Before ABDC

Before ABDC



The earliest origins of the group began in the San Francisco Bay Area in the early 1990s, where founding members Gary "Gee One" Kendall and Randy "DJ Wish One" Bernal were both members of the MindTricks dance crew. Sacramento natives Phil "Swaggerboy" Tayag, Kevin "KB" Brewer, and Joe "Emajoenation" Larot also joined the MindTricks crew together. Tayag, Brewer, and Larot all later moved to the San Diego area, but thanks to Gary Kendall's travelling schedule as a performer and dance instructor, the three maintained their connections to the MindTricks group. Phil, Kevin, and Joe began performing while wearing white masks and gloves as a trio called "Three Musky." The mask and glove motif was adopted as a tribute to the 1970s San Francisco strutting crew Medea Sirkas.

What began as an effort to start a Southern California chapter of the MindTricks crew later evolved into JabbaWockeeZ. The name "JabbaWockeeZ", coined by Joe Larot, was inspired by the fantastical monster from the Lewis Carroll nonsense poem. The white masks and gloves from Phil, Kevin, and Joe's performances as Three Musky were adopted as the visual signature of the group. In San Diego, through Gary's connections, the JabbaWockeeZ added b-boys Rynan "Kid Rainen" Paguio and Chris "Cristyle" Gatdula to the group. The original seven-member iteration of JabbaWockeeZ began performing as a group in 2003. This lineup consisted of Gary, Randy, Phil, Kevin, Joe, Rainen, and Chris.

JabbaWockeeZ rounded out their numbers with additional members, bringing their total to eleven. Phoenix native Jeff "Phi" Nguyen had met Rynan Paguio at various Los Angeles area auditions and performances, and earned a spot in the JabbaWockeeZ by battling Kevin Brewer. The JabbaWockeeZ also brought Kaba Modern alumnus Ben "B-Tek" Chung and b-boys Eddie "Eddiestyles" Gutierrez and Saso "Saso Fresh" Jimenez into the fold.

Members of the JabbaWockeeZ also formed their own hip-hop dance groups in the California area. Phil Tayag founded Boogie Monstarz in 2003, Kevin Brewer founded SuperGalacticBeatManipulators in 2005, and Joe Larot founded Press P.L.A.Y. in 2006. These three groups became part of a larger dance collective with JabbaWockeeZ called Family Royale.

In 2007, the JabbaWockeeZ appeared on the second season of America's Got Talent. Performing with nine members, the group was eliminated in the Las Vegas callbacks episode.

Gary Kendall died from complications from pneumonia and meningitis on December 14, 2007, shortly before the group was to begin auditions for the first season of America's Best Dance Crew. As the mentor figure of the group, Kendall had advocated for the JabbaWockeeZ to seek national exposure by auditioning for reality dance competition shows like America's Got Talent and America's Best Dance Crew.