SARDONICA'S UNUSUAL MONIKER WAS inspired by Mr. Sardonicus, an old grade B horror film they often watched as kids.

“This guy dies with a winning lottery ticket in his pocket and they bury him," explains bassist/vocalist Sal Bee. “When his son realizes this, he's torn between digging the grave up, being a ghoul and becoming rich or going on with his dull life. But when he sees the hideous face of his dead father, it becomes etched in his brain. So for the rest of the film, he tortures attractive women in an attempt to steal their beauty. In the end, he dies and viewers discover the torment was all in his mind.”

Mixing no-frills hardcore, punk, metal, and garage rock, Sardonica have performed throughout the East Coast with the Ramones, Murphy's Law, Biohazard, Life of Agony and a host of others. Childhood friends Sal Bee and guitarist Ken "Fish" Fisher formed the band over a decade ago in Lodi, New Jersey, went through a Spinal Tap-ish pile of drummers before discovering Al X. Although they have released a variety of singles and EPs, they just released their first full-length effort, Grins Again.

In support of the album, the band recently headed off on a comprehensive, 30 date, 8 country tour opening for their neighbors and heroes, the Misfits (who recently reformed without original vocalist Glenn Danzig). “We traveled in the same bus, loaded in the equipment, set everything up, played our set and then worked the stage for them,” says Sal Bee. “We didn’t have to pay anything and we got to stay in their bus for free. If we didn’t do it that way, we would have been broke after the first few weeks.”

Although the band has played the New York City/New Jersey club circuit for a few years, it was their first international tour "For years, bands have been telling us to play outside the tri-state area," 'says the frontman. "And when we finally did, every crowd; we splayed in front of dug us. They were moshing and stage-diving. For band that no one had heard of before, we were happy with the reaction we received."

"In Spain, we were treated like rock stars," he continues. “We were doing encores. The only place we didn’t like was England. Otherwise, for the twelve weeks we were out on tour, we go to live a dream.”

Their name originates from an old grade B horror film that founding members guitarist-Fish and bassist-Sal Bee watched together as adolescents. In the movie Sardonicus, this guy is buried with a winning lottery ticket in his pocket, explains the current drummer-ALX. The dead guy’s son realizes this and is torn between being a ghoul by digging the grave up and becoming rich or going on with life unhappy. Eventually, he digs up the grave and sees the hideous face of his dead father. A sardonic grin then becomes permanent on him and he turns into an evil, greedy monster. For the rest of the film, he tortures attractive women in an attempt to steal their beauty. Sex, Horror, and punk rock, that’s basically what Sardonica is all about.

Their debut album, In Your Own Backyard, which includes Chud, Sardonica’s original drummer and is now the drummer for the Misfits, contains music heard on many radio stations worldwide including WSOU. This album was ground-breaking for the New Jersey based band and was rereleased in CD form in 1999, produced by Chud himself.

The Sardonica musical venture then brought them 2 color vinyl singles distributed by Caroline Records and Dutch East Indie Company. The first single Biker features Doug Holland, guitarist for The Cro-Mags. Also available through Dutch East is the album Cup Of My Body, which is also heard on radio stations world wide.

Sardonica promoted their 1996 CD entitled Grins Again by being the opening act for the Misfits Reunion world tour. This CD filled with energetic, full-throttle thrash left the world thunderstruck. The video My Time In Hell was filmed in Europe to also promote the album. The current releases Flip The Grill and the limited edition Dirty Little Secrets plus the upcoming Playboy Manson are available through their website, www.sardonica.com.