Symbol Six is an American punk rock band formed in Santa Monica, California in 1980 by Eric Leach, Mark Conway, Phil George, Donny Brook, Taz Rudd, and Steve Cooper. Right in the heart of the Los Angeles and Orange County Punk rock in California, they quickly moved up in the ranks with the average age of the band members being only 15 years old. Playing notorious clubs such as the Cuckoo's Nest, Godzillas, and Bards Apollo. Symbol Six quickly started to establish themselves as an up and coming force to be reckoned with. Symbol Six played with Social Distortion, Bad Religion, T.S.O.L., 45 Grave, Youth Brigade, Descendents, RF7 and Agent Orange in the burgeoning punk movement of California.
History:
In Nov 1981, Robbie Fields, owner and founder of Posh Boy Records was looking for the “next big thing” to sign and produce, turning to Michelle Flipside of Flipside Fanzine for advice. She told Robbie, “You need to check out Symbol Six.” In Dec 1981, Robbie went to a band rehearsal and immediately booked them in the studio to record and produce their self-titled debut EP, Symbol Six. The album was recorded at Brian Elliot studios in North Hollywood, Ca. with engineer David Hines(died in 1994, car accident) and co-producer, Jay Lansford, guitarist for the Simpletones and the Stepmothers. The album was completed in 3 days with front cover artwork by Jim Evans of Skateboarder Magazine / Cadillac Wheels fame. Back cover photos were taken by Ed Colver. The EP was debuted on The World Famous KROQ-FM's Rodney Bingenheimer show in April 1982 and rapidly became a staple in the regular rotation. The album was named a top pick in Billboard Magazine in 1982, “Full of sound and fury is SYMBOL SIX, a new five-man band from Southern California. They play the four songs here with punk exuberance, keeping everything simple but with high excitement quotient”. Symbol Six was distributed world-wide by Green World and is still a popular selling collector’s item today. Sadly, shortly afterwards due to musical differences and ironically - egos, Symbol Six self-imploded. In 1988, album was re-release on a compilation Split with Agent Orange's masterpiece, Living in Darkness.
Aftermath:
In 1984, Eric Leach and Taz Rudd formed the short-lived Hollywood sleaze band, Stahlin, with Izzy Stradlin - Guns N' Roses. Shortly after, Eric and Taz along with Brent Muscat - Faster Pussycat, Patrick Muzingo, and Todd Muscat - Decry formed the rock n’ roll punk band Shanghai. Playing all over LA with bands L.A. Guns, Guns N' Roses, Faster Pussycat, The Joneses, and Flower Leperds. They were spotted by the legendary neon knight of sleaze, Kim Fowley, infamous producer of The Runaways, KISS, Alice Cooper, etc. at the famed The Troubadour. After seeing their performance he asked, “Are you ready to make a record?!” They immediately moved into with Kim Fowley and began writing and recording songs. David Leibert, Alice Cooper’s road manager, was recruited to come in to handle the day to day babysitting chores. Their last show was at The Scream in LA in 1987, with the band disbanding due to many unmentionable factors.
Eric Leach went on to the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Ca., majoring in Fine Art Illustration.
Taz Rudd was detained by the state of California for 10 years where he had the band Wrecklords consisting of members of Chantee's (Pipeline), Jim Gordon of Derek and the Dominos. He went on to play in Atoms, Der Stab, Funeral, Flower Leperds, Voodoo Church, Decry, Pirates of Venus, Shanghai, Rock City Angels, and Aces & Eights(formed with Phil George and Evan Shanks) which performed at The Viper Room in August 2009 joined on stage by Slash (musician) and Steven Adler of Guns N' Roses.
Reformation:
In 2010, all the original members decided to get back together. The next day they met in a studio in Santa Monica and started writing and playing new material. Releasing their self produced debut LP, "Monsters 11" on Symbol Six Music. Donny Brooks was soon replaced by Evans Shanks(Entropy) on Bass and Mark Conway was replaced by Tony Fate(the BellRays, the Grey Spikes) in 2011. Symbol Six joined fellow alumni The Crowd and Channel 3 for Rhino Entertainment - Warner Music Group Posh Boy Night at Rhino Records pop-up store in Los Angeles, California in June of 2011 to help raise money for the charitable organization MusiCares
Symbol Six 2012:
2012 has generated a lot of buzz for Symbol Six. Playing with such acts as Fear ,Jello Biafra, Lower Class Brats, and many others. They have gone back into studio with Phillip (Philco) Raves of Mystic Records fame to record their second yet untitled album in the end of summer 2012. In 2011, Dr. Strange Records in Alta Loma, Ca. negotiated with Posh Boy Records and plans to re-release original and unreleased tracks on 12" vinyl in the summer of 2012.
Today, SYMBOL SIX is back and they bring to you the highly anticipated, all new, full-strength album, “Monsters 11”. Expect nothing less from SYMBOL SIX as they kick ass, take names, and energize the world. You are invited to the party! Cheers!
Discography:
1982 “SYMBOL SIX” DEBUT EP
1987 “THE FUTURE LOOKS BRIGHTER” COMPILATION
1988 “LIVING IN DARKNESS” CD SYMBOL SIX BONUS TRACKS
1991 “EGO/TAXATION” 7” SINGLE
1995 “THE POSH BOY STORY” (U.K. RELEASE)
2003 “THE SLOG MOVIE” FEATURING SYMBOL SIX
2010 “MONSTERS 11” NEW "ALBUM
2011 "NORTH/WEST TOUR 15 DATES"
2011 "SCARE AMERICA RECORDS COMPILATION "
2012 "GET FUCKED, LET'S ROCK COMPILATION"
2012 Dr. Strange Re-release of SYMBOL SIX (Posh Boy)
2012 "CHAOTIC REASONING, VOLUME ONE COMPILATION"
2012 UNDERGROUND COMP - VOLUME I) COMPILATION
2012 UNTITLED ALBUM - SYMBOL SIX MUSIC - JULY 2012
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…shrink me down again