The Arrogant Sons of Bitches

The Arrogant Sons of Bitches (often abbreviated to ASOB) was a punk band formed in 1995 from Long Island, featuring Jeff Rosenstock as the frontman and a variety of other members. They primarily played Ska Punk and were known for their energetic live shows and DIY ethics. They played for many years until officially breaking up in 2007 after playing their final live show. This band was the first that Jeff Rosenstock was in and would be the catalyst for the rest of his career.

## History

In 1995, two high school friends (Jeff Rosenstock and Joe Werfelman) started doing covers of popular punk bands like Green Day after learning each other can play guitar. After going to hang out with girls one night, they tell them that they're a band and it becomes official. They begin to play original songs and record a demo that would go unreleased. They learn about a Rockfest at a local church and decide they should turn in a new tape for the event. They bring in Pat and Chris to help make the demo, eventually creating a "greatest hits tape". The guitar teacher running the event didn't like the tape at all, destroying it in front of everyone and banning them from coming back.

After this event, they began to write more songs and would play their first official show in Jeff's backyard. John DeDomenici starts to show up to recordings even though he's not an official band member yet, and Chris Baltrus and Joe Vazquez also become part of the band. This also is around when Pat is forced to leave the band after the members broke into his house to get equipment. The band starts to become official now, recording songs that would end up on actual albums like I Pissed In Your Mountain Dew. Chris Valentino would go on to create Nothing Rhymes With Orange, which Jeff started playing with in return for Mike Mitnick on trumpet. They also later obtain Brian Cohen on drums and Dave Dickerman on trombone and begin to get serious about songwriting. They record a set of 8 songs in Joe's garage, which ends up becoming the Integrity Tape.

Soon after this, John finally joins the band officially and they begin work on their debut album. They get a deal to record a full 12 song album for $1000 and Built to Fail is recorded. It was recorded at the end of summer and released later on Breaking the Law Records in late 1998. Between recording and release, more members join and leave, keeping the band constantly shifting in who's playing. After learning that the album isn't released on CD but CD-r instead, the band scrap working with Breaking the Law and instead self release the CD. In the beginning of 1999, they would write four more songs for Built to Fail, released as Built to Fail+. They begin to play with even more bands and even bigger names such as Catch 22 as the Long Island ska scene grows. Near the end of the year, part of the band would get together and start writing songs for their next album. More people joined and Pornocracy began recording in December. They had more time and money to make the next album which lead to even more ideas being put into the album as it got recorded all throughout 2000. Most of the members are finally out of high school now and are able to spend their full time on the band, while some are off to college and are substituted by even more new people. Pornocracy comes out in the fall of 2000 and a large release show is played for it.

After this some rifts start to form in the band when some members who are involved with other bands, leading to some separation starting to form. The members who stuck around work on writing and demoing the next album, but by the next year a lot of the members had taken time away from the band and Jeff forms a temporary new lineup just for 2001, with only Sean McCabe being a new person who stays for the long run. By the end of the year the band starts to reform and everything goes back to normal. They record a new version of Built to Fail titled "Built to Fail 2" but it never gets released and more songs are made for their new EP, All The Little Ones Are Rotting. A van is bought for $3,000 dollars before this CD is released which allows them to play at much further shows and a lot more shows are played out of state, with the band doing them every weekend. On one of these tours they meet the owner of Kill Normal Records and they release a new version of The Little Ones on that label. With a label backing them and a van to help with travel, they set out to do a west coast tour and the end up sneaking into Warped Tour and playing some songs outside of the venues, before eventually getting invited in to play actual shows.

After this event, Joe Werfelman is kicked out of the band for unspecified reasons. The band is now sitting on a mostly completed new album and also after adding Sean Qualls, they play the live show for This Is What You Get. The band also begins work on the Discography Compilation, while still working on the album in the background. A lot more tours are done and the band is growing in popularity, meaning a lot of pressure gets put on them and they try to make everything good. By the end of 2004 however, they played their last few shows and it's obvious that people are starting to move on. Some solo projects are started, including Jeff Rosenstock forming Bomb The Music Industry, and some people were moving on to college as well. The remaining band works on finishing Three Cheers For Disappointment and trying to play shows for the many fans who still wanted to see them play, but things aren't holding too well. The band are becoming very miserable being in the band.

In early 2006, Three Cheers For Disappointment is released and a few shows are played to go along with it. Even with the fact that an album they'd been working on for almost 6 years had finally been released, the band is still full of arguments and conflict, leading to some planned tours not going through and the release shows are the last played for a while. In 2007, they play one last show for an uninterested crowd with a few technical issues, finally leading to the dissolution of the band. In 2012, five years after the band had called it quits, they played a few reunion shows as a way to put a final cap on the band's legacy, and this was the last time the band did anything together.

## Members

In order of joining:

* Jeff Rosenstock (vocals/guitar, 1995)
* Joe Werfelman (guitar, 1995-2003)
* Patric Santiago (drums, 1996-1997)
* Chris Valentino (saxophone, 1996)
* Joe Vasquez (drums, 1997-?)
* Chris Baltrus (bass, 1997-?)
* Mike Mitnick (trumpet, 1997-1998)
* Brian Cohen (drums, 1998-1998)
* John DeDomenici (drums/guitar, 1998)
* Dave Dickerman (trombone, 1998)
* Kyle Ebert (1998-?)
* Steve Connolly (trumpet, 1998-?)
* Mike Costa (drums, 1998-2004)
* Eric Bucello (trumpet, 1999-?)
* Joe Bove [aka Joe Cool] (bass, 2000-2002)
* JT "Jonathan" Turret (keys, 2000)
* Tim Ruggeri (2001-2001)
* Jon Rossman (2001-2001)
* Chris Taylor (2001-2001)
* Sean McCabe (Trombone, 2001)
* Sean Qualls (guitar, 2003-?)

## Discography

### Albums

* Built to Fail (1998)
* Pornocracy (2000)
* Three Cheers for Disappointment (2006)

### EPs

* The Apology EP (2001)
* All the Little Ones Are Rotting (2002)

### Other

* Demo Tape (1996)
* Integrity (1998)
* This Is What You Get (2003)
* The Arrogant Sons of Bitches (2004)