Riverboat Gamblers, The Runaway Sons, Bent Left

The Riverboat Gamblers are a punk rock band originally from Denton, Texas, but now residing in Austin, Texas. The band currently consists of Mike Wiebe, Fadi El-Assad, Rob Marchant and Ian MacDougall, and are currently signed to Volcom Entertainment.

In 1997, former Blanks member Pat Lillard ("Spider") (Bass), formed The Riverboat Gamblers with Fadi el-Assad ("Freddy Castro") (Lead Guitar), and Mike Wiebe ("Teko Buller" or "Rookie Sensation") (Vocals). Lillard's original intention was to emulate Virginia punk-rockers The Candy Snatchers. In direct contrast to the popular emo music at the time, The Riverboat Gamblers' premiere show featured over-the-top songs relating to drinking and of course, gambling. Tongue planted firmly in cheek, The Riverboat Gamblers continued to play house parties and shows throughout Denton and the Dallas/Fort Worth area. The Gamblers burst out of the Denton college scene in September of 2001 on the back of their self-released 7" single "Jenna Is A No Show." Both 2001's self-titled release and 2003's "Something to Crow About" were produced by Texas punk rocker Tim Kerr (Big Boys, Lord High Fixers).

After the warm reception of "Something to Crow About", the band soon relocated from Denton, Texas to Austin, Texas. The band first received attention from major record labels after their energetic and rowdy showcase at the 2003 South by Southwest (SXSW) music festival in Austin, Texas, but the band ultimately signed with indie label Gearhead Records. In 2005 they were signed to Volcom Entertainment and performed a stint on the 2005 Warped Tour, where the band was often noticed for its deranged live shows. The silliness of some of the earlier material has given way to a more complex breadth of material about America's maligned.

The band released their most recent album, "To the Confusion of Our Enemies", in April 2006.

They have also appeared on the soundtracks to the videogames "Tony Hawk's American Wasteland", "Madden NFL 07" and "FlatOut: Ultimate Carnage," and "Sega GT Online 2".

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Bent Left was formed in the fall of 2002 during what was supposed to be yearbook class. On March 7th, 2003, the band played its first show in Rolla, MO, at a paintball barn called Insomnia with Dan Myers and Ronnie Williams on guitars, William Malott on bass, and Josh Nelson on drums.

In early 2004, Bent Left released its debut full-length Punk Rock Country Club before stripping down the lineup and recording a 5-song EP titled Steal Back the Government a few months later. The band left for its first tour during August of that year, finding its way across the Rocky Mountains and into the Pacific Northwest. That fall, the band relocated to Kansas City and invited guitarist Jeff Speak to round out the roster.

In May 2005, Bent Left released the full-length album Skeletons in Your Closet just in time for a 9-week tour of the continental US. The band hit the road again over the new year before touring its way to Tokyo for two weeks in March of 2006. Later that year, guitarist Dan Myers resigned partway through the making of another full-length, turning Bent Left into the 3-piece that it still is to this day.

In late 2007, Bent Left released an EP titled Premeditated Insanity just prior to leaving for the never-ending Stay Vocal or Shut Up: The Proverbial Knowledge vs. Your Mouth Tour. The band toured constantly until May of 2008 when they moved back to Kansas City to regroup and repair their van’s waste vegetable oil fuel system (which only kind of worked).

In 2009, Bent Left recorded USS Awesome, their first release under the Recycled Rockstar Ind. banner. This EP was coupled with another EP titled Let Me Be Your Jesus for release on I Hate Punk Rock Records in 2010. The band is now touring in support of their most recent release Brutal Like a Puppy Dog and writing new material for release in the fall of 2011.

User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL.