JAKKPOT
Jakkpot came together in 1991 when some friends, Rudy Castello (vocals, from COC), Rob Michael (bass, from Have Mercy and, later, Fear Of God), Jay Abbene (guitar, from Wrathchild America and Souls At Zero), Keith Campbell (guitar, from Black Market Baby) and Paul Kopchinski (drums, from Hallows Eve), decided to put together a side band to play "77" style punk rock. The band wrote some songs and learned some of their favorite punk bands tracks. They played a show about every 2 to 3 months, whenever time allowed. Jakkpot went into the studio once a year and recorded 5 or 6 songs. They released two demos, "Burnin In 77" and "Safety Blades And Razor Pins" both in 1995, and both on American Punk Records (owned by vocalist Rudy Castello). Over the years, the band has put out several singles: "Just One Fix" (1995, American Punk Records), "You Ain't Shit" (1996, American Punk Records), "Hit Or Miss" (1997, American Punk Records), "321 GO" (1997, Junk Records), "End Of My Rope" (1997, 007 Records) and "Young And Dumb" (1998, Ken Rock Records). Additionally, Jakkpot has been featured on the following compilation albums: "It Smells Like Spring" (1997, Intensive Scare Records), "Weird, Waxes And Wired" (1998 Radio Blast Records), "Old Skars And Up Starts" (1998, Disaster Records), "This Is American Punk Rock - Vol. 1" (1998, America Punk Records) and "Going After Pussy - Teasers & Tidbits" (1999, Junk Records). Jakkpot has not played a show since September 97, but has recorded every year in January. In July 1999, they released a live single ("Electric Live", split with Les Stitches, on Onefoot Records) and a singles compilation CD ("Lie, Cheat n' Steal", on TSB records, Europe, released in the US as "Always Bet on Black" with 3 different tracks, on Royalty Records). Jakkpot is still alive and kickin, and will even be doing shows (yes live shows!) very soon. Jay Abbene left the band in late 97 and moved to St. Louis to work as a recording engineer. Keith Campbell disappeared and was last seen lurking in the back alleys of Washington DC. R. Lee Davidson (Scream) is the band's unofficial, official guitarist at this time.
Picture left to right Jay Abbene, Keith Campbell, Rudy Castello, bottom Rob Michael and Paul Kopchinski