Denver Musician Tapped to Front This Legendary California Punk Band

Local punk musician Abe Brennan has devastated Colorado audiences in many bands over the years, including Wretch Like Me, Joy Subtraction and his latest project, Dead Pioneers. But this week he announced a high point of his career: He's been enlisted as the new lead singer of legendary California punk band Rich Kids on LSD.

RKL may not be a household name like, say, Green Day or Foo Fighters. That said, members of both those bands have professed their love for RKL and cited it as an influence. Members of NOFX have even said that their band would never have existed without RKL. And weirdly enough, actor Josh Brolin jammed with RKL in his adolescent, pre-Goonies days, just as the band was starting to cohere in the early ’80s.

This isn't the first time Brennan has played with a punk legend. Most notably, his band Chilton counted longtime Fort Collins resident Bill Stevenson — of Black Flag and Descendents — as the drummer on its debut album. But being the frontman of RKL is a different thing entirely. Not only is Brennan joining a group that he's worshipped since his youth, but he's also replacing original singer Jason Sears, a hero of Brennan's who died in 2006. On top of that, Brennan's conscription marks a long-awaited reunion of RKL, which has been defunct since Sears's death.

Miraculously, Brennan is going to remain in all three — yes, three — of his current bands while he fronts the resurrected RKL, a gig that is sure to entail extensive touring. "I thank all of my current bandmates for putting up with my prostituting ways," says Brennan.

"It's surreal to say that I'm now singing for RKL. I feel like I’ve been inadvertently training for this since I was seventeen. Can’t wait to shred this stuff live."

And neither can the punk world.