The Short Necked Giraffes

The Short Necked Giraffes are a high-energy ska-punk band from Rancho Cucamonga, California. Known for their wacky ties, eclectic members, and mascot “Jeffery the Giraffe”, the band continues to grow their loyal fan base in the local scene and beyond.

SNG (as known by their fans) is known for their fun and entertaining live shows. Their original music is catchy and melodic, and their lyrics can be fun and satirical but also deep and heartfelt. The band always plays a handful cover songs, some ska & punk favorites, as well as ska-arrangements of classic hits.

The band’s newest EP, Almost A Six-Pack embodies the third-wave ska sound everyone remembers from the 90’s but with a modern flavor. It will be available worldwide in May of 2017. On July of 2015, the band released a music video for their cover of the original Ghostbusters theme song (track #5 on the EP). The video was filmed and directed by filmmaker Chris Graue, and was praised by fans and industry professionals alike. The band will be supporting their release this summer, playing shows across Southern California.

SNG started when Ben Ringer and Patrick Bourland met in Marching Band while attending Etiwanda High School in 2006. Ben played drums and percussion and Patrick played trumpet but wanted to form a band as the singer/guitarist. Looking to form a pop-punk trio inspired by Green Day and Blink-182, they recruited their mutual friend Sean Chen to play bass. The name The Short Necked Giraffes came from Ben and Patrick’s friend, who was a well-known drug user. He had told Patrick at some point, “I would only join a band if they were called The Short Necked Giraffes!’. For some reason Patrick took a liking to the name, so he adopted it. Around the same time, Joe Ortiz and Mario Verlangieri had started a metal band by the name of Unholy Resurrection. The band consisted of Mario on guitar, Joe on vocals, Robert Esler on Drums, and also Sean Chen on bass. The six were all good friends and would attend local shows together and share demos. Eventually Sean Chen was expelled from Etiwanda High and was forced to quit both bands to focus on graduating from Los Osos High School. Unholy Resurrection was starting to fizzle out, so Joe made the suggestion that he and Mario join SNG. They were impressed by Mario’s guitar playing, so he took the roll of lead guitar, and Joe filled the bass void left by Sean. The first gig with this lineup was on June 22nd 2007 at Biacci’s Pizza in Rancho Cucamonga, CA. The band constantly played the local scene and developed a following of their friends from school. They frequently played The Wire, an all-ages venue in Upland, CA and got kicked out multiple times due to their fans ignoring the “no mosh-pits” rule. After graduating high school in 2008, Mario began working towards a bachelor’s degree in Music Technology at California State University San Bernardino, Ben enrolled in Le Cordon Bleu to pursue a career in culinary arts, and Patrick began studying philosophy at Chaffey College. Mario’s busy school schedule and commitments from his other band started getting in the way of SNG opportunities, and eventually led to his departure in 2009. SNG continued as a trio for about a year and recorded a three song demo, until Patrick decided to disband SNG and move to San Francisco to pursue a degree in philosophy. Ben and Joe not wanting the band to end, decided to ask Mario to return and take over the roll of vocalist/ guitarist. Mario agreed under the terms that the band shift it’s style from pop-punk to ska-punk as all three had become more interested in the genre and many people thought SNG was a ska band due to the wacky name. Mario also suggested the band add a horn section made up of his friends from CSUSB, Cory Peters on trumpet and Edgar Melendez on saxophone. After a couple practices and local shows, Cory suggested that his brother, Kevin, join the band on bass trombone. Everyone agreed, and the band began performing regularly and recorded a demo in 2011, which included the songs My Friend’s Band, All The Cool Kids, and I’m Not Gonna Fall Down. One of Mario, Cory, and Edgar’s friends from CSUSB, Avelino, was asked to fill in for Kevin at a house party gig, as he couldn’t play due to a sports conflict (Kevin was on the football team at Los Osos High School at the time). After hearing him play, the band asked Avelino to join the band full-time on tenor trombone. Mario had access to the recording studio at CSUSB, so when the band decided to record an album in 2013, they chose to utilize Mario’s connection. The band blocked out two weeks over the summer and recorded base tracks for 10 songs with the help of Cash Tijerina, a fellow CSUSB Music Technology student. The work of work of editing and mixing the recordings fell on Mario, but as his graduation date came up, the recordings moved to the back burner. When Kevin graduated from high school in 2014, he announced his departure as he left to attend UC Santa Barbara. Mario took an internship at a recording studio after graduating from CSUSB, and the other band members became busy with their own careers and educational pursuits. Ben got a job as a sous chef and moved to Anaheim, Joe took on a full-time warehouse job, Edgar enrolled in the saxophone performance masters degree program at UCLA, and Cory and Avelino pursued teaching credentials to become school band directors. After almost a two-year hiatus, the band revisited the recordings from 2013 and decided to finish five songs and release them as an EP. Drums and vocals were re-tracked and the band began playing shows again in 2016. These shows included the band’s first wedding gig, and a show at the World Famous Doll Hutt in Anaheim. While interning at World Class Audio in Riverside, CA, Mario had made good friends with the studio owner, Shawn Sullivan. Shawn had worked with some of the band’s influences such as Reel Big Fish and Suburban Legends, so they decided to ask him to master the EP. Almost A Six-Pack set to release April 26th, 2017 marking the beginning of the next chapter of the band’s 11-year career.

Though juggling full-time day-jobs and educational pursuits, the band rehearses regularly and performs any chance they get! Mario is an Audio/Visual technician at a technology company in El Segundo, Ben works as a sous chef at a high-line seafood restaurant in Long Beach, Edgar is enrolled in the saxophone doctoral program at USC and is the saxophone professor at his alma matter, CSUSB, Avelino works as a substitute teacher in San Bernardino and is working on his teaching credential, Joe works full-time warehouse manager and has a 1-year-old daughter, and Cory works as a band director in the Inland Empire.