Tampa chef Greg Baker, who retired from his restaurants in 2019. Credit: Photo by James Ostrand
Tampa’s creative scene features plenty of kitchen-nightclub crossover, and a band with a tie to the James Beard awards makes its live debut this weekend.

“I’ve played in (mostly punk rock) bands around here and in Austin and Portland since the mid-80s,” Greg Baker told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay.

He hung that life up when he and his wife Michelle opened The Refinery restaurant in Seminole Heights back in 2010. Nine years, two restaurants and five James Beard nominations later, he retired from the kitchen. “Now that I’m not married to my business and we’ve pretended Covid doesn’t exist anymore, it’s time to play again,” Baker added.

Pressed to describe the sound, he called Unruly Industry’s vibe a mix of power-pop, punk, indie, and grunge.

“If someone were to throw Dillinger Four, Doughboys, Cheap Trick, and Jawbreaker in a blender, you might be getting close,” he explained. “Or not. Your impression may vary.”

The new project finds Baker playing bass along with drummer and former Tampa Bay Rowdie Fred Stolz, guitarist Scott Laval and guitarist/vocalist Andy Van Cleave. Baker, in his trademark self-effacing way, called Unruly Industry “a new project from four punk rock/indie veterans desperately clinging to relevance.”

And vets they are. All told, members of the band have played in storied local outfits like Pink Lincolns, Flat Stanley, Forgotten Apostles, Zero Time Ghosts, Blaine the Mono, Superpower Abuse and more.

“We’re a supergroup, and if we all touch our power rings together, we speak of physical ailments and necessary home repair projects while sprinkling in knowledge of obscure bands like Sniff n the Tears,” he added. “We all should have worked at record stores but weren’t cool enough.”

Tickets to see Unruly Industry play Hooch and Hive in Tampa on Saturday, March 18 are $5 at the door. South Florida horrorbilly band Hellfire Hooch headlines the show, with The Inhalers opening.

Baker’s calling the show Unruly Industry’s debutante ball.

“We missed cotillion and are going straight for the debut,” he said, “because we’re fancy like that.”

This article appears in Mar 9-15, 2023.

Read his 2016 intro letter and disclosures from 2022 and 2021. Ray Roa started freelancing for Creative Loafing Tampa in January 2011 and was hired as music editor in August 2016. He became Editor-In-Chief...