Biography
Since the early 1980s Bob Forrest has been a fixture in the Los Angeles music community. As frontman of the post-punk outfit Thelonious Monster he guided the band through several well-regarded but modestly selling releases on Epitaph and Capitol. Longtime associate of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Forrest is acknowledged for introducing them to guitarist John Frusciante, who later joined the group during its most commercially dominant period. After years of addiction that included twenty-four attempts at rehabilitation, he achieved sobriety in 1996. The next year he assembled the Bicycle Thief alongside guitarist Josh Klinghoffer, another musician who would eventually serve in the Chili Peppers, and the duo issued their only studio album, You Come and Go Like a Pop Song, in 1999. Forrest subsequently channeled his experience into advocacy, serving as a drug counselor at Las Encinas Hospital and appearing alongside Dr. Drew on the programs Celebrity Rehab and Sober House. In 2006 he began a solo career with the country- and folk-inflected Modern Folk and Blues Wednesday. The following year he supplied music to the soundtrack of the Bob Dylan biopic I’m Not There. A 2011 documentary, Bob & the Monster, chronicled his life, and he later released the memoir Running with Monsters. He continues to participate visibly in numerous recovery initiatives aimed at combating addiction. In 2015 he resumed recording, enlisting Grammy-winning producer Ian Brennan for his second solo album, the introspective Survival Songs.
Albums