Rubber City Rebels are an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

band from

Akron, Ohio Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 Census, the city prop ...

that formed in

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 ...

Early years

The original lineup of the band consisted of Rod Firestone (vocals), Buzz Clic (guitar), Donny Damage (bass), Stix Pelton (drums) and Pete Sake (keyboards). Firestone was previously known as "Rod Bent" when he was performing in the band King Cobra at a bar called The Crypt. When he and Clic began playing originals there, the band became the Rubber City Rebels. In their early years, the Rebels were fans (and friends) of fellow

Greater Cleveland The Cleveland metropolitan area, or Greater Cleveland as it is more commonly known, is the metropolitan area surrounding the city of Cleveland in Northeast Ohio, United States. According to the 2020 United States Census results, the five-county ...

-area bands

the Dead Boys The Dead Boys are an American punk rock band from Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the United States, U.S. U.S. state, state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. ...

and Devo. Their breakout show was opening for the Dead Boys at legendary

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

rock club

CBGB CBGB was a New York City music club opened in 1973 by Hilly Kristal in Manhattan's East Village. The club was previously a biker bar and before that was a dive bar. The letters ''CBGB'' were for '' Country'', '' BlueGrass'', and '' Blues'', Kr ...

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democrat ...

. This led to a split album with the Bizarros, titled ''From Akron'', which was released that year and received praise from Robert Christgau. Firestone and Clic would go on to open The Crypt in Akron, at the time, the only punk rock club in the Midwest. Bands including the Dead Boys, Devo,

Pere Ubu Pere Ubu is an American rock group formed in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1975. The band had a variety of long-term and recurring band members, with singer David Thomas being the only member staying throughout the band's lifetime. They released their ...

and the Bizarros played at this club. The Rebels moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

in 1978, minus Pelton (who was replaced on drums by Mike Hammer) and Sake (keyboards were deemed unnecessary for the band's change to a heavier sound), and gained considerable fame on the Sunset Strip. They frequently headlined at the famous

Whisky a Go Go The Whisky a Go Go (informally nicknamed "the Whisky") is a historic nightclub in West Hollywood, California, United States. It is located at 8901 Sunset Boulevard on the Sunset Strip, corner North Clark Street, opposite North San Vicente Boule ...

for bands such as

the Knack The Knack was an American rock band based in Los Angeles that rose to fame with its first single, " My Sharona", an international number-one hit in 1979. History Founding (1977–1978) Singer Doug Fieger was a native of Oak Park, Michigan, a ...

Fear Fear is an intensely unpleasant emotion in response to perceiving or recognizing a danger or threat. Fear causes physiological changes that may produce behavioral reactions such as mounting an aggressive response or fleeing the threat. Fear ...

the Kats Frederick George Moore (July 19, 1950 – August 25, 2022) was an American musician best known for his 1980 song "It's Not A Rumour", which he co-wrote with his ex-wife Demi Moore, and recorded with his band The Nu-Kats. The song was not a chart ...

, the Nu Kats,

the Dickies The Dickies are an American punk rock band formed in the San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles, in 1977. One of the longest tenured punk rock bands, they have been in continuous existence for over 40 years. They have consistently balanced catchy mel ...

and

the Plimsouls The Plimsouls are an American rock band known for their hit single "A Million Miles Away" which was featured in the movie ''Valley Girl''. History The band was formed in Paramount, California in 1978. They recorded two full-length albums and an ...

. The band was signed to

Sire Records Sire Records (formerly Sire Records Company) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group and distributed by Warner Records. History Beginnings The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehre ...

; however, a clash between band and record label ensued and the recording contract was terminated before the Rebels could record their debut album. Following some personnel changes (Damage and Hammer left to form the Hammer Damage Band, replaced by Johnny Bethesda and Brandon Matheson, respectively), the Rebels signed a deal with Capitol Records, helped in no small way by

Doug Fieger Douglas Lars Fieger (August 20, 1952 – February 14, 2010) was an American musician, singer and songwriter. He was the rhythm guitarist and lead vocalist of the rock band The Knack. He co-wrote "My Sharona," the biggest hit song of 1979 in the ...

, lead singer of the Knack (who were also signed to Capitol) and a self-professed fan of the band. Matheson and Fieger had previously been members of the Sunset Bombers and had one album released on Ariola Records. The Rebels eponymous debut album was released in 1980. Although praised by critics, sales of the album never vaulted the band past its

underground Underground most commonly refers to: * Subterranea (geography), the regions beneath the surface of the Earth Underground may also refer to: Places * The Underground (Boston), a music club in the Allston neighborhood of Boston * The Underground ...

status. They can be seen near the end of the 1982 movie ''The Assassination Game'', performing "Born Dead" and "Rebel to the Rescue" behind the curtains in the theater.

Linda Hamilton Linda Carroll Hamilton (born September 26, 1956) is an American actress. She played Sarah Connor in the '' Terminator'' film series and Catherine Chandler in the television series ''Beauty and the Beast'' (1987–1990), for which she was nomina ...

's character runs through the crowd at the show, attempting to escape from a pursuer. In 1983, Firestone released a 12" EP, ''Trouble'', with his band the Firetones. Eventually the Rebels faded from the scene and ceased touring in

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

, although they never officially disbanded.

Recent years

Despite not touring or recording any new material through the 1990s, the Rebels' reputation and support among fans remained strong and in 2001, Mind Control Laboratories released a remastered ''Rubber City Rebels'' which featured improved sound quality and the addition of several bonus tracks. White Noise Records also released ''Re-Tired'' that year, a collection of live tracks and the Rebels' half of the ''From Akron'' LP. The band toured to support the new releases, featuring a reunion with former members Hammer and Damage. Boosted by the popularity of their reunion tour and the 2001 releases, the Rebels returned to the studio to record their second album, ''Pierce My Brain'', which was released in 2002. The album track "(I Wanna) Pierce My Brain" was included on the soundtrack for the 2003

skateboard A skateboard is a type of sports equipment used for skateboarding. They are usually made of a specially designed 7-8 ply maple plywood deck and polyurethane wheels attached to the underside by a pair of skateboarding trucks. The skateboarder ...

ing

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

Tony Hawk's Underground ''Tony Hawk's Underground'' is a skateboarding video game and the fifth entry in the ''Tony Hawk's'' series after '' Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4''. It was developed by Neversoft and published by Activision in 2003 for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, ...

''. Although Damage left the band following the first reunion shows, he was quickly replaced by Bob Clic (Buzz's brother and member of the Lewd) who plays on ''Pierce My Brain''. The Rebels still play infrequent shows across the United States and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

Current lineup

*Rod Firestone - vocals * Buzz Clic - guitar *Bob Clic - bass *Mike Hammer - drums

Discography

Studio albums

*''From Akron'' split LP with The Bizarros (1977, Clone Records) *''Rubber City Rebels'' (1980, Capitol Records; reissued 2000, Mind Control Labs) *''Pierce My Brain'' (2002, Munster Records)

Singles

*"Such a Fool" (1977, Live at the Crypt) *"Child Eaters" (1977, Live at the Crypt) *"Young and Dumb" (1980, Flaming Orange Records) *"Bluer Than Blue" (1980, Capitol Records) *"Brainwaves" (1981, self-release) *"Annoyed, Destroyed, Unemployed" (2011, self-release)

Compilation albums

*''Re-Tired'' (2001, White Noise Records) *''The Akron Years (1977)'' (2005, Wizzard in Vinyl) *''The Hollywood Years (1979-1984)'' (2005, Wizzard in Vinyl)

Live albums

*''Live from Akron'' (2000, Mind Control Labs)

Compilation appearances

*"Rubber City Rebels" on ''The Akron Compilation'' (1978, Stiff Records) *"Young and Dumb" on '' L.A. In: A Collection of Los Angeles Rock and New Wave Bands'' (1979,

Rhino Records A rhinoceros (; ; ), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. (It can also refer to a member of any of the extinct species ...

) *"Caught in a Dream" on ''Welcome to Our Nightmare: A Tribute to Alice Cooper'' (1993,

Triple X Records Triple X Records was a Los Angeles-based record company started by three former employees of the bankrupt Greenworld Distribution: Dean Naleway, Peter Heur and Charley Brown. The label was known for "a fearlessly eclectic catalogue that broke away ...

)

References

External links

Official Website
{{Authority control Musical groups from Akron, Ohio Punk rock groups from Ohio Musical groups established in 1976 Capitol Records artists 1976 establishments in Ohio