Rich Kids on LSD тобының тарихы

American hardcore punk band

Rich Kids on LSD (RKL) is a Californian hardcore punk band formed in 1982 in Montecito, California, a suburb of Santa Barbara. They were associated with the "Nardcore" scene that evolved out of nearby Oxnard. Their music expanded over the years from West Coast hardcore to a mix of hardcore with rock and metal elements. This style, along with touring, made them very popular on the European scene, especially among skaters in the 1980s and 1990s. Guitarist Chris Rest was the band's only consistent member.

The initial members of RKL got together at an early age. Chris Rest and Bomer Manzullo (sometimes credited as 'Bomber') were playing together and had asked Joey Cape to join as a second guitarist. Cape told them he would only join if Jason Sears could be the singer. Cape was frequently unavailable due to being grounded much of the time, so he was eventually left out of the band. RKL began playing shows around the area with myriad changes at second guitar and bass positions. In the end, Allen 'Alpo' Duncan joined as second guitarist and Vincent Peppars joined as bassist.

The group's name came about as a mere fluke from some light hearted criticism. According to vocalist Jason Sears in a 2002 interview with Thrasher magazine: “it happened that some guy said, 'ha, those kids will never be anything, they're just a bunch of rich kids on LSD, man.' The first party we played we didn't have a name for the band, so we put that one on the flier and it just stuck.” All the artwork for the EP was done by Dan Sites marking the first official appearance of the popular "beanie boy" character, which would remain an icon for RKL for their entire career. RKL would play around California, and particularly enjoyed the scene in San Francisco, driving 6 hours to play shows and drive back. Eventually they decided to move there, minus Alpo. He did not wish to leave Santa Barbara. His position would remain empty for some time. After about five months Vince Peppars wanted to move back to Santa Barbara. Sears said:" so we hooked up with Barry to cover for him. Then Vince came back and Barry went to guitar". Ward, however, was not part of this recording. Ward said: "[RKL] moved back to Santa Barbara and I stayed in San Francisco until they came back after Keep Laughing was recorded." Rest said: "He played so fast and tight that we were all forced to do the same. He was a perfectionist and expected the same from us." Their next album, Rock 'n Roll Nightmare (also known as Lifestyles of the Rich Kids on LSD A Rock N Roll Nightmare) stayed true to the fast tempo and hardcore sound the band was known for, but introduced elements of progressive rock and thrash metal to their sound as well as a technical musicianship that was very uncommon for the punk genre at the time. Maximumrocknroll called it "Very strong" in their review of the album. About their sound, Bomer said: "People say that we have a metal influence, but really, all our licks are pretty much rhythm and blues based, but it's super fast! So instead of saying it's metal, I'd say it's just super fast rock and roll."

After auditioning at least a dozen potential bass players, they finally found Joe Raposo through an advertisement in Maximumrocknroll. An audition was set up for Raposo by a friend. Raposo became the bass player for RKL in time for touring support of RocK 'n Roll Nightmare. Due to Raposo's status as a minor (he was only seventeen), his parents, though less than enthusiastic, gave permission for him to leave the country. Ward was named temporary guardian for the European tour. The signed guardianship papers are included in the Greatest Hits Double Live artwork. RKL also sold their Mystic era material to Destiny without Mystic Records' permission. Destiny proceeded to release a compilation album of Mystic recordings and called it Revenge is a Beautiful Feeling in reference to their perceived mistreatment by Mystic Records. The cover also featured a caricature of Doug Moody with his neck being twisted up by the same monster character that appeared on the cover of RKL's previous release, It's a Beautiful Feeling. Through it all, RKL mainly played in Europe and California. There was no official US tour to back the Rock 'n Roll Nightmare album. Raposo said: "If I could change one thing, I would have never let RKL break up the first time in 1989. I would have fought that to the death and would have never let it happen." Slang had Bomer on lead vocals Slang ended up signing with Epitaph Records in 1992 and an album was recorded soon after. At some point during this time Ward replaced Mahan. Just prior to its release in 1993, it was decided by Bomer and Epitaph owner/operator Brett Gurewitz it would be released as an RKL album under the title Reactivate to capitalize on the RKL name and built in fanbase. Dan Sites again provided artwork. Before the album's release Slang, now RKL, headed on tour to Europe. The fans in Europe were not aware of the drastic sound change as the album had not yet been released. Many were disillusioned. Bomer wanted to quit early in the tour due to fan reaction. During the tour long time friend and band roadie Will Knutilla died of a drug overdose in Zürich. The band had the song "We're Back We're Pissed" appear on Epitaph's first of a long running compilation series called Punk O Rama. RKL toured the world supporting Riches to Rags, including most parts of Europe and Japan. However, tensions within the band caused RKL to once again go their separate ways. Ward put together the entire "Still Flailing After All These Beers RKL" video which released on VHS through Epitaph Records. The video contained rare live footage and home videos from RKL's time on the road, an exclusive Take Me Home music video directed by Ward, and a cover of Devo's "Timing X".

In 1999 RKL reformed briefly to play a single show at a mutual friends funeral but nothing further came of it. The new songs were eventually included as bonus tracks on the re issued Greatest Hits Live In West Berlin 1988 released in 2011 on Destiny Records. An unreleased track from more recent demo recordings entitled "Twisting and Turning" was included on a 2 CD compilation album Sick Slabs of Sonic Sound from the Slaboratory released December 17, 2013.

In January 2024, RKL announced a return with four of the members from the Riches to Rags (Chris Rest, Barry Ward, Joe Raposo, Dave Raun) recording and touring with Tony Foresta from Municipal Waste on vocals. So far they have released a newly recorded version of “Lies” with the new lineup on Ward's YouTube channel.

On March 30, 2005, Derrick Plourde, former drummer of RKL, who also played in Lagwagon, Bad Astronaut, Jaws, and The Ataris, committed suicide. Lagwagon paid tribute to Derrick with their 2005 release of the album Resolve. Bad Astronaut also paid tribute to Plourde, as well as Manzullo and Sears, with the song Stillwater, California, off of their album Twelve Small Steps, One Giant Disappointment. On December 12, 2005, original member Richard Anthony Manzullo (aka "Bomer") died due to heart failure at his home in Summerland, California. The cause of death was the result of a long time battle with drug addictions. On January 31, 2006, Jason Sears died due to complications while undergoing a detox treatment involving ibogaine in Tijuana, Mexico.

RKL was influential on the punk rock scene. Regarding RKL's impact on punk music, Fat Mike had this to say: "When we first started, we wanted to sound like RKL." "Without RKL, there wouldn’t be a NOFX. Well, there might be a totally shitty NOFX RKL was the band that we would always be in the shadow of. When they broke up, we kinda took their spot." Erik Sandin described them as "[NOFX's] musical heroes, we worked hard to imitate their sound". Lagwagon's Joey Cape has said "In many ways, I don’t think there would be a NOFX or a Lagwagon or many bands that sound like us if there hadn’t been an RKL. They had this style of music that would just rip the whole time." Dwarves vocalist Blag Dahlia said, "RKL carved out a niche in the 1980s as a band that could actually play in a sea of those who could not. ", and called them the "standard bearers of ‘Prog Punk’". Many people credit Bomer Manzullo as the first person to play the standard, or modern, punk beat. RKL has been credited with creating the prototype that brought success to punk rock bands that followed in the early 1990s, including The Offspring and NOFX

In The New York Times: "TimesTalks" television interview discussing musicianship in punk rock, Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong mentioned RKL's Bomer Manzullo as an example of the high level of talent in punk rock, calling Bomer an "insane drummer", while in an interview with Communities Digital News, NOFX's Erik Sandin said: "Bomber was just out of control, he was so fucking good." RKL, known for their live shows, once had a Goleta, California crowd in such a fervor that a club owner deployed tear gas in an attempt to stop the large mosh pit. The three deceased members were directly referenced by NOFX in "Doornails", a song from their 2006 album Wolves in Wolves' Clothing. Foo Fighters guitarist Chris Shiflett called RKL his "hometown pride punk band." A Rich Kids on LSD tribute album was released on Malt Soda Recordings entitled For Those About To Trip which contains 23 covers of classic RKL tracks by various artists. Actor Josh Brolin claimed in a New York Times interview to have been a member of RKL. He later gave more detail about this in a radio interview, stating "Things have gotten confused in interviews and all that. And I said that I was a part of RKL, which is Rich Kids on LSD, which was a big punk band back then. And it was I was part of the garage band that first started playing. And then they went to be known with other drummers and other musicians as RKL. And they actually became a fairly well known punk rock band.". On the WTF with Marc Maron he said Jason Sears was his best friend and has also stated "Rich Kids on LSD was the band that I helped start." The band is referenced by Janez Detd. in "My Life My Way", a song from their 2008 album For Better For Worse. The band is referenced by The High Speed Scene in "For the Kids", a song from their 2005 album The High Speed Scene. RKL's song "Tell Me the Truth" is referenced by Snot in "Mr. Brett", a song from their 1997 album Get Some. The beanie boy character appears on the cover of Annihilation Time's 2005 album Annihilation Time II. Italian band Overdrive Bonzai dedicated a song called "Jason Sears" to the late vocalist. Brazilian crossover/hardcore band Ratos de Porão was also influenced by RKL's attitude on stage. "Another thing that really opened our minds was seeing the RKL show, Rich Kids on LSD," said Ratos de Porão vocalist João Gordo. "We have to be like those guys." OC Weekly published an article entitled 10 Classic Punk Bands We'd Love to See Reunite, RKL being named as one of the bands. There were rumors of an "RKLAOKE" show sometime in the Summer of 2006 as a benefit concert to raise money for Sears' children Anthony, Sierra, and Cisco. The show would have featured the remaining members of the band playing all the past favorites with different members of the audience.