Joyride Is Over; Band to Split Up

Joyride, one of Orange County’s best rock bands of the decade, is calling it quits after a farewell concert on April 6 at Club 369.

Combining the slashing thrust of punk rock with the melodic grace of first-rate pop, the quartet released two excellent, critically acclaimed albums for Doctor Dream Records. But both--”Johnny Bravo” (1992) and “Another Month of Mondays” (1993)--sold poorly.

Joyride recorded a third album last year in hopes that a bigger label would sign the band, but it now appears it won’t be released.

“We felt [the band] was stagnant,” said Steve Soto, who divided the lead vocals and songwriting with Greg Antista. “All kinds of things just never fell into place for us, and it got kind of frustrating. We were still writing good songs, but I didn’t want to go through that whole process [of low-budget touring] again.”

Soto, one of the founding figures of the Orange County punk-rock movement (as a teenager he was an original member of both Agent Orange and the Adolescents), said he plans to concentrate now on songwriting and record production, working with young bands in the now-popular melodic-punk style he has been playing since 1979.

Soto and Joyride drummer Sandy Hansen, another former Adolescent, also are playing in 22 Jacks, a new Los Angeles-based band fronted by Joe Sib, an old friend and the former singer of Wax. The band’s first single is due in April.

Soto said he is likely to move to L.A. in a few months, to better position himself for session work and record producing opportunities. When he moves he will give up his job booking shows for Linda’s Doll Hut in Anaheim.

Antista plans to form a new band, first recording 10 new songs on his own, then pursuing a record deal and putting together a touring lineup.

“I haven’t felt Joyride was a band for quite some time,” Antista said over the phone from the Doll Hut, where he tends bar. “It was in limbo. I love playing live, I love touring, and that’s what Steve doesn’t want to do any more. Basically, our interests went in different directions. We’re still really good friends.”

Doctor Dream has the rights to the third Joyride album now in the can; the band mates don’t expect it to be released unless, as Antista put it, “one of us does something of notoriety.’

Joyride’s finale at Club 369 will feature the original lineup that started in 1990 and recorded both albums: Antista and Soto dividing lead vocals and bass and rhythm guitar duties, Hansen on drums, and Mike McKnight, who left in 1995 to devote himself to family life, on lead guitar.