Suburban Rhythm was a ska punk band from Long Beach, California. Formed in 1990, the band had a short-lived but prolific career. 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 Rhythm met with many internal band conflicts and band roster changes. The band broke up in 1994. Three years later in 1997 their only full-length album, Suburban Rhythm was released.
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In August 1989, vocalist Dennis Owens, guitarist Jake Kline, keyboardist Rodi DelGadillo, bassist Deryke Cardenaz, and drummer Christine Tasche formed a band called The Silent Invasion. After a few months of rehearsal, the band played their one and only show just after Christmas in Tasche's back house in front of a few friends. Shortly after, Tasche left the band.
Several months later, John Gamba responded to their "Drummer Wanted" flyer and was soon added to the band roster. The band soon decided to change their name to Suburban Rhythm. Kline hated the name, but the others decided Kline would have no say in the matter. Eight months later and after playing several shows, Gamba was ousted due to "personality conflicts", leaving the band once again without a drummer.
Carlos de la Garza, drummer for Cerritos ska band The Trenchtown Invaders took Gamba's spot as drummer. One month later, Cardenaz quit for unknown reasons. Through an "acquaintance of an acquaintance", the band found Ed Kampwirth to replace Cardenaz. With the addition of Kampwirth, the band's sound began to solidify.
With Kampwirth and de la Garza forming a solid rhythm section, the band's musicianship and song writing had greatly improved, and the band wrote several new songs, and played numerous shows, in the Long Beach and Orange County area. In October 1992, the band released their first (and only) demo, Hose. After this, the size of Suburban Rhythm's fan base grew dramatically.
In April 1993, Kline quit the band to work on his own musical project, a band called Eggbeater. Kline's departure left the band with Dennis Owens and Rodi DelGadillo as the only two original members remaining. The band vowed to break up if any more of the 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."
Despite depression within the band, they decided they would stick together and find a new guitarist. After several try-outs including Reel Big Fish founder Aaron Barrett, the band chose Nuckle Brothers guitarist Scott Moran. Soon after this, Chris Siglin was hired as the band's manager.
In late October or early November 1993, Suburban Rhythm started to record their first album. At this point, band member relations were becoming unstable. According to Owens, more and more arguments ensued between band members about "this-that-and-the-other's problem with this-that-and-the-other".
The initial recording sessions proved unsatisfactory. After several more arguments, it was decided to re-record the album at another studio. Friction among the band members grew worse as the band continued to argue. Finally, in the middle of the sessions, Kampwirth and Moran announced they were quitting the band. Ed quit for undisclosed reasons. Scott quit, primarily, due to personal and creative conflicts with singer, Dennis Owens. The band kept the promise they made after Kline left and put the band to rest. S.R. played its last show on April 2, 1994 in Costa Mesa, CA. The band released the "Almost There" ep at the time of their breakup, the EP featured 4 songs from the scrapped album.
In 1997, three years after the band's breakup, a posthumous 16-song compilation CD was released from 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, plus nine previously unreleased tracks, which were the unreleased songs from the scrapped first album. The compilation also includes five tracks recorded live from 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 No Doubt guitarist Tom Dumont, who, at that point, had gone on to achieve worldwide success. Like all of Suburban Rhythm's recordings, this compilation is currently out of print.
Suburban Rhythm ran the gamut of musical styles. While primarily labeled a ska/punk band, some of their recordings displayed styles from funk (e.g. "18 Inch Ruler"), to metal, jazz, blues, prog, and even country (e.g. "Blue Hawaii"). Their tone also had range, from dark and moody styles, such as "Coming Out Of The Woodwork," My Sister Sam, and "Tension", to playful, fast-driven songs like "Game Show", "Bixville" and their cover of Carl Douglas' "Kung Fu Fighting". The band displayed a musical dexterity and elasticity, and managed to blend numerous musical influences, and stretched the boundaries of what was normally expected from a ska/punk band.
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 90's. Additionally, a large number of younger Orange County ska bands had cited Suburban Rhythm as an influence. Most notably, O.C. ska band Reel Big Fish has paid homage to Suburban Rhythm on many occasions. Their second full-length CD, Turn the Radio Off, includes a tribute song to Suburban Rhythm entitled "S.R". This song is notable during their live shows, as they play multiple versions of it spanning across several genre such as emo, blues, punk, rap, disco, country, and death metal. They also covered Suburban Rhythm's "Uniform of Destruction" for the Ska Parade'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, which was released on the album Friend or FOE?.
Various members of Suburban Rhythm have gone on to play in numerous bands, and are still active in the Long Beach, Orange County and Los Angeles musical communities.
Owens, de la Garza, and Delgadillo, would go on to form the power-pop group Action League which performed from 1995-1999.
Dennis Owens played bass with BlowUpBlow and currently plays bass with Free Moral Agents. 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 Japan, and plays drums with the dub reggae band, the Revolutionites.
Carlos de la Garza would go on to play drums with Reel Big Fish, Gogogo Airheart, Sugarcult, The Valley Arena, Lyra, and Ray Barbee, and currently runs Music Friends recording studio, and works as a recording engineer and producer.
Ed Kampwirth would go on to play with numerous bands and musicians: the short-lived prog band Larry which featured future Save Ferris singer Monique Powell, Alleged Gunmen, The Keepers, PAL, Chris Cacavas from Green on Red, the Specials' Neville Staple, Dios Malos, and the Bible Children with San Pedro skate and punk legend Todd Congelliere.
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, skate-legend Ray Barbee's instrumental ensemble, and currently plays guitar in Sky Parade. Moran is also currently involved in martial arts.
| Year | Title | Format | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Hose | Cassette | Out of print |
| 1994 | Almost There | 7″ Vinyl | Out of print |
| 1997 | Suburban Rhythm | CD | 16-song compilation released through Solid Recordings - Out Of Print |
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