Symbol Six is an American

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm a ...

band formed in

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing t ...

, United States, in 1980 by

Eric Leach Symbol Six is an American rock and roll band formed in Santa Monica, California, United States, in 1980 by Eric Leach, Phil George, Mark Conway, Donny Brook (original bass player for Necros), Taz Rudd, and Steve Cooper. Originating in Los Angele ...

, Phil George, Mark Conway, Donny Brook (original bass player for

Necros Necros was an early American hardcore punk band from Maumee, Ohio, although they are usually identified with the Detroit music scene. They were the first band to record for Touch and Go Records. History Necros was formed in mid-1975 by then-t ...

), Taz Rudd, and Steve Cooper. Originating in

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 ...

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 ...

, when the band started the average age of the band members was 15 years old. The band has played clubs such as the

Cuckoo's Nest Cuckoos are birds in the Cuculidae family, the sole taxon in the order Cuculiformes . The cuckoo family includes the common or European cuckoo, roadrunners, koels, malkohas, couas, coucals and anis. The coucals and anis are sometimes separa ...

(Costa Mesa, Ca.), Godzillas (Sun Valley, Ca.), and Bards Apollo (South Central, Los Angeles). Symbol Six has played with

Social Distortion Social Distortion is an American punk rock band formed in 1978 in Fullerton, California. The band currently consists of Mike Ness (lead vocals, lead guitar), Jonny Wickersham (rhythm guitar, backing vocals), Brent Harding (bass, backing voca ...

, Bad Religion, T.S.O.L.,

45 Grave 45 Grave is an American rock band from Los Angeles formed in 1979. The original group broke up in 1985, but vocalist Dinah Cancer subsequently revived the band. History The band was founded during the punk rock movement by Paul B. Cutler i ...

, Youth Brigade,

Descendents The Descendents are an American punk rock band formed in 1977 in Manhattan Beach, California, by guitarist Frank Navetta, bassist Tony Lombardo and drummer Bill Stevenson. In 1979, they enlisted Stevenson's school friend Milo Aukerman as a ...

RF7 ''RF7'' is an American, long-lived, southern California punk rock band, that began in 1979 by Felix Alanis and small-time child star of the ''Sheriff John'' show Nick Lamagna. Felix also began the record label Smoke Seven Records and signed his ban ...

and Agent Orange.

History

In December 1981, Robbie Fields, owner and founder of

Posh Boy Records Posh Boy Records is a Hollywood, California-based record label owned by the American-born, British-educated Robbie "Posh Boy" Fields, a sometime high school substitute teacher and former copy boy at the ''Los Angeles Times'' who took an intere ...

, went to a band rehearsal and booked Symbol Six in the studio to record and produce their self-titled debut EP,''Symbol Six''. The album was recorded at Brian Elliot studios in North Hollywood, California, with engineer David Hines and co-producer

Jay Lansford A jay is a member of a number of species of medium-sized, usually colorful and noisy, passerine birds in the Crow family, Corvidae. The evolutionary relationships between the jays and the magpies are rather complex. For example, the Eurasian m ...

. The album was completed in three days with front cover artwork by Jim Evans of ''

Skateboarder Skateboarding is an action sport originating in the United States that involves riding and performing tricks using a skateboard, as well as a recreational activity, an art form, an entertainment industry job, and a method of transportation. S ...

''. Back cover photos were taken by music photographer

Edward Colver Edward Curtiss Colver (born 1949), also known as Ed Colver, is an American photographer, best known for his early punk photographs.

. The EP debuted on KROQ-FM's

Rodney Bingenheimer Rodney Bingenheimer (born December 15, 1946) is an American radio disc jockey who is best known as the host of ''Rodney on the ROQ'', a radio program that ran on the Los Angeles rock station KROQ from 1976 to 2017. In the early 1970s, he also m ...

show in April 1982. The album was named a top pick in ''

Billboard Magazine ''Billboard'' (stylized as ''billboard'') is an American music and entertainment magazine published weekly by Penske Media Corporation. The magazine provides music charts, news, video, opinion, reviews, events, and style related to the musi ...

'' in 1982: ''Symbol Six'' was distributed world-wide by Green World but the group broke up shortly after the album was released. In 1988, the album was re-released on the compilation titled ''Split'', with Agent Orange's album '' Living in Darkness''.

Aftermath

In 1984,

and Taz Rudd formed the short-lived Hollywood sleaze band Stahlin with

Izzy Stradlin Jeffrey Dean Isbell (born April 8, 1962), best known as Izzy Stradlin, is an American guitarist. He was a co-founder and rhythm guitarist of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, which he left at the height of their fame in 1991, and with whom he r ...

of Guns N' Roses. Shortly afterwards, Leach and Rudd, along with

Brent Muscat Brent Muscat (born April 23, 1967) is an American musician best known as the guitarist of glam metal band Faster Pussycat. Faster PussyCat, etc. Faster Pussycat was formed in the 1980s Hollywood glam metal boom. The original line up consisted ...

, Patrick Muzingo, and Todd Muscat, formed the rock n’ roll punk band Shanghai. The group was spotted by Kim Fowley, producer of

The Runaways The Runaways were an all-female American rock band who recorded and performed from 1975 to 1979. The band released four studio albums and one live album during its run. Among their best-known songs are " Cherry Bomb", "Hollywood", "Queens of ...

KISS A kiss is the touch or pressing of one's lips against another person or an object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely. Depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sexual attraction, ...

, and

Alice Cooper Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier, February 4, 1948) is an American rock singer whose career spans over five decades. With a raspy voice and a stage show that features numerous props and stage illusions, including pyrotechnics, guillot ...

at The Troubadour. Shanghai played the re-opening of the

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 ...

in April 1986 with Guns N' Roses and Faster Pussycat. Taz Rudd formed the band the Wrecklords consisting of members of Chantee's (Pipeline), Jim Gordon of

Derek and the Dominos Derek and the Dominos was an English–American blues rock band formed in the spring of 1970 by guitarist and singer Eric Clapton, keyboardist and singer Bobby Whitlock, bassist Carl Radle and drummer Jim Gordon. All four members had previous ...

. He went on to play in Atoms, Der Stab, Funeral, Flower Leperds, Voodoo Church, Decry, Pirates of Venus, Shanghai,

Rock City Angels Rock City Angels was an American rock band from Florida. They found only limited success, and are perhaps best known for having Johnny Depp as a guitarist before he launched his acting career. History The band was founded in 1981 as The Abus ...

, and Aces & Eights (formed with Phil George and Evan Shanks) which performed at

The Viper Room The Viper Room is a nightclub and live music venue located on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, California, United States. It was established as The Viper Room in 1993 and was partly owned by actor Johnny Depp. The other part owner was Sal J ...

in August 2009 joined on stage by

Slash Slash may refer to: * Slash (punctuation), the "/" character Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Slash (Marvel Comics) * Slash (''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'') Music * Harry Slash & The Slashtones, an American rock band * Nash ...

and Steven Adler of Guns N' Roses. Mark Conway is the guitarist of Neighborhood Watch, a Venice California punk band formed in 1983. Rapidfire was a metal band that Mark played guitar in also. Neighborhood Watch is active .

Reformation

The band reformed in 2010 with all the original members. They met at That British Place Rehearsal Studios in Santa Monica and started writing and playing new material. Working with engineer Jimmy Sloan they released their self produced debut LP, ''"Monsters 11"'' on Symbol Six Music. Donny Brook was soon replaced by Evan Shanks on bass and Mark Conway was replaced by Tony Fate and then by Grey Spikes in 2011. Symbol Six joined The Crowd for

Rhino Entertainment Rhino Entertainment Company is an American specialty record label and production company founded in 1978. It is currently the catalog division for Warner Music Group. Its current CEO is Mark Pinkus. History Founded in 1978, Rhino was originall ...

Warner Music Group Warner Music Group Corp. ( d.b.a. Warner Music Group, commonly abbreviated as WMG) is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and t ...

Posh Boy Night at Rhino Records pop-up store in

Los Angeles, California 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' ...

in June 2011 to help raise money for the charitable organization

MusiCares MusiCares Foundation is a non-profit organization established in 1989 and incorporated in 1993 by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Meant for musicians to have a place to turn in times of financial, personal, or medical crisis, ...

. In 2012, Symbol Six played with acts including

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 ...

Jello Biafra Eric Reed Boucher (born June 17, 1958), known professionally as Jello Biafra, is an American singer, spoken word artist and politician. He is the former lead singer and songwriter for the San Francisco punk rock band Dead Kennedys. Initially ac ...

, Lower Class Brats, and

The Adicts The Adicts are a British punk rock band from Ipswich, Suffolk, England. One of the most popular punk rock bands in the 1980s, they were often in the indie charts during that decade. The Adicts originated as The Afterbirth in late 1975 but n ...

. Symbol Six went back into studio with Phillip (Philco) Raves of

Mystic Records Mystic Records is an American record label and music production company specializing in hardcore punk, crossover thrash, underground music, vintage and cult records. It is owned and operated by Doug Moody. The label was first established in Hollywo ...

to record their third album Dirtyland in summer 2012. Symbol Six appeared live in Hollywood on November 15, 2012, with

Nick Oliveri Nick Steven Oliveri (born October 21, 1971) is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter. He is perhaps best known as a former bassist of Kyuss and later Queens of the Stone Age from 1998 to 2004. Oliveri is also a solo artist a ...

Dwarves (band) The Dwarves are an American punk rock band formed in Chicago, Illinois and based in San Francisco, California as of 2009.Gentile, John (2009)Interview: Blag Dahlia of the Dwarves, ''The A.V. Club'', April 13, 2009, retrieved February 7, 2010 ...

Mondo Generator Mondo Generator (sometimes known as Nick Oliveri and the Mondo Generator) is an American rock band founded in 1997 by Nick Oliveri. History Formation and ''Cocaine Rodeo'' (1997–2002) Nick Oliveri (under the moniker ''Rex Everything'') f ...

, and

Queens of the Stone Age Queens of the Stone Age (commonly abbreviated QOTSA) is an American Rock music, rock band formed in 1996 in Palm Desert, California. The band was founded by vocalist and guitarist Josh Homme, who has been the only constant member throughout mul ...

performing

Turbonegro Turbonegro (Turboneger in Norway) is a Norwegian Rock music, rock band, active from 1989 to 1998 and from 2002 to the present. The band combines glam rock, punk rock, and hard rock into a self-described "deathpunk" musical style. History Earl ...

's "Back To Dungaree High" In 2011,

Dr. Strange Records Dr. Strange Records is a record label and record store located in Alta Loma, California. It started out as an apartment-based distro in 1988 and became a record label in 1989, run out of the "Doc's" apartment until 1997, when the store was firs ...

in Alta Loma, California, negotiated with Posh Boy Records and re-released original and unreleased tracks on 12" vinyl in February 2013. The released album also included a version of

The Weirdos The Weirdos are an American punk rock band from Los Angeles, California. They formed in 1975, split-up in 1981, re-grouped in 1986 and have remained semi-active ever since. Critic Mark Deming calls them "quite simply, one of the best and bright ...

' ''The Hideout''. Symbol Six was signed to Jailhouse Records March 1, releasing a compilation split with Fang (band), 2013, a compilation split with

Rikk Agnew Richard Francis "Rikk" Agnew Jr. (born December 9, 1958) is an American musician with a career spanning more than 40 years. He has previously been a member of some of the most influential bands of the Orange County hardcore punk genre, as w ...

, 2015 and their third studio album, ''Dirtyland'', in 2014.

Band members

;Current members *

- Vocals (1980–1982, 2010–present) *Phil George - Drums (1980–1982, 2010–present) * Evan Shanks - Bass (2011–present) *Tony Fate - Guitar (2011–present) ;Former members *Donny Brook - Bass (1980–1982, 2010–2011) *Steve Cooper - Guitar (1980–1981) *Mark Conway - Guitar (1980–1982, 2010–2011) *Taz Rudd - Guitar (1980, 2010–2014)

Films

1982, Symbol Six was interviewed and performed in the documentary ''The Slog Movie'' shot and directed by

Dave Markey David Markey (born December 3, 1963 in Burbank, California, United States) is an American film director. Biography As a self-taught filmmaker and musician, David Markey directed, produced, edited, and photographed most of his films, the majori ...

with Circle One, Wasted Youth, Red Cross, TSOL, The Chiefs,

SIN 34 SIN 34 was an American hardcore punk rock band formed in 1981 in Santa Monica, California. The band featured a female front-person, Julie Lanfeld-Keskin. The band's rhythm section would go on to form Painted Willie in 1984, and sign with SST ...

, Circle Jerks,

Henry Rollins Henry Lawrence Garfield (born February 13, 1961), known professionally as Henry Rollins, is an American singer, writer, spoken word artist, actor, and presenter. After performing in the short-lived hardcore punk band State of Alert in 1980, Roll ...

, Chuck Dukowski, Robo &

Dez Cadena Dez Cadena (born June 2, 1961) is an American punk rock singer and guitarist. He was the third vocalist and later rhythm guitarist for hardcore punk band Black Flag from 1980 to 1983. Cadena played guitar with Misfits from 2001 to 2015, init ...

(Black Flag).

Discography

* 1982 ''Symbol Six Debut'' EP Catalog #PBS 1030 (Posh Boy Records) * 1987 ''The Future Looks Brighter'' Compilation Catalog #PBS 120 (Posh Boy Records) * 1988 '' Living in Darkness'' Symbol Six Bonus Tracks Catalog #PBCD 88122-2 (Posh Boy Records) * 1991 ''Ego/Taxation 7"'' SINGLE Catalog #PBS 37 (Posh Boy Records) * 1993 ''The Posh Boy Story (More Or Less)'' CD (U.K. Release) Catalog #PBCD 8160 (Posh Boy Records) * 2010 ''Monsters 11'' (Symbol Six Music) * 2011 ''Scare America'' Records Compilation (Scare America Records) * 2012 ''Chaotic Reasoning,'' Volume One Compilation (Kaos Records) * 2012 ''Get Fucked, Let's Rock'' Compilation (Olystis Music & Production) * 2012 ''Underground Comp - Volume I)'' Compilation (Suicide Kings Records) * 2013 ''Dr. Strange Records Re-Release Posh Boy E.P.'' W/ Bonus Tracks Catalog DSR-128 (Dr Strange Records) * 2013 ''Dirty Old Punks Compilation Radio Athens Greece - Volume 2'' (Canadian Ensign Records) * 2013 ''Jailhouse Records 7"'' COMP with The Scarred, Violent Affair, & Tenebrae (Jailhouse Records) * 2014 ''Symbol Six/ Fang (band)'' Split Release Date April 19, 2014 Catalog #JHR 047 (Jailhouse Records) * 2014 ''Dirtyland'' LP Catalog #JHR 049 (Jailhouse Records) * 2014 ''The Posh Boy Story (More Or Less)'' CD Catalog #8160-2 / Damgood 11 (Damaged Goods Records) * 2015 ''Symbol Six/

'' Split Catalog #JHR 055 (Jailhouse Records)

References

External links

* {{official, https://www.facebook.com/SymbolSix Punk rock groups from California Musical groups established in 1980