Long considered a Suicidal Tendencies spin-off band because they shared a frontman (Mike Muir), a bass player (Robert Trujillo, now in Metallica rather than ST) and guitarist Dean Pleasants (from 1997 onwards), as well as a range of influences that dive deep into funk, punk rock and metal, Infectious Grooves also had among its ranks art-alternative-rock Jane's Addiction drummer Stephen Perkins and guitarist Adam Siegel.
And while ST's crowd appreciated their metal-meets-skate-punk style with funk undertones, Infectious Grooves puts its funk in front and everything else is complementary (though one could argue that in the mid-1990s, both bands did influence one another and almost became interchangeable and/or symbiotic, to the point where they released dual-band compilation albums) in a way that was original to them. Heavier than the Red Hot Chili Peppers and not as ''out there'' in terms of free-range experimentation as Faith No More (whose guitarist Jim Martin now replaces Siegel in IG...), the Groovers are in a special category of the funk-punk spectrum that is all their own.
Truth be told, I was more a fan of Infectious Grooves than Suicidal Tendencies, though I feel ST got the better lyrics and IG went so far in being humourous that they used (pretty dumb) skits too often between songs, messing with the pacing of their records, and were a tad too conceptual, based around a fake family of psychotic clowns not unlike the Juggalos, just less ridiculous.
Still, they rocked. Here, they can be seen and heard doing what they do best, Punk It Up:
After a long hiatus, Muir and Pleasants revived the band in 2008 with hired hands instead of the rest of the original members, though most came back in the fold in 2013, except for Siegel, replaced by Martin.
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