Dropout Kings (formerly Phoenix Down) is an American

nu metal Nu metal (sometimes stylized as nü-metal, sometimes called aggro-metal) is a subgenre of that combines elements of heavy metal music with elements of other music genres such as hip hop, alternative rock, funk, industrial, and grunge. Nu met ...

band from

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1 ...

, United States, that formed in 2016. They are currently signed to

Suburban Noize Records Suburban Noize Records, also known as "Subnoize", is an independent record label based in Burbank, California that specializes in punk rock and hip hop music. The label was founded in 1997 by the Kottonmouth Kings' vocalist Daddy X and Kevin Zi ...

and have released one album and one EP: ''Audiodope'' and ''GlitchGang,'' which were released August 10, 2018 and April 6, 2021.

History

Dropout Kings was founded by Adam Ramey after his previous band The Bad Chapter broke up in 2015. As a way to stay active musically, he approached rapper Eddie Wellz to do a cover of Linkin Park's “Lying From You” after seeing a video of Wellz performing on YouTube. Due to a positive reception, Ramey approached previous members of The Bad Chapter; Trevor Norgren and later Staig Flynn and Rob Sebastian and previous bandmate Chucky Guzman from We The Collectors to form a new band called Phoenix Down, which by 2017 had changed its name to Dropout Kings. On April 6, 2018, it was announced that Dropout Kings signed with

Napalm Records Napalm Records is an Austrian independent record label focused on heavy metal and hard rock. Originally, Napalm focused on black metal bands, such as Abigor and Summoning, and folk metal bands, such as Falkenbach and Vintersorg. The label l ...

, & the band released the music video for '"NVM", their first single from their debut album ''AudioDope'' the same day. On June 8, 2018, the band released the music video for "Scratch & Claw", the second single off of ''AudioDope''. ''AudioDope'' was released on August 10, 2018. ''AudioDope'' reached 2 US Charts, #52-Top New Artist Albums & #112-Record Label Independent Current Albums. In July–August 2018, the band toured the United States and Canada with OTEP. During the Otep tour, the band announced that they were managed by

Dez Fafara Bradley James "Dez" Fafara (born May 12, 1966) is an American heavy metal vocalist who performs in the bands DevilDriver and Coal Chamber. Early life Fafara is of Portuguese and Sicilian descent. His father, Tiger Fafara, and his late uncle, ...

, the lead vocalist for

DevilDriver DevilDriver is an American heavy metal band from Santa Barbara, California, formed in 2002, consisting of vocalist Dez Fafara, lead guitarist Mike Spreitzer, drummer Davier Pérez, bassist Jon Miller and rhythm guitarist Alex Lee. The band was ...

Coal Chamber Coal Chamber is an American nu metal band formed by Dez Fafara and Meegs Rascón in Los Angeles, California in 1993. Prior to Coal Chamber, the two had also created the band She's in Pain, in 1992. The original lineup also consisted of bassist ...

. In February–March 2019, the band toured with

Outline in Color Outline in Color (often abbreviated as OIC) is an American post-hardcore/rock band formed in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 2009. The band consists of clean vocalist and bassist Jonathan Grimes, unclean vocalist Michael Skaggs, guitarist CJ Cochran and d ...

, Deadships and Dead Crown. On March 19, 2019,

Dayshell Dayshell is an American metal band from Southern California, United States. Their debut self-titled was released on October 15, 2013. The band's second album, ''Nexus'', was released on October 7, 2016. The band released their third album calle ...

featured the band on their single “KOMBAT." In May–June 2019, the band joined

Crazy Town Crazy Town (sometimes abbreviated as CXT) is an American rap rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1995 by Bret Mazur and Seth Binzer. Crazy Town is best known for their 2000 hit single "Butterfly", which reached number one on the US ''Billboard'' ...

as direct support on their 20th Anniversary Tour. On May 26, 2019, it was announced that the band would be playing the Main Stage at the 20th Annual Soopa

Gathering of the Juggalos The Gathering of the Juggalos (The Gathering or GOTJ) is an annual festival put on by Psychopathic Records, featuring performances by the entire label roster as well as numerous well-known musical groups and underground artists. It was founded by ...

on August 3, 2019. On April 6, 2021, it was announced that Dropout Kings had signed to

. On June 15, 2021, Dropout Kings embarked on their first headlining tour. On September 8, 2021, “Virus” peaked at #33 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Radio Charts while spending 12 weeks in the Top 40. On October 26, 2021, it was announced that “Virus” was being considered for a Grammy nomination in the Best New Artist category. On January 24, 2022, it was announced that Dropout Kings would be playing at UFest 2022 on April 24, 2022.

Members

Current Members

* Adam Ramey - lead vocals (2016–present) * Eddie Wellz - rap vocals (2016–present) * Chucky Guzman - guitars (2016–present) * Staig Flynn - guitars (2017–present) * Rob Sebastian - bass (2017–present) * Joe Lana Jr. - drums, percussion (2021–present)

Former Members

* Trevor Norgren - drums, percussion (2016–2021) * Tre Scott - guitar, bass (2016–2017) * Charlie Mumbles - turntables, programming (2016–2017)

Timeline

Discography

Studio albums

* ''AudioDope'' (2018)

EPs

*''GlitchGang'' (2020 Stay Sick Recordings, reissued 2021 on Suburban Noize Records)

Singles

* "Street Sharks" (2016; as Phoenix Down) * "NVM" (2018) * "Scratch & Claw" (2018) * "Going Rogue feat.

Landon Tewers Landon Khale Tewers (born September 27, 1989) is an American musician and producer. He is a former band member of Before Their Eyes, where he was the rhythm guitarist and unclean vocalist. He is best known for being founder and the lead vocalist i ...

" (2018) * "GlitchGang" (2020) * "I Ain't Depressed feat.

Hacktivist In Internet activism, hacktivism, or hactivism (a portmanteau of '' hack'' and '' activism''), is the use of computer-based techniques such as hacking as a form of civil disobedience to promote a political agenda or social change. With roots in h ...

" (2020) * "Virus feat. Shayley Bourget" (2021) – No. 33

Mainstream Rock Songs Mainstream Rock is a music chart in ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States, a category that combines the formats of active rock and heritage rock. The chart was launched in Ma ...

Music videos

* "Street Sharks" (2016; as Phoenix Down) * "NVM" (2018) * "Scratch & Claw" (2018) * "Going Rogue" (2018) * "Bad Day" (2019) * "Something Awful" (2019) * "GlitchGang" (2020) * "Virus" (2020) * "I Ain't Depressed" (2020) * "PitUp" (2021) * "Hey Uh" (2022)

References

External links

* {{AllMusic, class=artist, id=dropout-kings-mn0003733409, label=Dropout Kings Musical groups established in 2016 American nu metal musical groups Trap metal musicians 2016 establishments in Arizona