Like all good rock and roll bands, Dubious Ranger started as a dream. It wasn't a unique dream; it was dream that had been shared by musicians ranging from Johann Sebastian Bach to Morrissey. It was the dream of floating on a raft made of groupies in a pool full of champagne. As Jean Baudrillard once wrote, "everything that dies in Europe, is reborn in San Francisco." As such, the intrepid young SF-based roustabouts of Dubious Ranger decided to pick up their instruments and start making the type of quirky, literate indie-rock that drives the boys crazy and the ladies wild.

The dream started with Alexander Eccles, a local raconteur, man about town, and Mozart wannabe suffering from a surprise case of Bowie-man-love. Alexander set out on a long, misguided, Hobbitesque journey to Planet Rock, but with no idea how to actually MAKE rock music, he found himself stranded in the Astro Lounge with a one-way ticket to Goddammitville. With nowhere else to turn, Alexander enlisted the help of his human-trainwreck brother, Jonny, a ne'er-do-well reformed fratboy whose self-stated passion for "hyper-intellectual drunk rock" is really just a lame excuse for his enjoyment of Thin Lizzy and overblown six-string jackoffery. But that was not enough. They needed a rhythm section, one with the funkadelic chops to turn any song, be it a mournful waltz about a taco truck or a jaunty pop tune about mustaches, into a booty-shaking jam of epic proportions. What they needed was Aaron Sankin, a bass player whose prog-rock ambitions and Les Claypool envy hid the fact that he was actually black. What they also needed was the Jolly Green Giant (aka Brendan Ahern), who decided that he no longer wanted to sell peas and wandered down into town where he promptly bought a fake green card from some mobsters and placed as a semi-finalist in the Southeastern Hayward/Union City Regional Drum-And-Flute-Off. It was at this storied competiton that Mr. Ahern was discovered by Dubious Ranger and persuaded into their employ with the offer of Cheetos and more Cheetos to come.

Dubious Ranger distills the genius of 70s glam and proto-punk-- the kind pioneered by the Velvet Underground, Television and David Bowie-- and combines it with the modern, indie-rock sensibilities of groups like Blur, Pavement, and Beck, all delivered with a smirk that's all their own. Over time the band has slowly morphed from a dark and brooding piano-led sound to a jammy and rollicking aesthetic that leaves audiences at their live shows with faces melted and socks rocked clean off. With the release of their second full-length album, "Even These Things Tell Stories", Dubious Ranger is ready to kick your ass.

Dubious Ranger is sorry. (read less)

Like all good rock and roll bands, Dubious Ranger started as a dream. It wasn't a unique dream; it was dream that had been shared by musicians ranging from Johann Sebastian Bach to Morrissey. It was the dream of floating on a raft made of groupies in a pool full of champagne. As Jean Baudrillard once wrote, "everything that dies in Europe, is reborn in San Francisco." As such, the intrepid young SF-based roustabouts of Dubious Ranger decided to pick up their instruments and start making the type... (read more)