Rich Kids on LSD
Rich Kids on LSD is an American hardcore punk band formed in 1982 in Montecito, California, a suburb of Santa Barbara. Closely associated with the nardcore scene that developed in nearby Oxnard, RKL's music evolved from fast, raw hardcore into a technically skilled blend of punk, rock, and metal influences. Their musicianship and energetic live shows earned them a strong following, particularly among European skaters during the 1980s and 1990s. Guitarist Chris Rest remained the band's only consistent member throughout its various lineups.
History
Formative years
The members of RKL began playing together at a young age. Guitarist Chris Rest and drummer Bomer Manzullo initially recruited Joey Cape as a second guitarist, but Cape agreed to join only if Jason Sears could be the vocalist. Rest already knew Sears from elementary school and youth soccer. Cape was frequently grounded during this period and was eventually left out of the band.RKL soon began performing around the Santa Barbara area, undergoing several changes at second guitar and bass before the lineup stabilized with Allen "Alpo" Duncan on second guitar and Vincent Peppars on bass. According to Rest, "Bomer soon started writing the majority of the music."
Actor Josh Brolin claimed in a New York Times interview to have been a member of RKL. He later gave more detail about this in a radio interview, stating "Things have gotten confused in interviews and all that. And I said that I was a part of RKL, which is Rich Kids on LSD, which was a big punk band back then. And it was - I was part of the garage band that first started playing. And then they went to be known with other drummers and other musicians as RKL. And they actually became a fairly well-known punk rock band.". On the WTF with Marc Maron he said Jason Sears was his best friend and has also stated "Rich Kids on LSD was the band that I helped start."
Band name and logo origin
The group's name came about as a mere fluke from some light hearted criticism. According to vocalist Jason Sears in a 2002 interview with Thrasher magazine: “it happened that some guy said, 'ha, those kids will never be anything, they're just a bunch of rich kids on LSD, man.' The first party we played we didn't have a name for the band, so we put that one on the flier and it just stuck.” The beanie boy logo was born one night while Bomer and Jason were being tattooed. Bomer was attempting to draw a dragon pattern. On seeing the drawing, Jason commented, "Yeah dude, it's Cecil! Where's Beanie?" Dan Sites was sitting alongside drawing a flyer for a show supporting Suicidal Tendencies in Oxnard and drew a beanie guy jumping from a building. Beanie boy was born.Signing with Mystic Records
Though not actually from the Oxnard area, RKL was still considered part of the Nardcore punk movement from Oxnard, California due to their close proximity to Oxnard and hardcore style. RKL recorded It's a Beautiful Feeling EP on Mystic Records, released in 1984. It is a 7-song release that included concert mainstays "Why", "Tell Me The Truth", and "Beautiful Feeling". Outside the studio while waiting for the rest of his bandmates to arrive, Bomer had a skateboarding accident that looked to be a broken wrist. Doug Moody, owner and operator of Mystic Records, duct taped his wrist then taped the drumstick to his hand so he could complete the session. All the artwork for the EP was done by Dan Sites marking the first official appearance of the popular "beanie boy" character, which would remain an icon for RKL for their entire career. RKL would play around California, and particularly enjoyed the scene in San Francisco, driving 6 hours to play shows and drive back. Eventually they decided to move there, minus Alpo. He did not wish to leave Santa Barbara. His position would remain empty for some time. After about five months Vince Peppars wanted to move back to Santa Barbara. Sears said:"...so we hooked up with Barry to cover for him. Then Vince came back and Barry went to guitar". This marked the entrance of Barry 'D'live' Ward to the fold. During this time RKL contributed various songs to a number of Mystic compilations. In 1985 the band soon recorded and released their first full-length LP, Keep Laughing on Mystic Records with Dan Sites once again providing artwork. This release included classic RKL tracks "Think Positive", "Ded Teds", and "Pothead" and has been named as one of the best skate punk records of all time. Ward, however, was not part of this recording. Ward said: " moved back to Santa Barbara and I stayed in San Francisco until they came back after Keep Laughing was recorded." Following the release RKL toured and polished their live act. Things were not good between the band and Mystic Records. The deal the band signed was that they would be a paid a percentage of sales in merchandise. There is contention whether Mystic came through on that agreement. Doug Moody has stated Mystic fulfilled their end of the agreement while Ward has stated not only did they not receive much of anything in merchandise, the band had to eventually resort to bootlegging their own tapes and screening their own shirts to sell at shows. Ward was quoted as saying, "We were fucking broke, starving, dumpster diving for food, barely making gas money, and we kept going because that’s what we did. Doug Moody can say he financed the tours and paid us in merch but that’s completely untrue." Rest has also stated the band never received any money from Mystic.''Rock 'n Roll Nightmare''
Due to the increasingly acrimonious situation between the band and Mystic Records and a luckless 1986 tour, RKL was looking for a new home and found one with the independent Alchemy Records. They were also gearing up to take their sound to the next level. Bomer was the driving force and creative head of the band. Rest said: "He played so fast and tight that we were all forced to do the same. He was a perfectionist and expected the same from us." Vince Peppars would depart around this time. According to Bomer, he didn't like the direction of the new material and preferred the earlier rawer sound. Their next album, Rock 'n Roll Nightmare stayed true to the fast tempo and hardcore sound the band was known for, but introduced elements of progressive rock and thrash metal to their sound as well as a technical musicianship that was very uncommon for the punk genre at the time. Maximumrocknroll called it "Very strong" in their review of the album. About their sound, Bomer said: "People say that we have a metal influence, but really, all our licks are pretty much rhythm and blues based, but it's super fast! So instead of saying it's metal, I'd say it's just super fast rock and roll." They still did not have a bass player for the sessions. Previously, Ricky Bowersock had succeeded Peppars, but the band had soured on him and the spot was vacated. Bowersock appeared as 'Rikkity Borrow A Sock' under a "Special No Thanks" part of the liner notes of the next album, along with Doug Moody. Subsequently, Bomer ended up playing both drums and bass on the recording. Mark Deutrom, producer of the album, says "Bomer tracking all the drum parts in a row without a scratch track is one of the more impressive things I’ve seen in a studio." Regarding the album Fat Mike of NOFX and owner/founder of Fat Wreck Chords, is quoted as saying this in 2007:Andrew Kiraly, writing for the Las Vegas Mercury, comedically gave this album the award "Best Album of 1987 I Found While Digging in My Desk Which I'm Surprised Hasn't Been 'Rediscovered' By Critics and Hailed Anew As a Masterpiece, or Maybe I'm Just Feeling Stupid and Nostalgic".
New bass player
After auditioning at least a dozen potential bass players, they finally found Joe Raposo through an advertisement in Maximumrocknroll. An audition was set up for Raposo by a friend. Raposo became the bass player for RKL in time for touring support of RocK 'n Roll Nightmare. In 1988, RKL toured Europe in support of the new album where it was particularly well received. A live album was recorded in West Berlin at Quartier Latin on July 9, 1988. It was entitled Greatest Hits Double Live and released on Destiny Records. It was the first RKL album on CD in addition to the common vinyl and cassette formats. The artwork of the album is a collection of blotter acid paper of varying size, image, and age contributed by Mark McCloud, famous for his extensive collection which he calls the Institute of Illegal Images. Due to Raposo's status as a minor, his parents, though less than enthusiastic, gave permission for him to leave the country. Ward was named temporary guardian for the European tour. The signed guardianship papers are included in the Greatest Hits Double Live artwork.RKL also sold their Mystic-era material to Destiny without Mystic Records' permission. Destiny proceeded to release a compilation album of Mystic recordings and called it Revenge is a Beautiful Feeling in reference to their perceived mistreatment by Mystic Records. The cover also featured a caricature of Doug Moody with his neck being twisted up by the same monster character that appeared on the cover of RKL's previous release, It's a Beautiful Feeling.
Through it all, RKL mainly played in Europe and California. There was no official US tour to back the Rock 'n Roll Nightmare album. Victor Hayden was in charge of the business side of Alchemy records. About Alchemy's promotion of Rock 'n Roll Nightmare, Sears said: " Maximumrocknroll and Flipside was about as far as it got. And we didn't have our own ad, it was sort of a Mystic deal where you had every band on the label listed as new albums... And in our payment they took out some for promotion, saying that sent posters to all the stores, and put ads in all kinds of magazines. There was those two ads, and no one's ever seen a poster."