Rock n Roll Soldiers


The Rock 'N' Roll Soldiers were a rock band from Eugene, Oregon. The band formed while attending South Eugene High School under the original name Wontan Hustlers before changing the name to Rock n Roll Soldiers. The final band members were: Marty Larson-Xu, Oliver Brown, and Evan Sernoffsky. Their sound was described as "skuzzy, sleazy punk tailored for drinking, fighting and tattooing" by MTV News reporter James Montgomery. Larson-Xu himself describes it as high energy old-school rock and roll with a "greater modern sensibility".
The Soldiers were known for their energetic live performances.

Band members

Current lineup

Childhood friends Marty, Oliver, Evan, and original guitarist Lucas Gunn came together to form the band that would one day become the Soldiers. The four friends, just barely out of middle school, were only beginning to learn to play their instruments as the band started to take shape. The name of the band itself came from the name of a Radio Birdman tour. Larson-Xu explains to MTV.com:
"Our favorite band was Radio Birdman, so we got our name from them," frontman Marty Larson-Xu said. "One of their tours was named Rock 'n' Roll Soldiers, and we were like, 'Yes! That's it!'"
Fresh out of high school, Lucas and the rest of the Soldiers parted ways, and the band picked up French guitarist Kevin Sciou, former guitarist of StarrGunn.
After recording a 3 song demo in 2004 featuring "Funny Little Feeling" with producer Dave Cobb, the Soldiers signed a deal with Atlantic Records. After a year of recording with Cobb, Warner Music Group's subsidiary East West released "The Two EPs". The Soldiers played a series of West coast shows in support of Shooter Jennings, they also toured supporting Kasabian, Less Than Jake, and KillRadio.
The Rock n Roll Soldiers' song "Funny Little Feeling" received national play, being featured in a Verizon wireless commercial, popular television shows such as One Tree Hill, Smallville, and Malcolm In The Middle and several video games including MVP Baseball 2005, L.A Rush, and Gran Turismo 4. Their song "Flag Song" is featured in several of Electronic Arts' 2006 video game titles. Their song "Guns Out" is featured in a Payless Shoes commercial. The Soldiers are also featured on the Drive-Thru Records compilation CD "Listen to Bob Dylan: A Tribute Album," in which they covered "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35".
They were featured on episodes of MTV's You Hear It First and True Life.
Their European tour spanned 48 shows in 53 days and went through Spain, France, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Serbia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Italy, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark
Currently the band is on hiatus while the members pursue various side projects.
On December 29, 2017, a five-track EP titled 'The Grip is Gone- EP' was released on several digital music platforms. Prior to the release, the tracks were exclusively on the European edition of 'So Many Musicians to Kill'. The EP was pulled from all services in 2018.

Discography

Albums