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Biography
The group’s embryonic stages trace back to 1987, Palo Alto, California. Two of the groups founding members Whitfield Crane and Klaus Eichstadt bonded over a shared interest in music and by 1989 were playing together in a band based out of Isla Vista, California. The friends eventually branched off to record a demo of their own with the help of Eric Valentine (Good Charlotte, Taking Back Sunday, Queens of the Stone age). The group went through several line up changes before settling on Crane, Eichstadt, Mark Davis, Roger Lahr, and Cordell Crockett.
The group garnered it’s name from a satirization of the glam rock band Pretty Boy Floyd. Unsurprisingly Ugly Joe Kid earned a reputation not only for their catchy heavy metal tone influenced by acts like Bon Jovi, Black Sabbath, and Mötley Crüe, but also from their comedic outlook. The group slowly but steadily started building a fan base and in the early 90s were opening for acts like Scatterbrain and Ozzy Osbourne. They released their debut EP “As Ugly As They Wanna Be” in 1992. The album was a huge success producing the hit single “Everything About You”, which found it’s way on the “Wayne’s World” soundtrack and sold over 1,000,000 copies in the US certifying it as the current highest selling EP.
This EP acted as the gateway in to the mainstream for the band and helped set the stage for the success of their proceeding efforts. Their proper debut album “America’s Least Wanted” came out in the Fall of 1992 and featured the five hit singles “Cats in the Cradle”, “Everything About You”, “So Damn Cool”, “Busy Bee”, and “Neighbor”. The latter of the tracks was spotlighted in the popular TV series “Beavis and Butt-head” and garnered them even more attention. The album charted at No. 27 on the US Billboard 200 and No.11 on the UK Albums Charts and of 1995 it has gone double platinum. The group supported this release opening for Black Sabbath and Def Leppard on a sold out European tour and subsequently went on to play more sold out shows in Japan and Australia.
Ugly Joe Kid spent several more years on the road, headlining festivals in Brazil alongside Aerosmith and Poison, warming up arenas for Bon Jovi and Van Halen and fronting their own tours such as the “Excuse to Go Snowboarding Tour”, on which they shared the stage with Goldfinger and Dog Eat Dog. The band’s 2nd studio album “Menace to Sobriety” was issued through Mercury on 13 June 1995. Though the album was critically praised and spawned several successful tour legs, Mercury decided to discontinue their contract with the band. Their next album “Motel California” (a parody of the Eagles’ “Hotel of California”) was released on 22 October 1996 through the independent British label, Castle Communications.
The album failed to chart in the US, but did place at 128 on the UK album charts. After a string of small venue tours the group called it quits in 1997. Their drummer at the time, Shannon Larkin moved on to Godsmack and lead vocalist Crane joined forces with Life of Agony and later worked on two other projects: Medication and Another Animal.
Ugly Joe Kid reformed in 2010 to play several live gigs and by 2012 they released the EP “Stairway to Hell” (their 1st release of original material in almost 16 years). Their 4th studio debut “Uglier Than They Used Ta Be” is set for release in 2015 through UKJ Records.
Live reviews
Ugly Kid Joe often get a bit of hammering whenever they seem to crop up in conversation. They're a band that everyone seems to know but no one really cares about. With the juvenile sense of humour that runs through their material and revolving door line-up, it's understandable why they've never been taken too seriously. After seeing them live however, I do think they deserve a lot more respect than they are given. Playing in support of Skid Row with a patched up line-up including founding members Whitfield Crane and Klaus Eichstadt, Ugly Kid Joe are playing to their perfect demographic. Everything about the show has feeling of pure fun and sillyness to it. This is a band who instead of leaving the stage for an encore tell the crowd to 'imagine we've left the stage and we're not here' before standing perfectly still for two minutes.
There's obvious good times to be had belting along to 'Everything About You' and 'Cat's in the Cradle' while holding your pint aloft. There's also moments where they demonstrate how cohesive they can be as a band. Their heavier songs like 'Milkman's Son' and 'God Damn Devil' are hammered out with conviction while Klaus delights in letting rip with the odd wailing guitar solo. They finish by blazing through a cover of Motorhead's 'Ace of Spades' as Whitfield Crane whips up the crowd into one last burst of energy. This perhaps best sums up the Ugly Kid Joe experience, you know you're not going to be moved emotionally or have the best night of your life but this is a band who know how to have a good time and it's an energy that really comes across through their performances.
ClownTown12345
Ugly Kid Joe are an enigma when it comes to music as despite their juvenile sense of humour and crass lyrical voice, there is a clear demand to see the band on the live circuit. It is this demand that brought the band back together for a reunion in 2010 and the interest seems to be stronger than ever.
Think what you like about their lyrics, the Californian quintet are fantastic musicians with some reason talent and although the live show seems pretty unplanned and spontaneous, they do not miss a note all evening. Everything is kept in time by original drummer Shannon Larkin as the group rolls through a setlist consisting of all the cult hits including 'So Damn Cool' and 'Panhandlin' Prince'. The crowd roars in approval and spurs the musicians on even further to really tear into their instruments. The final track is dedicated to the venue of the evening and it is one of the most loved, 'Goddamn Devil' which is sang back word perfectly despite being twenty years old now.
sean-ward
Second time I've seen UKJ at the Riverside. This time I took my wife and my 14 year old boy, who is a new fan of the band. There was two highlights to the show, firstly when they did their version of Cats in the cradle, one of my sons favourite songs and secondly he was invited back stage to meet the band after the gig, good bunch of lads. Thanks you made his night. If they come to the Toon again, we will definitely be there. One of the best live acts we've seen
tony-doyle-4
first time at the slade rooms wolverhampton its a great gig and UGLY KID JOE blew the roof off,with some excellent support aswell really great night and the whole crowd just rocked and rocked
dynamo
