Biography

Although the members of Masked Intruder keep their identities hidden under ski masks, the mysterious band's sugary sweet pop-punk shows that they wear their hearts on their sleeves. Calling Madison, Wisconsin, home, the quartet rose in the early 2010s, label-hopping between Red Scare and Fat Wreck for their first two LPs, which were interspersed with a healthy number of EPs and split singles. Eventually settling in with Pure Noise Records, they returned with the Billboard-charting III in 2019. Claiming to have formed in jail, the band -- who go by the anonymous handles Intruder Blue (vocals, guitar), Intruder Green (guitar, vocals), Intruder Yellow (bass), and Intruder Red (drums) -- have a sound that finds them adding a criminal edge to their yearning melodies, evoking the Bay Area pop-punk of bands like Green Day and the Mr. T Experience. Masked Intruder made their debut with a self-titled album released by Red Scare Industries in 2012. A series of split singles followed over the next year, including The Wedding 7" with Dan Vapid and the Cheats and Red Scare Across America with Elway and Sam Russo. In 2013, Fat Wreck Chords signed Masked Intruder and reissued their debut, followed the next year by their sophomore effort, M.I. The band's time with Fat Wreck would prove to be short-lived; in 2016, they moved over to another California stalwart, Pure Noise Records, and released the EP Love and Other Crimes. The group's third outing, simply titled III, appeared in 2019 and featured production from Roger Lima (Less Than Jake) and Mike Kennerty (the All-American Rejects). It cracked the Top Ten of Billboard's Top Independent Albums chart and warranted a deluxe version, released in 2020 as III Turbo. 2022 marked the tenth anniversary of Masked Intruder's self-titled debut album, and Red Scare honored it with a special Record Store Day vinyl reissue. ~ Gregory Heaney, Rovi