There are 2 bands named "The Suicide Kings". One of the bands was originated in Tempe, Arizona led by guitarist/singer/songwriter Bruce Connole, The Revenants "Billy Clone & The Same", The Jetzons, The Strand and Busted Hearts. Band members include Connole, Brad Buxer, keyboards (The Jetzons, Matthew Wilder, Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson).

The Suicide Kings are a spoken word powerhouse comprised of three award-winning Poetry Slam Champions out of Oakland, CA.

On one pivotal night in 2000, Rupert Estanislao, Geoff Trenchard and Jamie Kennedy crossed paths. All of them had notebooks in their back pockets crammed full of confessional verse. They formed a pact: to bring a new hardcore sensibility to the world of poetry. The Suicide Kings were born into the world of poetry slams--a competitive barroom battle of wits and rapid monologues that has become an underground phenomenon over the last ten years.

The Kings have been described by a college newspaper as the "freaks and wild children of the slam poetry world...Inviting the Suicide Kings to perform is almost like taking the bearded lady, an organ grinders monkey and a drunk to a funeral, you know something's going to happen but it's just too damn funny to stop it.". Contra Costa Times said, "The profane yet sometimes profound group entertains with a helter-skelter mix of shock theater, oddball comedy, vaudevillian antics, on-stage debauchery, a bit of self-help therapy, and yes, even poetry."

The trio began to travel to stages across the U.S. and "started to get the national infamy they have long since achieved locally" (SF Express). Within two years they had performed live at San Quentin Penitentiary, HBO's Def Poetry Jam, UPN's "Strange and Unusual Television", NPR, Live 105's BFD Concert, and their work was broadcast on college radio and pirate stations from the Mid-West to the Philippines. A poem by the Kings based on Estanislao's personal past experiences as a gang member has been turned into an short film about guns directed by Ramsel Cruz, entitled "The Question".

They performed and led slam poetry workshops at over sixty universities and high schools across the U.S, including Stanford University, University of Normal Illinois, Cal Poly, San Francisco State University, University of Minnesota, U.C Berkeley, and Chico State. The Kings were featured performers at the NACA College Conference and APCA College Conference their first year of application. They continue to develop original curriculum and mentor young writers in the Bay Area through Youthspeaks and Opera Piccolo in after school writing programs.

Their tours have taken them to such venues as the Shoreline Amphitheater, Pac Bell Park, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, La Pena Cultural Center, 924 Gilman, The Green Mill, The Bowery Poetry Lounge, First Avenue, and the Justice League. They've shared the stage with Mos Def, Saul Williams, Sage Francis, Kanye West, Lou Reed, The Last Poets, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Taylor Mali, Jerry Stahl, Beau Sia, IshleYi Park, Roger Bonair-Agard , Danny Hoch, Marc Bamuthi Joseph, Aya De Leon, Mark Smith, The Coup, Ant-icon, Jill Scott, Goapele, The Dwarves, Kid Beyond, The Enemies, The Lewd, Cropknox, Oppressed Logic, The Cliftons, Felonious, Immortal Technique, Zion I, Shane Koyczan, Mike Mcgee, Mums the Schemer, StaceyAnn Chin, Ursula Rucker, Taalam Acey, Sekou tha Misfit , Jason Carney, Buddy Wakefield, Jerry Quickley, Rives, Big Poppa E, George Mckibbens, R.A.C, Dennis Kim, Jim Goad, 8 th Wonder, Al Robles, Oscar Penaranda, Barbara Reyes and Jimmy Santiago Baca.

They continue to tour the U.S telling their stories and confessions in high schools, bars, clubs, colleges, and theatres, balancing complex verse on the tip of their tongues, carving out a new mark in the world of literature inspiring Stanford University Radio to state, "The Suicide Kings are the tattooed knuckles under the velvet glove of American poetry." Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.