Bio

Adolescents are a punk band hailing from Fullerton, California, United States who  formed in 1980. Since their debut they have become one of the most influential punk  bands of their time, providing the blueprint for skate-punk and hardcore bands in their  wake from Blink-182 to Pennywise. 

Formed by vocalist Tony Cadena and bass player Steve Soto in late 1979, the assorted  line-ups of Adolescents have featured a veritable who’s who of players from the biggest  names of the California punk scene. Soto himself cut his teeth performing in Agent  Orange and in Adolescents’ very first line-up, their guitarist Frank Agnew was late of  Social Distortion. Even though the band couldn’t quite keep a steady rhythm section  throughout their first year, they still managed to sign to Posh Boy Records and release  their debut single “Amoeba” later in 1980. Almost exactly a year after their debut, the  band had recruited Agnew’s brother Rikk into the fold on Rhythm guitar, and fellow  Social D veteran Casey Royer on the drums, and they were ready to go into the studio to  record their first album. They signed with Frontier Records to release it, and the self titled record was released was released in May after being recorded and mastered in  four days flat. 

The album was hugely acclaimed and was for a time the biggest selling Californian punk  album ever after “Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables” by The Dead Kennedys.  Unfortunately, this wasn’t enough to keep the band together after more than a few  months. Rikk Agnew was the first to go, and briefly the band replaced him with The  Germs’ Pat Smear (who would later join the Foo Fighters), but he was unable to tour  with the band. By August, the writing was on the wall and the Adolescents split up, each  member either joining existing bands or starting new ones. While the story of the  Adolescents was far from over, it wasn’t until the start of the 21st century that the band  started finally getting their dues, even after reuniting for three years in 1986. Many bands  who swore by their first two albums became enormous in the 1990’s, like Blink-182, The  Offspring and Red Hot Chili Peppers to name but a few. This level of exposure meant  that when the band reunited again in 2001, they did so to a far bigger audience than  they’d ever had before, and they immediately began performing live at the biggest  shows of their career. 

The band have released five acclaimed studio albums since reforming 

◦ OC Confidential (2005) 

◦ The Fastest Kid Alive (2011) 

◦ Presumed Insolent (2013) 

◦ La Vendetta… (2014) 

◦ Manifest Density (2016)

and are a bigger live draw than ever before, as their heroic slot on the 2010 Vans  Warped Tour show. Sadly in June of 2018 they lost one of their founding members:  Steve Soto. Unsure how to move forward they play in his honor so the music he created,  the friendships he built and the smile he always shared can be remembered and  cherished forever.