Robbie Allen, also known as Rob Rule, is an American bassist and guitarist from Seal Beach,

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. He has played with Tender Fury,

The Vandals The Vandals are an American punk rock band, established in 1980 in Orange County, California. They have released ten full-length studio albums, three live albums, three live DVDs and have toured the world extensively, including performances on ...

One Hit Wonder A one-hit wonder is any entity that achieves mainstream popularity, often for only one piece of work, and becomes known among the general public solely for that momentary success. The term is most commonly used in regard to music performers with ...

Candlebox Candlebox is an American rock band from Seattle, Washington. Since its formation in 1990, the group has released eight studio albums, several charting singles, a compilation, and a CD+DVD. Candlebox found immediate success with the release ...

, and as a live member of the

Red Hot Chili Peppers The Red Hot Chili Peppers are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1982, consisting of Anthony Kiedis (vocals), Flea (musician), Flea (bass), John Frusciante (guitar), and Chad Smith (drums). Their music incorporates elements of a ...

Career

Allen grew up in Seal Beach,

. He began playing in bands in the 1980s as a member of

Jack Grisham Jack Grisham (born July 22, 1961) is an American rock singer from Southern California. He is the vocalist for the punk rock band T.S.O.L. (True Sounds of Liberty), which emerged from the late 1970s Los Angeles hardcore punk rock scene, along wi ...

's Cathedral of Tears. He also played bass for Grisham in Tender Fury, before forming the band Gypsy Trash with Grisham's sister D.D. Wood. Following this, he played bass for

on their 1989 album '' Slippery When Ill''. In 1992, he sang backing vocals on

Rikk Agnew Richard Francis "Rikk" Agnew Jr. (born December 9, 1958) is an American musician with a career spanning more than 40 years. A multi-instrumentalist, he has previously been a member of some of the most influential bands of the Orange County ...

's solo album ''Turtle''. He also recorded with

Rat Scabies Christopher John Millar (born 30 July 1955), known by his stage name Rat Scabies, is a musician best known as the drummer for English punk rock band the Damned. Career Millar was born in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey. He played drums with Tor ...

on a project that was never released, before forming the band

. Allen left

in 1993 to record an album "She Gets Too High" for

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. Mercury Records released ...

under the moniker "Rob Rule". The album was produced by

Don Gehman Don Gehman is an American record producer, engineer, and executive, best known for his work with John Mellencamp and Hootie & the Blowfish. AllMusic calls him one of "the most successful producers of the 1980s and 1990s." As a sound engineer, he ...

, and as part of its promotion, he opened for

Dada Dada () or Dadaism was an anti-establishment art movement that developed in 1915 in the context of the Great War and the earlier anti-art movement. Early centers for dadaism included Zürich and Berlin. Within a few years, the movement had s ...

and

. During this time, Allen made his primary living as a guitar tech for the

. Occasionally he played with the band as a live guitarist and backup singer, and opened shows for them as a solo act, sometimes with

Chad Smith Chad Smith (born October 25, 1961) is an American musician who is the drummer of the rock band the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Smith has played with the Chili Peppers since 1988, appearing on ten of the band's studio albums and becoming the band's lo ...

drumming. In 1996, Allen recorded the album ''Monkey on Rico'' as part of the band Thermadore, a

project A project is a type of assignment, typically involving research or design, that is carefully planned to achieve a specific objective. An alternative view sees a project managerially as a sequence of events: a "set of interrelated tasks to be ...

that featured

Josh Freese Joshua Ryan Freese (born December 25, 1972) is an American drummer. A member of punk rock band the Vandals since 1989, Freese has also been a member of new wave band Devo since 1996. He was previously a member of hard rock band Guns N' Roses ...

, and

Stone Gossard Stone Carpenter Gossard (born July 20, 1966) is an American musician and songwriter who serves as the rhythm guitarist for the rock band Pearl Jam. Along with Jeff Ament, Mike McCready, and Eddie Vedder, he is one of the founding members of the ...

. Allen served as Thermadore's lead singer and songwriter. He teamed up with Jack Grisham again in 1996, singing backing vocals on Joykiller's album ''Static''. Allen joined

after their album ''

Happy Pills ''Happy Pills'' is the third studio album by Seattle rock band, Candlebox. It features former Pearl Jam drummer Dave Krusen who replaced Scott Mercado in 1997. ''Happy Pills'' did not gain the success of its predecessors and would be the la ...

'' was released, playing guitar for them from 1998 until their split in 2000. He would continue to work with Candlebox singer Kevin Martin as a composer and background vocalist on Martin's 2003 album ''The Possibility of Being''. In 2008, he released his own solo album ''Artificial Horizon''. In 2017, Allen played in an act called "Cowboy and Indian" with Antoine Arvizu and Sublime bassist Eric Wilson. The trio opened for

Mike Watt Michael David Watt (born December 20, 1957) is an American bassist, vocalist and songwriter. He co-founded and played bass guitar for the rock bands Minutemen (1980–1985), Dos (1985–present), and Firehose (1986–1994). He began a solo ca ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Robbie American male guitarists American guitarists American bass guitarists Living people Year of birth missing (living people) People from Seal Beach, California