The Suspects were formed in 1993 by Bill Grady and Charlie Esparza and played their first show at the long-gone “club” Hoi Polloi on October 3, 1993.  After many years of hard work and dedication (and a few months of internal strife), The Suspects broke up in August of 2002. The Suspects played two reunion shows after their breakup: January 19, 2007 and December 23, 2007… both at the Continental Club in Houston, Texas. After thinking about it for a few months, The Suspects decided you can’t ignore a good thing and announced their return to a full-time schedule in the summer of 2008.

Charlie Esparza and Bill Grady found each other in early 1993 through the bulletin board at the old Westheimer location of Houston’s Sound Exchange records. The other members of the band were found slowly but surely: Alan Hernandez worked with Bill, and Joe Cote had been Bill’s co-worker at a previous job. Andy Hocker, Claudio DePujadas, and Chris Kendrick all answered fliers posted at Sound Exchange. Thomas Escalante was originally a partner in the record label that released the first two Suspects singles, plus he worked with Bill and Alan at the same time. Ryan Gabbart was barely old enough to drive when he joined the band. Steve Ruth had been a long-time fan of The Suspects when he heard Bill jokingly ask a Fitzgerald’s crowd if, “anybody knew any horn players”. Jason Davis and Jay Brooks were both good friends and members of Middlefinger.

Over nine years, we released four cds, toured the mid-west once, and made a lot of friends.

The Suspects played their “last show” on Friday August 23rd, 2002 at Fitzgeralds with Middlefinger, Magnetic IV, and Next2Nothing.