Latch Key Kids are a punk rock band from Houston, Texas. Over nearly twenty years, the band has been one of the few mainstays in the city and one of the fewer who have ventured out on tour outside the city and state. Through longevity and perseverance, Latch Key Kids have become a very important inclusion in the lore of Houston, TX music.
The band started in 1993 as “Focused Realities” with singer Tim Guerinot, guitarist Jeff "Rhino" Neumann, and drummer Jonathan "JJ" Guerinot. Six months in, bassist Chris Seymour joined. After playing local shows in their hometown of Houston, Texas, for most of the year, the band recorded "Keys for Kids," a seven-song cassette that gained them enough notoriety on the local scene to earn opening slots of then-up and coming bands such as Lagwagon, Face to Face, Jawbreaker, and AFI. Chris Seymour left the band shortly afterwards to continue playing with Slaphappy, a Houston ska-core outfit that later went on to become Supermarket All-Stars. Joel Bordeaux, later of Injury, replaced him; the band later recorded the "Get Out of Jail Free" cassette in 1994, a split effort with Houston's Suburban Disturbance, a punk rock band featuring Marc Manic, later to become Latch Key Kids' second guitarist.
Continuing to play in the Texas area, Latch Key Kids' lineup changed again shortly after the second cassette with Joel Bordeaux leaving the band and being replaced with Scott Smith on bass. Additionally, for the first time, Latch Key Kids gained a second guitarist with Steve Torres' addition. With this lineup in 1995, the band recorded their biggest effort at the time, the "Time Out" 7" on Skene! Records, a label run by Jeff Spiegel, later to work for Fat Wreck Chords, that had already gained notoriety for having released one of Green Day's first efforts, the "Sweet Children" 7". With the new 7" in tow, Latch Key Kids continued to play every show they could throughout the Texas area.
The band's lineup changed again in 1996 with Steve Torres leaving Houston to attend college and Scott Smith moving on to play in Houston hardcore outfit Objection; they were respectively replaced with Suburban Disturbance's Marc Manic on second guitar and Dave Ng on bass. This would be the lineup that would record and release the band's first full-length on CD, "Anytime, Anyplace," in 1997. With their new lineup, Latch Key Kids set out on their first US tour in the summer of 1996; during this tour, the band stopped in Minnesota to record the record. Returning to Houston later that year, the record was picked up for distribution by the up and coming Houston label Pinche Flojo Records, founded by John Garcia of Houston ska band Los Skarnales at the time. The band released the record on the eve of a US tour in 1997 during a show opening for Ten Foot Pole.
Returning from the summer 1997 tour, Jeff "Rhino" Neumann, the band's founding guitarist, left the band to pursue a career as a road technician and stage and tour manager for many bands, starting with Fenix TX, a Houston band leaving at the time to tour with Blink-182. He was replaced with Dillon Sexton on second guitar. It was at this same time that the band's founding drummer, Jonathan "JJ" Guerinot, left the band to pursue his hardcore project, World Burns to Death, a band that would become increasingly popular in the hardcore community. He was replaced with Cory Worden on drums. This lineup would carry the band into 1998 and would record the band's second full-length, "Innocence Gone," on Pinche Flojo Records, released in the summer of 1998. [1] However, during the tour to support this record, Cory Worden left the band and Jonathan Guerinot once again returned to complete the tour.
Returning from the summer 1998 tour, Dave Ng moved from bass to fill in the vacant drum position while a new member who went by "Statch" filled the bass position. This lineup would record a split 7" with Dallas' Slowride that was never released in 1999. [2] This lineup would also tour with the 1999 Warped Tour alongside Blink-182, Bouncing Souls, Pennywise, and more.
In 2000, citing “real life” issues, Latch Key Kids went on hiatus.[3]This hiatus continued until 2007 when Tim Guerinot and Jeff “Rhino” Neumann met to catch up and decided to reform the band. Latch Key Kids reformed the band using a “fraternity” strategy; this meant they would fill the band with any former members available at the time of a potential show. [4] This strategy propelled the band through opening slots for NOFX and Bad Religion in 2008. The band continued to develop new songs and play in the Texas area throughout 2008 and 2009. [5]
In 2010, Latch Key Kids found a solid lineup with Tim Guerinot, Jeff “Rhino” Neumann, and Marc Manic along with new bassist Brad Collett and, back for the first time since 1998, drummer Cory Worden. This lineup, albeit without Neumann who was on tour as a technician with Avenged Sevenfold, would complete a series of shows in early 2011 with NOFX, Bouncing Souls, Cobra Skulls, and Old Man Markley. [6] Additionally, they would also play a series of shows with Less Than Jake, Supervillians, and Off with their Heads. [7]
In mid-2011, this lineup also went into the studio to track the “Democracy: The Art of Maintaining a State of Fear” EP. Prior to entering the studio, the band added Jeff Hazen, formerly of Houston punk rock outfit Crash 81 into a third guitar slot. Shortly after completing the tracking, Brad Collett moved away from the band and wasn’t able to continue with them.
Latch Key Kids, this time without Neumann, who was again doing technician work, and without Marc Manic, who was away for work, went on the road for a series of shows in August of 2011 with MA’s The Fake Boys supporting. [8] During this same set of shows, both bands supported the ongoing Riverboat Gamblers, Off with their Heads, and Dead to Me tour for the Houston date. With Brad Collett having moved, Dave Ng filled in the bass slot for this set of shows.
Following the August 2011 dates, Latch Key Kids completed the mixing and mastering of the “Democracy” EP with Ryan Greene, the storied producer of NOFX and more at the helm and found a permanent bassist in Scott Johnson, formerly of Houston outfit This Year’s Tiger. The “Democracy” EP has been announced for release on January 10, 2012 [9] and was covered in the January 12, 2012 Houston Press. [10]
The current Latch Key Kids lineup is Tim Guerinot (vocals), Jeff “Rhino” Neumann (guitar), Marc Manic (guitar), Jeff Hazen (guitar), Scott Johnson (bass), and Cory Worden (drums).
