An under the radar SoCal punk institution, Huntington Beach's Wank emerged in the mid-'90s at the peak of the pop-punk movement and quickly made a name for themselves in the Orange County punk and ska community. They released their debut album, Get a Grip on Yourself, in 1996, followed by a handful of singles produced by Social Distortion's Mike Ness. In 2000 the group went on a long hiatus that saw some bandmembers pursuing other projects and others battling health issues. They reunited in 2016 and released the five-track EP On with the Show, followed by the full-length White Knuckle Ride in 2020. Founded in 1995 by singer/bassist Bobby Amodeo, guitarists Danny Walker and Billy Bivens, and drummer Spider, the band's high-energy mix of pop, rock, and punk (they cite both the Beatles and the Clash as influences) quickly found favor with the burgeoning Orange County pop-punk movement. They self-released their debut album, Get a Grip on Yourself, the following year, which caught the attention of Social Distortion frontman Mike Ness, who offered his production expertise to the band. Ness helmed the recording of the single "Larry Brown" for a split 7" for Time Bomb Records, as well as the band's raucous version "Auld Lang Syne" for the Christmas Gone Wrong compilation. Heavy rotation on KROQ in Los Angeles helped land the group a deal with major-label Maverick Records, which re-released Get a Grip on Yourself in 1998. After parting ways with the label in 1999 to pursue other projects, Amodeo was diagnosed with cancer, and Walker formed the group Handsome Devil, who inked a deal with RCA in 2001 and went on to issue three albums: Love and Kisses (2001), Knock Yourself Out (2004), and Fully Automatic (2007). Walker went solo in 2011 and released a pair of singer/songwriter-oriented LPs, Mumble and Strum (2011) and Salvation (2012), while Spider shifted his focus to artist management and session work. In 2016 Walker, Spider, and a revitalized Amodeo re-formed Wank with former Offspring guitarist Higgins X-13 and released the On with the Show EP. Two years later they decamped to the studio to begin laying down tracks for their long-awaited sophomore effort. The resulting White Knuckle Ride arrived in early 2020. ~ James Christopher Monger