Spineshank

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Spineshank is an American Grammy-nominated nu metal^[1] band.

History

Formed in February 1996, Spineshank was assembled from the remains of a previous musical endeavor called "Basic Enigma". That band included future Spineshank members in vocalist Jonny Santos, guitarist Mike Sarkisyan and drummer Tom Decker. Upon hearing Fear Factory's 1995 release Demanufacture, a new bassist in Robert Garcia was recruited, and with a refined musical style, Spineshank was formed.

The band soon befriended Fear Factory guitarist Dino Cazares. After hearing their demo tape he offered to have them open a show for Fear Factory at a concert held at the Whiskey A-Go-Go in Los Angeles. This led to other coveted opening slots, with such popular acts as Coal Chamber, Snot, Soulfly, Sepultura and Danzig. As a result of these shows, Spineshank gathered interest from several record labels. Eventually, the band signed with Roadrunner Records, and released their debut album Strictly Diesel on September 22, 1998. Fear Factory vocalist Burton C. Bell provides vocals on the track "Stain". Spineshank joined Fear Factory and Kilgore on a European tour that year.

Spineshank's second album The Height of Callousness was released on October 10, 2000. Unlike their debut album, The Height of Callousness has a strong industrial metal influence. The band was featured at Ozzfest 2001, and toured with such artists as Disturbed, Hed PE, Orgy and Mudvayne in support of the album's release. The songs "Synthetic" and "New Disease" were released as singles.

The band's third album Self-Destructive Pattern was released on September 9, 2003. The album's lead single "Smothered" was nominated for a Grammy in the category of Best Metal Performance (2004). Shortly after the album was released the band went on a European tour with Ill Nino and Chimaira. A show in Holland was filmed on October 6, and was to become a DVD entitled Roadrage. However, it was never released. Since the departure of Santos the band released a greatest hits CD, Released on January 29, 2008.

Departure of Santos

In January 2004, it was reported that Santos had officially left Spineshank. Drummer Tommy Decker stated that the split was "amicable" and was mainly due to "musical differences".^[2] A day after the news was reported, Decker vowed that the band would continue, and stated that the musical differences were due to the fact the rest of the band wanted to play heavier music than Santos.^[3]

On January 17, 2004, Spineshank launched a search for a new vocalist^[4], and on November 7, 2005, Spineshank's official website announced that they would be working with Brandon Espinoza. They also stated that they had already been working together for five months at the time, and had produced five songs. At the time, the band did not intend to continue to use the name Spineshank.

On July 7, 2006, Espinoza posted an update on the band's message board, and stated that they were still in the process of writing material. Then, February 7, 2008, after almost two years of silence about the band, Espinoza announced that the band had broken up due to the lack of chemistry between its members.^[5] Later on, in February 2008, the band (excluding Espinoza) announced open tryouts for a new unnamed project.^[6]

Santos after Spineshank

See also: Silent Civilian

On January 14, 2004, Santos reiterated that he left Spineshank due to musical differences, and that he was in the studio tracking demos for a new unnamed project.^[7] In April of that year, the project had been named Temper, and two demo tracks titled "Erase" and "Energy" were made available for download.^[8] After the quick demise of Temper, Santos put out an advertisement in late November seeking musicians for a new project.^[9]

In January 2005, it was announced that Santos' new project dubbed was "Silent Civilians," and had signed a record deal with Corporate Punishment Records.^[10] In November, it was reported that Santos had changed the name of his new band from Silent Civilians to Silent Civilian. It was also reported that the band had parted ways with Corporate Punishment, and signed a new deal with Mediaskare Records for their debut album.^[11] On May 2, 2006, Silent Civilian released their debut album titled Rebirth of the Temple.

Jonny Santos Returns & New Material

In 2008, Spineshank reunited with Santos, and in August of that year recorded a demo. In September they announced that they had started writing material for an upcoming album. According to Sarkisyan, "The record is definitely shaping up, and trust me when I say that this is going to be by far the best Spineshank record yet. All of us are firing on all cylinders and we're super-excited about this record." The band is working during the mixing process with Jay Baumgardner, who co-produced Strictly Diesel and mixed the Self-Destructive Pattern. Regarding Jay, Decker said, "[Jay] is an awesome mixer and a part of the family, so we are excited to have him back in the fold again."

They posted a demo version of "Born Conform Repent", one of five songs completed, on their MySpace page.^[12] Other new songtitles include "I Am Damage", "Anger Denial Acceptance" and "The Reckoning". By, December, they said they had recorded ten songs, but that these recordings would not be the final masters.

About their current musical direction, Tommy said, "First of all, you don't have to worry about us abandoning our sound; there will be plenty of electronics/loops/synths on this record. Jonny is also singing better than he ever has, so there will be a ton of singing and melody as well. This will definitely be heavier than our previous albums but it will not be all bashing. I can wholeheartedly promise you that we will not be trying to be anything we are not. This is simply going to be Spineshank five years later. There will be a few new elements but it will be undeniably us (for better or worse!!!). . . Jonny will also be playing some guitar in Spineshank from now on. It will give Mike a little bit freedom in a live setting and add a bit more balls to the live show." So far, the new songs have shown a significant evolution in the band's music, shifting from the nu-metal label to a music that mixes Alternative Metal with elements of Metalcore and Electronica.

The band has also been confirmed to tour with Disturbed as part of the Music as a Weapon tour in 2009. Recently, the band has finished playing a select amount of headlining dates, and comfirms on their MySpace page that they are returning to the studio to record new material for release sometime in the near future.^[12]

Members

Current

• Jonny Santos – vocals (1996-2004),(2008-Present)
• Mike Sarkisyan – guitar (1996-Present)
• Robert Garcia – bass (1997-Present)
• Tom Decker – drums (1996-Present)

Discography

References

External links

• Spineshank at MySpace
• Spineshank at Allmusic