Biography
Tub Ring formed in 1992 as a
high school punk band.
The band really took form with addition of
keyboard player
Rob Kleiner, who spent his teenage years following around the band
Mr. Bungle. With Kleiner added to the band, Tub Ring adopted the similar sounds of
Mr. Bungle. Mr. Bungle
guitarist
Trey Spruance took note of Kleiner's passion and creativity and ended up producing their first official full-length.
Eventually, in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Tub Ring associated with
Dog Fashion Disco and
Mindless Self Indulgence. For example, Rob Kleiner filled in for Mindless Self Indulgence's injured Guitarist,
Steve, Righ?, on the road in 2004 and 2005.
On December 10, 2005, Tub Ring came in second place during
MTV2's "Dew Circuit Breakout" competition. Tub Ring performed two songs throughout the competition including "Future Was Free" as well as a cover of
Justin Timberlake's "Rock Your Body".
On October 17, 2006, it was announced that the band had signed with the
experimental metal/
rock record label The End Records on the label's official website. The band released their album,
The Great Filter
.
[#endnote_End_filler] on the first of May, 2007.
Touring Regimen
The band have toured relentlessly over the years and have shared the stage with acts such as:
Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, The Birthday Massacre, Screaming Mechanical Brain,
Foxy Shazam,
Clutch,
Mindless Self Indulgence,
Dog Fashion Disco, Framing Hanley,
Black Light Burns,
Horse the Band,
Plain White T's,
Kill Hannah,
Wesley Willis, and more.
Tub Ring are also known for their stage shows, purportedly intense and energetic enough to result in injury to the performers (for example, incorporating a tazer ).
In January 2008, the band was invited to perform at the Sundance Film Festival as part of a Green Initiative sponsored event.
Their live shows are often hailed as being nothing short of spastic and chaotic and sometimes not without a surprise or two. On a tour in 2008, Darren Keane (The Show is the Rainbow) played second guitar, for an impromptu set with Tub Ring in Houston, TX. Later that year in November-December, while on tour with Mindless Self Indulgence, the band recruited Curtis Rx (Creature Feature) to also play second guitar for a select portion of dates.
The band members themselves are all noted as taking pride in putting on their shows and delivering highly energetic performances.
Future
The band has stated, in interviews, that they are currently working on another album. This album is to be released through The End Records in late 2009-2010. The band began tracking the album at Studio Edison and Electrical Audio on April 26, 2009 They are said to have demoed around 30 songs to date.
Side/related projects
Duct Tape Mustache
Corpslight
Now Soon Nowhere
3-2-1 Activate!
Edison's Arm
Jesus Kills Butterflies
Pum
The Pastries
Super 8-Bit Brothers
Deli Meat and the French Eroticas
Rob Kleiner solo
In 2005, Rob Kleiner released his first solo album,
No Eyes. On February 13, 2007, Rob released his second, and latest solo EP,
Doctor Sleep. He is also a part of video game rock duo Super 8 Bit Brothers.
In addition to his solo work, he's one of the main contributing members of
Edison's Arm, and has scored several films, including
Ending The Eternal, the feature documentary
Working Class Rock Star, and
Steve Balderson's
Watch Out (film).
Trevor Erb
In 2006, bassist Trevor Erb lent his talents to longtime Tub Ring pals, Foxy Shazam, filling in on bass for numerous tours throughout the year. He's also shown up on random occasions with other friends of the band, such as Creature Feature and Screaming Mechanical Brain.
Discography
Demos
- Stupid Pet Tricks
(1992)
- Music for the Bathroom
(1993)
- ...And the Mashed Potato Mountain Etiquette
(1995)
- Super Sci-Fi Samurai Rockstar Ultra Turbo II (ver3.6)
(1997)
Albums
- Drake Equation
(June 12, 2001)
- Book of Water
(December 5, 2001)
- Fermi Paradox
(October 15, 2002)
- Zoo Hypothesis
(August 17, 2004)
- The Great Filter
(May 1, 2007)
DVDs
- Optics and Sonics
(September 13, 2005)
Note
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