{"id":2138,"date":"2015-04-04T16:16:04","date_gmt":"2015-04-04T21:16:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/?p=2138"},"modified":"2015-06-10T14:58:36","modified_gmt":"2015-06-10T19:58:36","slug":"chicago-artist-stabbing-westward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/?p=2138","title":{"rendered":"Chicago Artist : Stabbing Westward"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stabbing Westward<\/b>\u00a0was an American\u00a0industrial rock<\/a>\u00a0band. They formed in 1985 in\u00a0Macomb, Illinois<\/a>\u00a0and began recording in the 1990s. The band announced a dissolution in 2002.<\/p>\n

Regarding the band’s name, Andy Kubiszewski said: “essentially when Chris and Walter were putting the band together, they had a gig and there was a deadline for a name for the band, so they pulled out a bunch of album covers and they pulled out a record cover and it had an excerpt from, I believe it was an Eisenhower speech, where he was talking about communism coming to the west and he used the phrase “stabbing westward,” and they went oh well, “Stabbing Westward”, that will work.”[1]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

In truth, the phrase was used in a 1947 newsreel and spoken by an unknown announcer. The newsreel is included as part of the 1982 documentary film\u00a0The Atomic Cafe<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0WIUS-FM<\/a>. In a 1996 interview, Hall stated, “Since we went to\u00a0Western Illinois University<\/a>, 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\u00a0Robert Smith<\/a>\u00a0with real big hair, big baggy black clothes, black fingernail polish and eye makeup. They just didn’t get it. We hated the town.”[2]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

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 2013, operates the\u00a0Dairy Queen<\/a>\u00a0in\u00a0Macomb, Illinois<\/a>). 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,\u00a0The Cyberflesh Conspiracy<\/i>. 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”). Original version of Shame was written before Stabbing Westward got signed toColumbia Records<\/a>. It had different lyrics and it was about God, religion, and war.<\/p>\n

Hall took a brief break to tour with\u00a0Die Warzau<\/a>\u00a0as that group’s percussionist before continuing work on Stabbing Westward. Hall and Flakus later recruited Jim Sellers on bass and\u00a0Chris Vrenna<\/a>\u00a0(Nine Inch Nails<\/a>) 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\u00a0Evanston, Illinois<\/a>\u00a0and included Stuart Zechman on guitar. After Vrenna returned to Nine Inch Nails, the band hired Dave Suycott who was a high school friend of Flakus.<\/p>\n

The trio added\u00a0Wax Trax<\/a>\u00a0recording artist Stuart Zechman on guitar and David Suycott (Spies Who Surf<\/a>\u00a0Machines of Loving Grace<\/a>) on drums. In 1993, the band recorded in\u00a0Eden Studios<\/a>;\u00a0London, England<\/a>\u00a0with producer John Fryer. This resulted in their major label (Columbia Records<\/a>) debut,\u00a0Ungod<\/a><\/i>, which hit stores in 1994. The band landed an opening slot on the\u00a0Depeche Mode<\/a>\u00a0Exotic Tour<\/a>\u00a0in Summer 1994 and opened North American tour dates in Fall 1994 for\u00a0Killing Joke<\/a>, but Stabbing Westward album sales were still sluggish.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Also, their song “Nothing” was featured in the “Club Hell” scene of the motion picture,\u00a0Bad Boys<\/a>, as well as during the closing credits of\u00a0Johnny Mnemonic<\/a>. The songs “Lies”, “Lost” and “Can’t Happen Here” were also all featured in the first\u00a0Mortal Kombat<\/a>\u00a0movie. However, these songs weren’t featured on the CD soundtrack.<\/p>\n

When Stuart Zechman departed the band after the Ungod tour due to personal differences,[1]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0the remaining band members found themselves without one of their major songwriters. New drummer Andy Kubiszewski took over some songwriting duties afterward. Prior to playing in Stabbing Westward, Andy had not only played drums in\u00a0The The<\/a>, recorded one song for\u00a0Nine Inch Nails<\/a>, and played in\u00a0Prick<\/a>, but had been the singer and songwriter in the Cleveland based\u00a0Exotic Birds<\/a>. 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\u00a0Wither<\/i>\u00a0and\u00a0Darkest Days<\/i>albums. When the band headed to Bearsville Studios in\u00a0Woodstock, New York<\/a>\u00a0without 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\u00a0Wither, Blister, Burn & Peel<\/i>recording sessions were completed to handle the live-element of the main guitar parts.<\/p>\n

“Sometimes It Hurts” music video was supposed to be\u00a0Wizard of Oz<\/a>\u00a0themed video, but the label feared they would be sued so they took out most references.<\/p>\n

In 1996, the\u00a0Wither Blister Burn & Peel<\/a><\/i>\u00a0LP became a success, landing them their first\u00a0certified gold<\/a>\u00a0album, aided by the singles “Shame” and “What Do I Have to Do?” which granted the band heavy rotation on\u00a0MTV<\/a>,\u00a0MuchMusic<\/a>\u00a0and radio. Tour mates for this album included\u00a0Sponge<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Stabbing Westward relocated to\u00a0Los Angeles, California<\/a>\u00a0where they began work on the 1998 album, titled\u00a0Darkest Days<\/a><\/i>. 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\u00a0Placebo<\/a>,\u00a0The Cult<\/a>,\u00a0Monster Magnet<\/a>, and\u00a0Depeche Mode<\/a>, while playing numerous summer festivals.<\/p>\n

The day before the band was to fly to\u00a0Hawaii<\/a>\u00a0to record the follow-up to Darkest Days with producer\u00a0Bob Rock<\/a>, the band was dropped by Columbia Records.<\/p>\n

The song “The Thing I Hate” was featured as the opening theme song to the game\u00a0Duke Nukem: Time to Kill<\/a><\/i>, which was 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 “What Do I Have to Do” was featured in 1997’s\u00a0Masterminds<\/a><\/i>. The song “Save Yourself” was featured in the 1998 films\u00a0Urban Legend<\/a><\/i>\u00a0and\u00a0Tekken<\/a><\/i>\u00a0in addition to the\u00a0True Blood<\/a><\/i>\u00a0season five finale of the same name<\/a>. The song “Haunting Me” was featured in the opening scenes of the teen horror flick\u00a0The Faculty<\/a><\/i>.<\/p>\n

When signed to\u00a0Koch Records<\/a>, the band got new manager that wanted to turn the band into pop band. Christopher Hall, Walter Flakus and Mark Eliopulos were fighting against that decision. The manager fired Mark Eliopulos by pulling strings within the band and brought Derrek Hawkins as both a studio musician and live musician for the band, and a new producer,\u00a0Ed Buller<\/a>[3]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

The demo of self-titled album was darker. Old guitar parts from demos were muted and the new guitarist wrote new guitar parts that were more pop influenced.[3]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

The self-titled album,\u00a0Stabbing Westward<\/a><\/i>, was released in 2001 and featured the hit “So Far Away”. The album did well in Australia, but ultimately failed to sell worldwide.[3]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Their manager hired out 2 members from Stabbing Westward to another band. After that band the did not renew their record deal. Before a fifth LP could be recorded, Stabbing Westward formally announced on February 9, 2002 that they had broken up.<\/p>\n

Christopher Hall, Walter Flakus, and Johnny Haro reunited at one of The Dreaming’s shows in Las Vegas on November 15, 2013.[8]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0Flakus would later join The Dreaming on a permanent basis. The band The Dreaming announced a North American tour in early 2015, featuring original Stabbing Westward founders Christopher Hall and Walter Flakus.<\/p>\n

(source wikipedia)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stabbing Westward\u00a0was an American\u00a0industrial rock\u00a0band. They formed in 1985 in\u00a0Macomb, Illinois\u00a0and began recording in the 1990s. The band announced a dissolution in 2002. Regarding the band’s name, Andy Kubiszewski said: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2139,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-loop"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2138\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/beintheloopchicago.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}