Suburban Rhythm was a

ska punk Ska punk (also spelled ska-punk) is a fusion genre that mixes ska music and punk rock music together. (sometimes spelled skacore) is a subgenre of ska punk that mixes ska with hardcore punk. Early ska punk mixed both 2 tone and ska with hardc ...

band from

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

. Formed in 1990, they played numerous shows in small-venue clubs with many now famous O.C. bands opening their performances, including Sublime,

No Doubt No Doubt is an American rock band from Anaheim, California, formed in 1986. For most of their career, the band has consisted of vocalist Gwen Stefani, guitarist Tom Dumont, bassist Tony Kanal, and drummer Adrian Young. Since the mid-1990s, the ...

, and

Reel Big Fish Reel Big Fish is an American ska punk band from Orange County, California. The band gained mainstream recognition in the mid-to-late 1990s during the third wave of ska with the release of the gold-certified album ''Turn the Radio Off''. Soon af ...

. Suburban Rhythm met with various roster changes and broke up in 1994. Three years later in 1997 their only full-length album, ''

Suburban Rhythm Suburban Rhythm was a ska punk band from Long Beach, California. Formed in 1990, they played numerous shows in small-venue clubs with many now famous O.C. bands opening their performances, including Sublime, No Doubt, and Reel Big Fish. Suburban ...

'' was released.

History

In August 1989, vocalist Dennis Owens, guitarist Jake Kline, keyboardist/vocalist Rodi Delgadillo, bassist Deryke Cardenaz, and drummer Christine Tasche formed a band called The Silent Invasion, which played one show shortly before Tasche left the band. The remaining members decided to change the band's name to Suburban Rhythm; Ed Kampwirth replaced Cardenaz on bass while

Carlos de la Garza Captain Carlos de la Garza (1807–1882), also known as "Don Carlos," was a fourth generation Tejano rancher and entrepreneur in Goliad, Victoria and Refugio counties of Texas. His participation in the Mexican Army leading to the Battle of Coleto ...

, drummer for Cerritos ska band The Trenchtown Invaders, filled the band's drum slot.

Height of career

With Kampwirth and De la Garza forming a solid rhythm section, the band played numerous shows including Prince's club "Glam Slam", in Los Angeles, also playing

Long Beach Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

and

Orange County Orange County most commonly refers to: *Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area Orange County may also refer to: U.S. counties *Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando *Orange County, Indiana *Orange County, New ...

areas. In October 1992, the band released their first (and only) demo, ''Hose''. In April 1993, Kline quit the band to work on his own musical project, Eggbeater. The band decided to find a new guitarist but vowed to break up if any more core members (including Kampwirth and De La Garza) decided to quit, fearing replacing any more members might "water things down to the point of embarrassment". After several try-outs, including

founder Aaron Barrett, the band chose

Nuckle Brothers The Nuckle Brothers were a third wave ska band from Huntington Beach that was part of the early 1990s music scene in Orange County, California, United States, inspiring such bands as Reel Big Fish, Save Ferris and The Aquabats. History Playing ...

guitarist Scott Moran.

Breakup

In late 1993 Suburban Rhythm started to record their first album. Friction among band members grew worse and in the middle of the sessions Kampwirth and Moran announced they were quitting. The band kept the promise they made after Kline left and played their last show on April 2, 1994 in Costa Mesa, CA. The band released the "Almost There" ep at the time of their breakup, containing 4 songs from the scrapped album.

Compilation

In 1997, a posthumous 16-song compilation CD was released by Long Beach record label Solid Recordings. The album contains three tracks from the ''Hose'' demo cassette, all four tracks from the ''Almost There'' 7" vinyl, nine previously unreleased tracks from the scrapped first album, five live tracks recorded at the Big Black Room in Santa Ana, California in 1993, as well as a hidden garage-recorded track entitled "Uniform of Destruction". The CD also features liner notes written by

guitarist

Tom Dumont Thomas Martin Dumont (born January 11, 1968) is an American guitarist and producer. Dumont is a member of third wave ska band No Doubt, and during the band's hiatus, he began Invincible Overlord as a side project and produced Matt Costa's ''So ...

Musical style

While primarily labeled a

ska Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walki ...

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, some of their recordings displayed styles from funk (e.g. "18 Inch Ruler"), to

metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

, prog, and even

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

(e.g. "Blue Hawaii").

Influence and legacy

Shortly after Suburban Rhythm's break-up, a large number of the band's contemporaries would go on to find success, and this would, in part, lead to a nationwide ska revival in the mid and late 1990s. Additionally, a large number of younger

ska bands had cited Suburban Rhythm as an influence, most notably, O.C. ska band

has paid homage to Suburban Rhythm on many occasions. Their second full-length CD, ''

Turn the Radio Off ''Turn the Radio Off'' is the second full-length album by ska punk band Reel Big Fish. It was released in the U.S. in 1996 on Mojo Records. The single "Sell Out" both received extensive radio airplay and had mainstream success during 1997. "Sell ...

'', includes a tribute song to Suburban Rhythm entitled "S.R". They also covered Suburban Rhythm's "Uniform of Destruction" for the

Ska Parade Ska Parade, also known as SP Radio One, is a southern California radio show whose goal is to promote up-and-coming ska artists, as well as other types of new bands. The show was created by Tazy Phyllipz and Albino Brown. The show was a part of th ...

's compilation album, ''Runnin' Naked thru the Cornfield''. (Suburban Rhythm's "Coming out of the Woodwork" is featured on the same album.) Reel Big Fish's front man, Aaron Barrett, paid further homage to Suburban Rhythm by covering one of their unreleased songs, Go to Hell, with his side band

The Forces of Evil The Forces of Evil was an Orange County-based ska punk band, formed in January 2001 with the intention of creating a ska supergroup, being the side project of fellow ska punk band Reel Big Fish. The band split in 2005 after releasing a four-so ...

, which was released on the album Friend or Foe?. Suburban Rhythm were cited by the

L.A. Weekly ''LA Weekly'' is a free weekly alternative newspaper in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Jay Levin, who served as president and editor until 1991. Voice Media Group sold the paper in late 2017 to Semanal Media LLC, whose paren ...

as one of the 10 best bands from Long Beach, Ca. Various members of Suburban Rhythm have gone on to play in numerous bands, and are still active in the

and

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

musical communities. Owens, de la Garza, and Delgadillo, would go on to form the power-pop group

Action League Action may refer to: * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video game Film * Action film, a genre of film * ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford * ''Action'' (1980 fil ...

which performed from 1995-1999. Dennis Owens played bass with BlowUpBlow and later played bass with

Free Moral Agents Free Moral Agents were a collective of musicians brought together by Isaiah "Ikey" Owens (keyboardist from The Mars Volta) as a means to expand the sounds of what started as a solo recording project. In the spring of 2006 the band started playing ...

. Owens also DJs in various clubs in Long Beach and Orange County, notably at the long-running Good Foot that Owens and Delgadillio founded in 1998. Rodi Delgadillo currently lives in Long Beach, California. He Dj's and is currently working on a new musical project named "Cosmos". Carlos de la Garza would go on to play drums with

Gogogo Airheart GoGoGo Airheart was a post-punk band from San Diego, California, that was active from 1996 to 2006. Career The band started out by local independent label, Vinyl Communications, and released their self-titled debut in 1997. By that time drummer A ...

Sugarcult Sugarcult is an American rock band from Santa Barbara, California formed in 1999. The band currently consists of Tim Pagnotta (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Airin Older (bass guitar, backing vocals), Marko DeSantis (lead guitar), and Kenny Living ...

, The Valley Arena,

Lyra Lyra (; Latin for lyre, from Greek ''λύρα'') is a small constellation. It is one of the 48 listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, and is one of the modern 88 constellations recognized by the International Astronomical Union. Lyra wa ...

, and

Ray Barbee Ray Barbee (born October 5, 1971) is an American skateboarder, photographer, and musician from San Jose, California. Skateboarding Barbee was one of the first skateboarders to bring freestyle/flatland tricks to street, technical ollie combin ...

, and currently runs Music Friends recording studio, and is a

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

Winning recording engineer and producer. Ed Kampwirth continued playing bass, keys, and writing for numerous acts. Most notable within the Ska/Reggae/Punk genre: Toured with

-1999 (temporary bass sub for Matt Wong). Co-writing credit for "Mistaken" by

Save Ferris Save Ferris is an American ska punk band formed circa 1995 in Orange County, California, United States. Their name is a reference to the 1986 film ''Ferris Bueller's Day Off''. In 1995, the band began to perform underground venues in Southern Cal ...

-1999 (Modified album). Toured and wrote songs with

Neville Staple Neville Eugenton Staple (born 11 April 1955), sometimes credited as Neville Staples, is a Jamaican-born English singer, known for his work with the 2 Tone ska band the Specials, as well as with his own group, the Neville Staple Band. He also pe ...

(ex.

The Specials The Specials, also known as The Special AKA, are an English Two-tone (music genre), 2 tone and ska revival band formed in 1977 in Coventry. After some early changes, the first stable lineup of the group consisted of Terry Hall (singer), Terr ...

) - 2000-2004. Played keys with the Alleged Gunmen - 2002-2004 (album- Return to Zero -2004). Currently touring/writing with the

Long Beach Dub Allstars The Long Beach Dub Allstars are an American dub/ska/rock band formed in 1997 and disbanded in 2002, but reformed 10 years later. History Initial career (1997–2001) Eric Wilson and Bud Gaugh met in childhood (in 1979) and later started their ...

(2016–present). Jake Kline shortly fronted a band called Eggbeater, but is no longer involved in playing music. Scott Moran would later play guitar with

The Aquabats The Aquabats are an American rock band formed in Huntington Beach, California, in 1994. Throughout many fluctuations in the group's line-up, singer the MC Bat Commander and bassist Crash McLarson have remained the band's two constant fixtur ...

, skate-legend

's instrumental ensemble, and currently plays guitar in Sky Parade. Moran is also currently involved in martial arts.

Members

*Dennis Owens (

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

) *Rodi DelGadillo (

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

) *Deryke Cardenaz (

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

) (1990–1992) *Ed Kampwirth (

) (1992–1994) *Jake Kline (

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

) (1990–1993) *Scott Moran (

) (1993–1994) *Christine Tasche (

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

) (1990, with The Silent Invasion) *John Gamba (

) (1990–1991) *

(

) (1991–1994)

Discography

References

{{Reflist American ska punk musical groups Third-wave ska groups Punk rock groups from California