The Outsiders

Bio:

The Outsiders started out as "The Fucked"- one of the first legitimate punk rock bands in Huntington Beach in 1977. The original line up was David Stewart on drums, Frank Ruffino and Mike Drake on guitars, Corey Stretz on bass, and Don Grose on vocals. Just prior to this group forming, Grose and Stewart played with Don Snell and Scott Snell as "The Membranes", a short -lived project that barely made it out of the garage, but was far enough along to attract other like minded punks like Stretz,Ruffino,and Drake. When the five Original members of The Outsiders met and began playing together it was mostly doing cover songs by The Ramones,Sex Pistols, The Damned, Gen-X and of course The Clash. These influences forged a raw British/American sound with double lead guitars that distinguished The Outsiders from most other bands of the time,it was heavy,loud and melodic enough for people to remember this group's songs long after they broke up in 1980.Other distinguishing characteristics of The Outsiders is that among the fun loving day-glo beach punks, these guys only wore black leather and chains that attracted a violent following.Most every Outsider gig produced near - riot hysteria, lot's of beer, blood,mayhem and of course, The H.B.P.D. The HB Police especially targeted the band's rehearsal garage and stomping grounds- Surfside condominiums. It was a very common occurance to go to Surfside and find the cops patrolling, survelling, or just hasseling the group and it's followers,many who resided there. Establishing punk rock as a movement in Huntington Beach was not easy. Police and residents considered the band more of a gang of hoodlums than musicians. This reputation was kept alive and intact by the spreading punk rock movement, and by friends forming their own bands and making Surfside a haven for rehearsals, parties, vandalism, and other activities that any bored teenager could conjure up. In 1979 the band produced it's only studio recordings-7-song demo tape that was engineered by Keith Taylor, brother of James Taylor-go figure. The tape later went on to be copied and circulated underground for years but never found its way to vinyl. Other live recordings exsisted, but the band has yet to lay anything down since these 1979 recordings. In 1980 Frank Ruffino went on to form China White, Mike Drake ,Corey Stretz and David Srewart formed The Blades, and Don Grose moved to San Francisco to form several theatre companies producing Avant garde projects including an opera with Dead Kennedys guitarist East Bay Ray. For the next 27 years the original members lost touch with one another until they re-united in May 2007, and began playing live a few months later. Now the group continues to play live and are currently writing new songs they hope to distribute within the next few months. They also plan to re-record the old songs from the late 70's.

Member Since:

April 23, 2008

Members:

David Stewart-Drums Don Grose-vocals Frank Ruffino-Guitar MikeDrake -Guitar Corey Stretz-Bass

Influences:

The Clash, The Damned, The Sex Pistols, Etc.

Sounds Like:

The Outsiders-no other!

Record Label:

Unsigned