Crazy times my friends. It’s crazy to believe that March makes RIOTGUN’s existence on this planet 16 years. What started off as a fun side project has taken on a life of it’s own. The original intentions of this band was solely BEER and revolution. In that order. Now as we age ungracefully, the intention of BEER is still there, not so much the revolution. Yeah, we still think the majority of government officials are out to destroy the middle class, yeah we still believe corporate amerika sucks ass, we still believe mainstream culture is destroying our underground scene, but y’know what, at the end of the day those factors keep us (the band) writing, performing, recording and (yes) drinking. If we weren’t grumpy old punk rawk guys, what would we have to bitch and gripe about if there wasn’t any injustice in the world. Kinda like what would Batman™ do if there weren’t any super-villains threatening to destroy <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />..Gotham.. city. He would exploit the middle class and probably outsource many of Wayne Industry jobs to some third world nation. But lets not dwell on that.

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I feel fortunate to be able to make such awe inspiring tunage with my band brothers. To me this is a dream team. Every single person in the band I personally have a history with and everyone of these hooligans wants to be in RIOTGUN, not just be in a band. Let’s face it, RIOTGUN has always been more of a “Lodge Brotherhood” (officially the Loyal Brotherhood of the Barracuda, i.e. Barracuda Lodge PRMF) than a band. We meet to share ideas, drink some brew, tell some off kilter tales and drink some more beer. Much like any other middle aged blue collar bloke at a Elks Lodge, Moose Lodge, Mason, etc, except our allegiance is to Punk Fucken Rawk! Also in our ranks is a cast of characters that has helped RIOTGUN evolve over the years in to the fined tuned vehicle (But not very fuel efficient) that the band has become. Gracing the stage with us have been the likes of Graham Theft Auto, Boozer, Van Driver and host of other good time miscreants. Supporting us off stage have been a good bunch too, Sean, Lisa, Alfred, JOD, Manny, Anthony and the list would go on forever. Both in the Studio and on the Web have been the talents of ....Trent.... (from Whores of Tijuana) and his dedication to the ongoing bromance (his words, not mine). He kinda acts as our sounding board and lets us try whatever unnecessary tricks and riffage we feel is important, even if he knows its ridiculous. Good job bro! like I said, I feel very fortunate to have all these people involved in this project.

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Lets not forget past members that contributed their souls to this project, even if it was not even necessary to sell your soul to rock n’ roll. Raul (Rollo), who taught me it was important to respect the metal gods from time to time and Andy Freels (RIP) who proved being Old was only a minor setback in Rock n’ Roll (he created guitars for Fender™). My biggest inspiration on Guitar came from Vince (Vinny) Zeno. He made playing guitar seem like cake, that talented mofo. He made me want to take guitar seriously. Then there was Jonny VerPlank, who made me not take guitar too seriously. Alfred Cruz made me understand melody does have a place in punk. Lets not forget Monkey Boy (Dave Chavez) who made me appreciate the commando lifestyle of the road. He made touring tolerable.

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There have been plenty of promoters and record labels out there who have also helped based on their love and appreciation of the band, not cuz they wanted to make money. Spiller (Final Vinyl), OEB (Madskull), Chelsea (Tristy Chaos), Bruce Roehrs (Rumblers CC SF), OC Weekly, Martin (Last Punkrocker Records), Haunted Town Records, Chuck D (Bullet Treatment/Basement Records), Point Break Records (....Italy....). I can go on forever. We’re lazy guys, if it wasn’t for the nagging of all these fine people, we would never play or release records world wide. So either thank or blame those folks.

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Basically I’m just happy to be part of such a great crew of people who have impacted me in such a positive way. Matt “Bone” on drums, was my favorite drummer before he even started drumming for RIOTGUN and I knew four years before he came to the band that he would be RIOTGUN’s drummer. T-Ball on guitar and vocals was a no brainer. A fantastic player, performer and partier and a devout fan for 10 years before taking over some major duty in the band. Anthony, known this guy since the 80s, played music together in the past and knew it was only a matter of time before he would be the perfect bass player for RIOTGUN, rescuing us from the hellish bass purgatory we were enduring prior to his arrival. Everything fits perfectly, and everyone has a common goal, “shoot for the middle” (long story, maybe blog it to you someday).

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So we are in the throes of finishing our next release and we once again have support from all the old folks and some new ones that believe in us, so look out for a new album this summer. Also, don’t be surprised if our Bar will be up and running by then, with a host of familiar characters hanging around and ready to party (kind of like “Cheers” for punkers).

One last note, I promise to update our http://www.riotgun.com site this year. See ya at the shows and hit T-Ball up for a beer…

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Cheers!

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Lugz

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