“Ryan Dunn’s Forgotten Rock Band: The Chaotic, Red-Eyed Soul of The Alter Boys”

(Artist Report)

Written by: Cody Denning

The Alter Boys were a wild experimental rock supergroup that came together in Cleveland, Ohio in 2004. The band featured a stacked lineup of Cleveland’s best musicians, including Jason Popson from Mushroomhead on vocals, Todd Smith and Mike Martini from Dog Fashion Disco, along with members of Unified Culture and Polkadot Cadaver. But the biggest name that turned heads was Ryan Dunn from MTV’s Jackass, who joined on vocals.

Their sound was chaotic and fun — a wild mix of rock, soul, funk, and experimental weirdness that they described as “red-eyed soul.” They released their only album, The Exotic Sounds of the Alter Boys, in March 2005. The record even included skits featuring Johnny Knoxville, Bam Margera, and David Koechner.

Ryan Dunn was so passionate about the project that he became a full-fledged member of the band. The whole thing had that wild Jackass energy mixed with real musical talent. Tragically, Ryan Dunn passed away in 2011 at the age of 34 in a car crash in West Goshen Township, Pennsylvania. His death hit the band and fans hard, and the project never really recovered after that.

Even though they only released one album, The Alter Boys remain a unique piece of early 2000s music history, a strange but beautiful collision between the underground Cleveland rock scene and the chaos of Jackass.

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