Street Drum Corps

In tourist districts of major American cities such as New York, Chicago, and Boston, clusters of young performers pound out rhythms on five-gallon white plastic paint buckets and other refuse collected from construction sites and dumpsters. This busking style has existed since the early 1990s, appearing in a memorable denim advertisement of that era and once featuring in a Mariah Carey music video. Such resourceful, spontaneous displays of rhythm soon attracted commercial attention. Street Drum Corps emerged in 2004 as a punk-infused counterpart to Stomp, blending precisely staged percussion routines with pop-punk material. Its founding members—Los Angeles percussionists Bobby Alt, Adam Alt, and Frank Zummo—initially formed the ensemble to complement their existing projects, S.T.U.N. and theSTART. In addition to scavenged objects and industrial castoffs, the trio incorporates a theremin alongside conventional instruments. Although rooted in the Los Angeles pop-punk community, where Bert McCracken of the Used supplies lead vocals for the single “Flaco 81,” the self-titled debut album was helmed by veteran producers Richard Podolor and Bill Cooper, whose earlier work includes recordings by Steppenwolf and Three Dog Night. McCracken later joined the group and Sugarcult guitarist Marko DeSantis to record a punk-oriented 2005 seasonal single, a reinterpretation of John Lennon’s “Happy X-Mas (War Is Over).” The ensemble remains distinctive for being the sole act whose official biography cites both a slot on the Vans Warped Tour and an extended engagement at the Six Flags Magic Mountain amusement park.