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» Add News | Rich Kids on LSD
The "almost legendary band" Rich Kids on LSD (or RKL) was founded in 1983 in Santa Barbara. RKL has always been notorious for their use of various drugs and alcohol, but all the while they are widely regarded and respected as one of the most talented punk/hardcore bands out there.
The band and its original line-up, Chris Rest (guitar), Jason Sears (vocals), Bomber (drums) and Vince Peppars (bass), released a couple of EP's before coming out with their first album entitled "Keep Laughing" (1985). The album which featured a mixture of straight forward punk and hard rock songs became one of m ...read more
The "almost legendary band" Rich Kids on LSD (or RKL) was founded in 1983 in Santa Barbara. RKL has always been notorious for their use of various drugs and alcohol, but all the while they are widely regarded and respected as one of the most talented punk/hardcore bands out there.
The band and its original line-up, Chris Rest (guitar), Jason Sears (vocals), Bomber (drums) and Vince Peppars (bass), released a couple of EP's before coming out with their first album entitled "Keep Laughing" (1985). The album which featured a mixture of straight forward punk and hard rock songs became one of many albums released in the punk revival outburst in California during the 80s. After adding Barry Dalive (guitar) and replacing Vince Peppars with Joe Raposo (bass) they released their next album "Rock 'n' Roll Nightmare" (1987), which like its predecessor featured punk revival songs. "Rock 'n' Roll Nightmare" has since gone down in history as one of the classic 80's punk revival albums from California (with songs like "Sargasm", "Tribute to the Jester" and "Scab on my Brain"). 6 years after RKL resurfaced with "Reactivate" (1993) which featured songs previously released on "Rock 'n' Roll Nightmare", but this time sung by Bomber - Jason Sears having left the band sometime prior - who also had taken over vocal duties on several new songs; which prompted the recruitment of Dave Ruan (drums). In the middle of their European tour, Bomber decided to leave RKL, but fortunately Jason Sears decided to reunite with the band and complete the tour. Unlike other punk revilalists who had broken into the mainstream in the early 90s, RKL still remained in the more local/underground scene as they released their most recent (and perhaps best) album so far, "Riches to Rags" (1995). Whereas bands such as Green Day and The Offspring were hitting it big with their catchy pop-punk sound, RKL favoured a much more agressive and hardcore style that is present throughout the album. Although punk is normally classified as simple "Riches to Rags" demonstrates the talents of the band, both as individual musicians and as a unit. The two guitar combo is in musical terms simply "tight", and the occasional shred solo's by Chris Rest are tasteful without going overboard. The drumming style of Dave Ruan definitely deserves an honourable mention too. However, the highlight is probably bassist Joe Raposo who's boarding to the virtuosos with his impressive and blistering fast picking style that can be heard on such songs as "Betrayed" and "In Your Mind".
In 1996 RKL formally decided to call it quits. After the split Chris Rest and Dave Raun joined Lagwagon. Dave Ruan is also a member of the 60s, 70s cover band Me First and the Gimme Gimmes. Joe Raposo started working as a software analyst at Sony. Barry Dalive joined a punk-pop band called Hotbox. Jason Sears recorded vocals for a song "Until Next Time" featured on "Straight Up" (2000), a tribute album to the late lead singer of Snot, Lynn Strait.
In recent times RKL seem to had come back together again, featuring Jason Sears (vocal), Joe Raposo (bass), Chris Rest (guitar) as well as newcomers Derrick Plourde (drums) and Chris Flippin (guitar). However, although a record has been planned its progress is unknown.
RKL is on "indefinite hiatus" as of 2008. Their singer Jason Sears died on January 31, 2006 due to complications while undergoing a detox treatment involving ibogaine in Tijuana, Mexico. The cause of death was the result of a pulmonary embolism caused by thrombosis. The future for RKL now remains uncertain and it is unknown if there will be a new singer. « hide |
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