Artist Rx Bandits

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Rx Bandits

California punkers Rx Bandits got their start during the third-wave ska revival of the mid-’90s, but quickly evolved beyond easy tagging into something with a moodier sound and more front-and-center politics. In 2002, vocalist and guitarist Matt Embree launched Mash Down Babylon Records before taking the lead on 2003’s The Resignation, which pushed the band into edgier territory with a combustible mix of pop-punk and reggae riddims. 2009’s Mandala scrapped some of the horns and piled on the prog for tracks like “Bring Our Children Home Or Everything Is Nothing,” but still found room for some backward-looking blue beat. In April of this year, the band announced that it’d embark on its last tour this summer—but by all indicators, the group won’t actually be gone for good as much as it’ll exist in the blurry state of “indefinite hiatus.”

Updated 07/13/2011