Jughead's Revenge is an American punk rock band. They originally formed in Los Angeles, California, United States, in 1989. To date, Jughead's Revenge has released six studio albums (the most recent being 1999's Pearly Gates). After 12 years of recording and touring extensively, Jughead's Revenge disbanded in 2001 due to a lawsuit with Archie Comics who owned the rights to fictional character Jughead Jones. The band reformed in 2009 and has continued to perform at a number of live shows since 2010, and as of 2018 the band is working on a new album.
History
Early years (1989–1992) Jughead's Revenge was formed in 1989 when guitarist Joe Rimicci and Bassist Brian Preiss (ex Broadax members) was looking for a singer for their new band and met Joe Doherty through mutual friends in Rimicci's band Cholos on Acid. The three along with drummer Kevin Heller started the first line up.
After performing their first show together in 1989, Jughead's Revenge recorded their first album, Unstuck in Time, in the spring of 1990 on the band's Lawsuit Records with new drummer Nenus Givargis. Recorded in two days at Westbeach Recorders in Hollywood, the album was produced by Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz and engineered by Donnell Cameron. It was limited to one thousand copies pressed on black twelve-inch vinyl. In the summer of 1990, the band set out on their first tour of the U.S. with local punk outfit One Direction. With the money they made on the first tour the band released a single with live and studio songs from Unstuck in Time. Out of Beer, Out of Tune and Out of Control was released in 1991. Limited to a pressing of five hundred on blue seven-inch vinyl it featured live songs recorded at 924 Gilman Street in Berkeley, California on the previous tour. Also a live version of "Fabric of the Mind" was recorded for a split single with NOFX for Ox Fanzine in Germany.
Jughead's Revenge's second full-length, It's Lonely at the Bottom, was released in 1992. Recorded between tours at Westbeach Recorders (where the previous album was recorded), it was produced by Poison Idea's Thee Slayer Hippie and engineered by Donnell Cameron. Originally a CD only release on Cash Money Records in the U.S., it was pressed on twelve-inch vinyl on Do It! Records in Germany. The band set out on their first tour of Europe in the spring of 1992. After this, George Snow would go on to play in the Bad Samaritans full-time.
BYO years (1993–1995) After touring in support for It's Lonely at the Bottom, the band went to work on its third full-length album, Elimination, which was released in 1994. Recorded in the winter of 1993 at Paramount Studios Hollywood by Barry Conley, Elimination was the first of the band's catalog to be licensed to and distributed by BYO Records in order to be able to tour more; Unstuck and Lonely followed shortly after. The band recorded an alternate version of "Unlimited" for a split single with Strung Out to be released on Fearless Records. Following the release of Elimination, drummer Nenus Givargis eventually left Jughead's Revenge for family-related business. The band also had gained enough local popularity to bypass local promoters and started running their own shows, which kept door prices low and people safe from violent security guards. They also used this to allow lesser known bands from out of the area to be able to play where more commercial promoters would not have given them a chance. Those bands included Green Day, The Offspring and Blink-182.
In 1994, Jughead's Revenge set out on their first tour of Canada, supporting Face to Face. That was followed by a B-sides and rarities compilation, 13 Kiddie Favorites, which also marked its first release with new drummer Jarrod Thornton. Recorded in 1995 at Paramount Studios and produced by Barry Conley, it was originally meant for European release only on Do It! Records in Germany. One song, "49/61", was given to American label Liberation Records for the Punk Sucks compilation. The band later licensed 13 Kiddie Favorites to BYO in 1995. A video for "49/61" appeared on the Cinema Beer Goggles video compilation from Hopeless Records that same year. In 1996, the band did a number of compilations that featured mostly covers of bands they all grew up listening to. Punk Rock Jukebox contains a version of "Hitman" from the Plasmatics, and Before You Were Punk features "Young Turks" by Rod Stewart. Jughead's Revenge also released a split single with Lagwagon in 1995 that contains a version of "Just to Get Away" from Poison Idea as well as recording a version of "Jerkin' Back and Forth" by Devo for the We Are NOT Devo tribute compilation, produced by Jim Goodwin.