* Kai Kln: In 1992, the hard-rockin' group with a hippie twist became the first local unsigned band to headline the 950-seat Crest Theatre. Unfortunately, the band broke up about a year later and has performed only an occasional reunion show. Currently, singer-guitarist Gene Smith and drummer Neil Franklin are in a duo, the Rickey and Del Connection, while bassist Scott Anderson plays in the southern-fried band Arrested in Mayberry.
* Fat Molly's Kitchen (FMK): Once armed with a mighty blues-rock sound -- and a demo tape produced by Tesla guittarist Frank Hannon -- the members of FMK have mostly been M.I.A. from the area's music scene. Reports have placed frontman Lee Boots in the Northwest, while guitarist Mike Farrell has collaborated with such local notables as Sex 66 and Daisy Spot, and currently rocks with San Francisco's Persephone's Bees.
* Deftones: Originally a run-of-the-mill funky punk band, these south Sacramento homeboys rose to the cream of the hard-rock scene. The band's last album, "White Pony," sold 1 million copies in the United States, and its song "Elite" won a 2001 Grammy for best metal performance. The band -- which features singer Chino Moreno, guuitarist Stephen Carpenter, DJ Frank Delgado, bassist Chi Cheng and drummer Abe Cunningham -- is renovating its West Sacramento practice space into a recording studio for the follow-up to "White Pony."
* Go, Dog, Go!: Armed with a potent 1970s-rockin' sound, it was the first local band to headline the Cattle Club. By the early 1990s the group morphed into Mommy, though frontman Skid Jones is now at the helm of the MC5-influenced Magnolia Thunderfinger.
* Funky Blue Velvet: The area's leading funk-metal outfit went kaput in the mid-1990s. Jason Cooper now plays bass and sings with the Orange County punk band Welt, while brothers Matt and Ross Levine continued through such bands as the Tank, the California Oranges and Smartbomb CA. They also played in an early incarnation of Welt. Singer Kahlil Hedrick fronts the quirky, metal-minded M.D.S.O.
* Cake: The band with an alternative-rock-meets-Tijuana Brass sound plowed through the local coffeehouse circuit and even shared a bill at the Cattle Club with Deftones and Korn. Even with a slew of lineup shifts, Cake remains one of the most successful bands to come out of Sacramento, with more than 2 million albums sold in the United States. The band has less of a River City connection these days, with two members still living here, two (including founder and lead singer John McCrea) living in the San Francisco Bay Area and one in Los Angeles.
* 58 Fury: The hard-rockin' band with a Led Zeppelin bent snagged a development deal with A&M Records in 1987. The deal, however, didn't work out and by 1993 the band had revamped under the name Soul Motor. Bassist Joe Johnston later went on to start the popular local recording studio Pus Cavern, while the current version of Soul Motor features Tesla bassist Brian Wheat.
* Far: The popular rock band scored a major label deal with Immortal/Epic. However, national sales of its two Epic albums were soft, and the band broke up in 1999. Singer Jonah Matranga continues with his onelinedrawing solo project and with the band New End Original. Guitarist Shaun Lopez fronts Revolution Smile, while drummer Chris Robyn and bassist John Gutenberger perform with Milwaukee.