The Chinese Millionaires

The Chinese Millionaires deliver nothing but raw, high-octane rock & roll. Emerging in 1995 from the remains of mid-Michigan cult favorites El Smasho & the Actionaries, the band fused the punch of '60s garage rock with a sneering punk attitude and a uniform of matching shirts and ties. Their debut EP, White Collar Criminals, appeared on the group's own Punkity Rockity Records well ahead of any live dates, offering a sharp alternative to the generic pop-punk and diluted ska then saturating Michigan's Great Lakes region. The follow-up 7", Juvenile Justice, arrived next and triggered underground praise along with a contract from California's Rip-Off Records in 1996. A pair of additional EPs—the one-sided Heart on a Chain and This Is Criminal Element—surfaced in 1997, paving the way for the full-length Detroit Double Cross, which Rip-Off finally issued in late 1998.