Coachella Artist Spotlight: RX Bandits

The RX Bandits, hailing from Seal Beach, are a fusion of rock, ska, punk and alternative, getting their early influences from bands like Reel Big Fish, Saves The Day, Forces of Evil and more. They’ve been together since the late 90′s and have had a steadily growing fan base ever since.

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I first heard of the RX Bandits from one of my old Drive-Thru Records DVD’s back in high school (around 2002). I remember seeing their music video for “Analog Boy,” and a video of them performing “In All Rwanda’s Glory” live and was instantly blown away by their style and sound. The band was originally named “Pharmaceutical Bandits,” from the time they started in ’97 until their first release on Drive-Thru Records in 1999. The band put out two albums under the Pharmaceutical Bandits name, Those Damn Bandits (1997) and Halfway Between Here and There (1998). Halfway Between Here and There was re-released in 1999 as the first album under Drive-Thru Records, and the name RX Bandits.

The RX Bandits toured with bands like New Found Glory, The Bloodhound Gang and Goldfinger in their early years. In 2001, they released their second Drive-Thru album, Progress, which featured the songs mentioned earlier. “Analog Boy” was their first single made into a music video. In 2003, they released a live CD/DVD called The Resignation, which continued to push the boundaries of the sound of the band.

The band eventually had a falling out with Drive-Thru and put out their next record, …And The Battle Begun, through their own label (started by their singer Matt Embree) Mash Down Babylon Records in 2006. They made a video for the title track, which you can see below. During the time between The Resignation and this album, most of the band members also went out and embarked on other side projects, such as the amazing band The Sound of Animals Fighting. The RX Bandits then put out a live album in 2007 of their Bonnaroo performance called Live From Bonnaroo 2007.

In the summer of 2009, the RX Bandits released their newest album, Mandala. Here’s what the band’s site says about it:

“Mandala: few titles are as perfectly befitting an album for a band reaching the culmination of a decade-long musical transformation. With this recording, RX Bandits have truly struck the essence of their merging of genres into a complete and masterfully detailed mosaic. The metamorphic rock group’s latest disc showcases a more rock-oriented quartet, while deftly sweeping in elements of Latin, prog-rock, punk, rock to dub and blues.“

They released a video in January for their single “Hope Is A Butterfly, No Net Its Captor.”

Make sure to check out the RX Bandits on Saturday, April 17, at Coachella. You’ll be glad you did.