Bay Area power-pop greats the Rubinoos hold weekly residency at the Make-Out Room
Veteran Bay Area power-pop band the Rubinoos play a month of Monday shows in March with a special residency at the Make-Out Room in the Mission District.
Founded in 1970 by then teenagers Jon Rubin and Tommy Dunbar to play a dance at their Berkeley high school, the quartet covered rock oldies by Chubby Checker, Bill Haley and the Comets, the Dovells and the Troggs for that first performance under the name Jon Rubin and the Rubinoos. It wasn't until the following year that Rubin and Dunbar reformed the band with Donn Spindt on drums and Tom Carpender on bass as the Rubinoos and changed their focus to original songs written by Dunbar with Rubin and others that nodded heavily to early rock and roll and the tight songcraft of the Raspberries and the Beatles.
Mentored by Dunbar's older brother Robbie and his established power-pop group Earth Quake (who the Rubinoos frequently opened for at local shows), the band would end up working with the independent imprint Beserkley Records founded by Earth Quake and their management. The band made its recorded debut in 1975 with a cover of the DeFranco Family's hit "Gorilla," that was released as a single and included on the Beserkley Chartbusters power-pop compilation alongside songs by Earth Quake, Greg Kihn and Jonathan Richman, two of which featured the Rubinoos as his backing band.
The label released the band's eponymous debut album in 1977 with the Rubinoos scoring a hit with a cover of the Tommy James and the Shondells' song "I Think We're Alone Now" that made the Billboard charts and earned the quartet appearances on "American Bandstand," British television show "So It Goes" and "Rolling Stone Magazine: The 10th Anniversary" television special.
While they would support Elvis Costello on a string of U.S. dates, the group's 1979 sophomore effort Back to the Drawing Board! did not have the same commercial impact, despite boasting the minor hit "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" that performed better in England and Europe than the States. Dunbar and Rubin would later sue Avril Levigne and her producer Dr. Luke for copyright infringement due to the similarities between the tune and in her 2007 song "Girlfriend" (an undisclosed settlement was reached between the parties).
The duo recorded demos for an abortive third album with a new line-up featuring bassist Al Chan, but the quartet dissolved when Dunbar and Rubin ended up moving to Los Angeles and signing with Warner Bros. for the Todd Rundgren-produced mini LP Party of Two. After scoring another hit with the title song to the comedy Revenge of the Nerds, the Rubinoos would go on hiatus.
During the initial downtime, the musicians focused on other projects with Dunbar, Spindt, Chan forming the group Vox Pop with Psychotic Pineapple bassist John Seabury (and Chan switching from bass to guitar), while Rubin joined the a cappella doo-wop group the Mighty Echoes. The release of a couple Rubinoos compilations in the '90s rekindled interest in the band, leading a reunion to produce the acclaimed new album Paleophonic in 1999 and an appearance at the International Pop Overthrow Festival in Los Angeles, their first live performance in seven years.
Since then, the quartet of Rubin, Dunbar, Spindt and Chan has maintained a steady stream of new recordings and international touring in addition to live and archival releases. In 2018, the Rubinoos signed to Yep Rock Records for the purpose of releasing both new material -- From Home in 2019 was produced by noted SF songwriter and fan Chuck Prophet -- and reissues of the band's first two albums and the previously unavailable live session The CBS Tapes that was recorded at a Folsom Street studio in 1976.
For this Gibbsmo Presents residency at the Make-Out Room in San Francisco's Mission District, the band will play four consecutive Monday nights in March playing two sets per evening with varied setlists and special surprise guests to encourage repeat attendance. The opening night on March 3 will feature support from SF pop band the Telephone Numbers, and local favorites Chime School will open the night on St. Patrick's Day. The other two shows (March 10 and 24) will just feature the Rubinoos and no support band.
The Rubinoos Residency
Monday, March 3,10,17 and 24; 6:30 p.m. $20-$25
The Make-Out Room