The Joneses (band)

The Joneses were a band from Southern California whose style was mixture of punk rock and rock and roll. Founded in 1981 by guitarist and singer Jeff Drake, the band included numerous players over the years. The incarnation of the Joneses that was voted "Most Loved Band" in the 1983 L.A. Weekly Reader's Poll included, in addition to Drake, three ex-Mau-Mau's, Scott Franklin (the Cramps), Paul Mars Black (L.A.Guns), and Johnnie Sage (Christian Death).

The Joneses first seven-inch, 45 rpm single was "Criminals in My Car" b/w "Jonestown". They next released a pair of songs, "Graveyard Rock" and "Pillbox", on the 1982 BYO Records compilation, Someone Got Their Head Kicked In. The EP Criminals was the Joneses next released recording. Hell Comes to Your House, Volume 2, included the two Joneses tracks: "I'm Bad" and "She's So Filthy". The BYO compilation was made up of predominantly Hardcore bands. Even though The Joneses style differed greatly, they were still included because then guitarist Steve Huston was in a number of early Hardcore bands before that. The Joneses ended up receiving more hate mail than all the other bands combined got fan mail. Their only full-length LP Keeping Up With The Joneses, was released by Doctor Dream Records in 1987. Although the record was promoted to be released in July 1986 and hugely popular on college radio stations, legal delays kept the album from being available until well into 1987. By then, for all intents and purposes, the band was broken up. Jeff Drake and a new incarnation of the band recorded a demo for RCA Records that was passed up and ended up becoming the Tits and Champagne EP, released in 1989 by Trigon Records. After serving a 3-year prison sentence for bank robbery, Drake reformed another incarnation of The Joneses and recorded the Anita Fix EP in 1995 released by Cabeza de Tornado Records. A compilation entitled Criminal History, was released by Sympathy for the Record Industry in February 2000, it is a 20 track retrospective of The Joneses recorded material. The Criminal History compilation caused a resurgence in popularity in the late 2000s, as a new generation of fans were introduced to the band. All of The Joneses previous albums were re-released by Full Breach Kicks starting in 2006. The songs "Big Boy" and "Pill Box" were featured on two different Season 2 episodes of the MTV show Nitro Circus, Hydro Circus (episode 2) and Mud and Guts (episode 6),respectively.