The Dragons

So Cal punk and roll outfit the Dragons took shape around frontman Mario Escovedo, the youngest brother of musicians Alejandro and Javier Escovedo. Javier, who had played in L.A. punk legends the Zeros before joining forces with Alejandro in the True Believers, handed his teenage sibling his first guitar on Sunset Strip and thereby set Mario on the path toward a rock 'n' roll life.

Mario and Ken Mochikoshi Horne had previously played together in the punk band M-80's. Late in 1990 the pair chose to start fresh, bringing bassist Steve Rodriquez and drummer James Barczak into the fold. During summer 1992 the Dragons issued a twelve-song vinyl LP in Spain through Impossible Records. The next year they replaced Barczak with Jarrod Lucas. In 1994 the group cut a four-song 7" for Pop Tones Records and followed it two years later with the CD Painkiller on Scam-O-Rama Records. By late 1997 they had landed on Junk Records, which released several of their LPs, among them the raw, furious 1999 album R.L.F. (Rock Like F*ck) and the 2000 live recording Live at the Casbah. Rock N Roll Kamikaze arrived in 2001, prompting an intensified touring regimen that carried the band from L.A. and the Southwest across to Japan. By August 2002 the Dragons had returned to the U.S.A. to perform at the first annual Gearfest in Austin, TX. Impressed by the set, sponsor Gearhead Records signed them shortly afterward. Their Gearhead debut, the fiery, redemptive Sin Salvation, surfaced in May 2003 and was promoted through dates alongside labelmates the Riverboat Gamblers.