Cheese show, and all get their turn in the spotlight. The vocalist changes song to song — some covers, some originals, all upbeat and entertaining.

By the mid 2000s, Liquid Cheese had stabilized. A couple of albums and regional tours would follow. They routinely headlined venues in Las Cruces and Albuquerque and looked forward to an annual tour of ski resorts.

"Red River, Taos, Telluride, Durango — that was fun," Guererro said. "We were like, 'Cool. We get to go to all these places and we're making money doing this? That's the dream.'"

But it didn't last. By 2010, Liquid Cheese wasn't regularly performing and band members decided to pursue other interests. Most are still making music, many of them music teachers.

Guerrero and three other former Liquid Cheese members — Doug Neal (percussion), Rob Keedy (percussion) and Jared Collins (bass) — ended up in the Sacramento area and perform as Red Dirt Ruckus, a bluegrass group.

Gilbert Uribe III (bass) and John Michael Vasquez (saxophone) are still active in the New Mexico music scene.

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At least three other former members entered the medical field, including Kieron Dillingham (guitar), now an emergency room doctor in Louisiana.

The core group from the mid 2000s occasionally performs live (at band members' weddings and such) and keeps in contact, mostly through Vasquez, whose Drunkmouse Allstars still produces Liquid Cheese songs.

"John Michael will call us up and ask us to record, and then he'll put it all together," Guerrero said.

But one event last year spurred the group to reconnect for a live reunion show.

"We got the call that Shawn had died. So we started talking about getting together and doing something for Georgie," Guerrero said. "We talked about January because that was Shawn's birthday (Jan. 18)."

This one's for Georgie

After Liquid Cheese dissolved, Shawn Hunton got a job as a teacher, not unlike many of his former bandmates. However, he would put away his instrument in favor of books. Hunton — a philosophy major at NMSU — became a high school English teacher, first in Española, then in Clovis near his hometown of Portales.

Hunton married Kayla Krattiger and they had a son, George.

"Shawn was a huge Star Wars fan, and I think that's where the name comes from — George Lucas," Guerrero said.

In March, months before George's second birthday, David Shawn Hunton, 38, died unexpectedly.

He was a popular teacher, Guerrero said, and his funeral was attended by hundreds — many of them his students — in an overflowing church in Clovis. 

Scott Guthrie, a musician in Las Cruces wrote on the online guestbook for Hunton: "I had the pleasure of knowing Shawn for nearly 2 decades. Was lucky enough to share many an evening of music with him & always appreciated his quick wit & wry smile. His ability to light up a room with his talents and his humor will be greatly missed."

Guthrie's band Cordova will also be performing at the Liquid Cheese benefit show.

"He was just a positive dude to be around," Guerrero said, remembering Hunton, his former bandmate and roommate. "He would cheer you up when you were down."

Guerrero said band members, sound guys and venue managers are donating their time and resources so that most of the $10 cover for the Las Cruces and Albuquerque shows can go to a college fund for George Hunton.

'Like riding a bicycle'

Performing at the Liquid Cheese reunion shows will be Guerrero (trombone), Vasquez (tenor sax), Uribe (bass), Sam Sullivan (trumpet), Jesse Sullivan (guitar), Danny Sullivan (drums) and Roy Morales (guitar).

In October, Liquid Cheese asked its fans on Facebook what songs they want to hear at the reunion show and created a set list based on those responses. The band plans to rehearse in the days leading up to the shows.

"It's just like riding a bicycle. We'll get on stage and do our thing," Guerrero said. "And we'll have a good ol' time while we're doing it."

Lucas Peerman can be reached at 575-541-5446, lpeerman@lcsun-news.com or @LittleGuyInATie on Twitter.

If you go

Who: Liquid Cheese, Blaze the Nation and Cordova

When: 9 p.m. Friday, Jan. 18

Where: Picacho Peak Brewing Co., 3900 W Picacho Ave. (ages 21 and older)

How much: $10 (proceeds benefit the David Shawn Hunton family).

Also: Liquid Cheese will be joined by Crazy Fool and Sharksuit for a show at 9 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 19, at Launchpad, 618 Central Ave., in Albuquerque. $10 cover. 21+.

Listen to Liquid Cheese: https://www.reverbnation.com/liquidcheese