Stabbing Westward

All Music Guide:

Vocalist Christopher Hall and keyboardist Walter Flakus met in 1985 and formed the industrial rock band Stabbing Westward in Chicago. They released an EP in 1990, and recruited guitarist Stuart Zechman, bassist Jim Sellers, and drummer David Suycott. In late 1993, Columbia issued the band's major-label debut, Ungod. Although the album wasn't a success, the group promoted it relentlessly, touring constantly and doing scores of interviews. The groundwork paid off in 1996, when the group released their second album, Wither Blister Burn & Peel. The touring and promotion had built a solid, albeit small fan base which provided the launching pad for the second record's first single, "What Do I Have to Do." The single became a Buzz Clip on MTV, and by the summer, it was a modern rock radio hit that pushed the album to gold status. Stabbing Westward received further exposure that summer when they opened several dates for the reunited Sex Pistols.

Following the success of Wither Blister Burn & Peel, Stabbing Westward spent most of 1997 in seclusion, working on their third album. That record, entitiled Darkest Days, was finally released in April 1998. However, it failed to match the sales figures of its gold-certified predecessor, and Columbia dropped the band in the spring of 2000. A year later, the band inked a deal with Koch Records and issued a self-titled release. Plans for a fifth studio effort were in the works in late 2001, however things abruptly stopped when Stabbing Westward disbanded in February the following year. Material culled from those sessions were likely to turn up on solo efforts from Hall and Kubiszewski.

Wikipedia:

Stabbing Westward was an American industrial rock and alternative rock band. They formed in 1985 in Chicago, Illinois and began recording in the 1990s. The band announced a dissolution in 2002.

History

Early years (1985-1992)

Christopher Hall and Walter Flakus formed the band Stabbing Westward when they were in college. They came up with the name while working at the college radio station WIUS-FM. In a 1996 interview, Hall stated, "Since we went to Western Illinois University, Stabbing Westward had a certain 'kill everybody in the school' vibe to it! The school's way out in farm country and the country is really close minded. I was walking around like Robert Smith with real big hair, big baggy black clothes, black fingernail polish and eye makeup. They just didn't get it. We hated the town."

Moving to Chicago in 1986, the original lineup consisted of Hall on bass and lead vocals, Flakus on keyboards, and Jim Clanin on guitar (Clanin later purchased, and as of 2004, operates the Dairy Queen in Macomb, Illinois). In 1990, a four song demo tape was recorded by an early conception of Stabbing Westward. This "EP" called, "Iwo Jimma" featured an early version of "Violent Mood Swings" (titled, "Violent Mood Swing") which eventually wound up on the compilation CD, The Cyberflesh Conspiracy. Each of the three remaining demo songs were later reworked over the years ("Shame [Do You Think God Is Dead]" became "Shame", "P.O.M.F." became "The Thing I Hate", and "Plastic Jesus" became "Dawn").

Hall took a brief break to tour with Die Warzau as that group's percussionist before continuing work on Stabbing Westward. Hall and Flakus later recruited Jim Sellers on bass and Chris Vrenna (Nine Inch Nails) on drums, as Hall had met Vrenna when playing in Die Warzau. Vrenna played drums on all the demo recordings that ultimately landed Stabbing Westward their record deal with Columbia Records. Those demo recordings included Violent Mood Swings, Lies, and Nothing. They were recorded at a studio in Evanston, Illinois and included Stuart Zechman on guitar. After Vrenna returned to Nine Inch Nails, the band hired Dave Suycott who was a high school friend of Walters.

Ungod (1993-1995)

The trio added Wax Trax recording artist Stuart Zechman on guitar and David Suycott on drums. In 1993, the band recorded in Eden Studios; London, England with producer John Fryer. This resulted in their major label (Columbia Records) debut, Ungod, which hit stores in 1994. The band landed an opening slot on the Depeche Mode Exotic Tour in Summer 1994 and opened North American tour dates in Fall 1994 for Killing Joke, but Stabbing Westward album sales were still sluggish.

David Suycott abruptly dropped out of the band toward the end of the Ungod tour. Andy Kubiszewski was called in to replace Suycott's position for the remainder of the shows. This fast replacement required Kubiszewski to learn all of Suycott's parts while on his flight to meet with the band. Kubiszewski became a permanent fixture of Stabbing Westward.

Also, their song "Nothing" was featured in the "Club Hell" scene of the motion picture, "Bad Boys", as well as during the closing credits of "Johnny Mnemonic." The songs "Lies", "Lost" and "Can't Happen Here" were also all featured in the first "Mortal Kombat" movie. However, these songs weren't featured on the CD soundtrack.

Wither, Blister, Burn & Peel (1995-1997)

When Stuart Zechman departed the band after the Ungod tour, the remaining band members found themselves without one of their major songwriters. As it turned out, new drummer Andy Kubiszewski would be the band's new songwriting pot of gold. Prior to playing in Stabbing Westward, Andy had not only played drums in The The, Nine Inch Nails, and Prick, but had been the singer and songwriter in the Cleveland based Exotic Birds. Shortly after Zechmans departure Andy played the band dozens of demos and Exotic Birds recordings. Included were "What Do I Have To Do", "Haunting Me", "Sometimes It Hurts", "Crushing Me", "Slipping Away", "Desperate Now", and "Goodbye". These tracks would later find space on both the Wither and Darkest Days albums. When the band headed to Bearsville Studios in Woodstock, New York without a permanent guitar player, they decided to play all the guitar parts themselves, with Sellers and Kubiszewski taking on most of the guitar duties. The band later recruited Mark Eliopulos after the Wither, Blister, Burn & Peel recording sessions were completed to handle the live-element of the main guitar parts.

In 1996, the Wither Blister Burn & Peel LP became a success, landing them their first certified gold album, aided by the singles "Shame" and "What Do I Have to Do?" which granted the band heavy rotation on MTV, MuchMusic and radio. Tour mates for this album included Sponge, Kiss, and The Sex Pistols.

Darkest Days (1998-2000)

Stabbing Westward relocated to Los Angeles, California where they began work on the 1998 album, titled Darkest Days. Darkest Days was envisioned as a four-act story by the band (but never marketed as such). This is the only release featuring studio work by Mark Eliopulos. The first single, "Save Yourself," had success yet the album failed to sell as well as its predecessor. Stabbing Westward continued to tour with bands like Placebo, The Cult, Monster Magnet, and Depeche Mode, while playing numerous summer festivals.

The day before the band was to fly to Hawaii to record the follow-up to Darkest Days with producer Bob Rock, the band was dropped by Columbia Records.

The title "The Thing I Hate" was featured in its entirety as the opening theme to Duke Nukem: Time to Kill (also released in 1998). The song "Torn apart" was featured as a remix with Wink, on the Spawn movie soundtrack in July 1997. The song "Save Yourself" was featured in 1997's Masterminds, in the 1998 teen-slasher movie Urban Legend and in the 1998 animated movie Tekken.

Self-titled (2001-2002)

Stabbing Westward signed to Koch Records. Mark Eliopulos left, thus, yet another guitar change ensued, resulting in the recruitment of Derrek Hawkins as both a studio musician and live musician for the band. The addition of producer Ed Buller to the project led to a new, somewhat softer sound. The untitled album, Stabbing Westward, was released in 2001 and featured the hit "So Far Away".

Before a fifth LP could be recorded, Stabbing Westward formally announced that the band had broken up on February 9, 2002.

Post-breakup

Rumors of a reunion (2010)

In June 2010, a news item appeared on Tunelab.com which read as follows:

Stabbing Westward vocalist Christopher Hall and keyboardist Walter Flakus have reunited after eight years apart and are planning a late-summer or fall tour this year under their old moniker. Potential support acts are Gravity Kills and Hall’s current project The Dreaming. There are currently no plans to record a new album, but the possibility has not been ruled out for a 2011 release depending on how the two feel after touring this year.

The next day, another piece of news appeared on the same website:

As a followup to yesterday’s news post on Stabbing Westward reuniting and touring, TuneLab did speak to former keyboardist Walter Flakus, who stated had no knowledge of any reunion but wasn’t exactly adverse to the idea. We were originally told the information by the booking agency for former vocalist Christopher Hall’s current project The Dreaming. After seeking clarification from the agency, we have learned that Stabbing Westward will actually be made up of current members of The Dreaming, and vocalist Christopher Hall at some point was going to be approaching keyboardist Walter Flakus to reunite for the tour. The exact lineup of the band is up in the air, but their agency is in fact booking a tour for late-summer or fall for Stabbing Westward, The Dreaming, and potentially Gravity Kills.

Since this post, there have been no more announcements regarding a Stabbing Westward tour and it is unclear whether these two news items were merely just rumors or actual plans.

In a Radio interview on December 7, 2011, Christopher Hall along with the rest of The Dreaming, were guests on WJJO (Madison, WI) morning show. Hall stated there were absolutely no plans for a Stabbing Westward reunion, because of continued animosity between original and more recent members. Hall also hinted that neither he or Flakus, the founding members, have rights to the name Stabbing Westward anymore. Other more recent members of the band somehow through contracts and agents, had acquired the naming rights along with some of the song rights.

Members