stir

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Stir
Stir (original lineup)
Background information
Origin	Saint Louis, Missouri
Genre(s)	Alternative, Rock
Years active	1994—2005
Label(s)	Capitol
Members
Andy Schmidt Kevin Gagnepain Thom Donovan John Pessoni
Former members
Brad Booker

Stir is a St. Louis, Missouri musical group.

History

Formation and major label signing

Stir was founded in 1994 as a three piece band at the University of Missouri, and consisted of lead vocalist and guitarist Andy Schmidt, bassist Kevin Gagnepain, and drummer Brad Booker. Schmidt, Gagnepain and Booker had been in another band previous to Stir named "The Choice" and decided to form the band when the previous project ended.

The band released a self-produced, independent LP titled "Until Now" in 1995 under its own label, Stir Music. Later that year, the band played at the South by Southwest festival. The band signed with the indie label Aware Records following the performance, subsequently releasing their eponymous debut album, "Stir" in 1996. This record included much of the material from the independent release. Later signed up by major label Capitol Records, the self-titled "Stir" was re-released to wider distribution.

Under the Capitol imprint they also released their second record "Holy Dogs" in 2000 and were praised^[1] by radio program directors as the "new golden boys."

Commercial efforts and successes

The band found some radio success in the alternative rock genre. The highest charting single was "Looking For", from the eponymous debut, which peaked at number 8 in 1997 on the Billboard mainstream rock chart. However, the follow-up single, "One Angel" was said to be their breakthrough song, but failed to significantly chart during its release. The two singles from Holy Dogs, "New Beginning" and "Climbing The Walls", also saw some success on the Billboard charts in 2000, but were ill-supported by Capitol. While on tour with Train, five songs from the band's set, including "Superstation", were broadcast live on the Westwood One radio network. During this time the band also made two appearances on the nationally syndicated radio show, Rockline, on May 12th, 1997 and March 13th, 2000. During support of Holy Dogs they made an appearance on then-popular VH1 show The List, performing "New Beginning" as well as a cover of the Nirvana single "In Bloom" live in the studio. Rumors and talks of a late night TV performance never blossomed, although the band has stated they were close to appearing on The Late Show with David Letterman.

Even with all of this self promotion, and the semi-success of the singles, Holy Dogs failed to make a dent in the industry, selling roughly 45,000 copies by the end of the album cycle.

In late 2001/early 2002, Andy and Kevin entered a new song of theirs into the International Songwriting Competition ^[2], an annual contest typically receiving 15,000+ entries from bands and artists around the globe, featuring industry judges such as Rob Thomas of matchbox twenty, Arif Mardin, and many others. Their song, "Skeletons" won the grand prize out of all entries.

This song, plus others such as "Hold On" and "What You Do", were slated for release on the band's forthcoming album, which Capitol Records had scheduled for release on April 22, 2003.

Changes and setbacks

Following the tour in support of "Holy Dogs", founding member and drummer Brad Booker left the band to pursue a solo career, arranging compositions for some Volkswagen and NCAA ads, as well as joining up briefly with Gravity Kills and then Apartment 26 (see notes below). In addition to his replacement on drums, a second guitarist was added to the band. At a concert in St. Louis on July 5th, 2002, the newly reformed Stir appeared for the first time as a four piece, now including:

• Thom Donovan, guitarist (Lapush; formerly of Flynova)
• John Pessoni, drummer (formerly of The Urge)

Stir debuted several new songs, including "Not the Only One", "First Time", and "Hold On." They also performed a cover of Guns N' Roses "Sweet Child o' Mine", as well as the fan-favorite cover of Ozzy Osbourne's "Crazy Train," which has been previously recorded for the Westwood One In Concert program. All of the original songs, also possibly including a studio cover of The Who's "Baba O'Riley", were set to be released on the group's third major-label disc on April 22, 2003. However, weeks before the scheduled release date, the album was shelved indefinitely due to a shift in the labels ownership and management.

Attributed to this change, a falling out occurred with Capitol Records, as everyone who was behind the band had either left or been fired by Capitol, leaving the group in limbo and the album of new material without official release. The band was eventually dropped by Capitol after extended talks, but the label retained the rights to the unreleased material as well as the previous albums (both of which are now out of print, but were made available on iTunes in 2007). As posted to the band's message board, bassist Kevin Gagnepain refers to the unreleased CD by the title, "Untitled, Unmastered, and Unemployed". Since then, much of the material has been released to the internet by the band and is also available at an unofficial site with a large amount of compiled live and unreleased material.[1]

The End of Stir

The band unofficially broke up in 2005, shortly after Andy and Kevin played an acoustic concert on 11/26 at The Pageant in St. Louis, in support of a local musicians showcase. Gagnepain has stated on numerous occasions that the band is not indefinitely finished. However, there is some rumor circulating within fan circles that Schmidt has confirmed that the likelihood of any type of Stir reunion or concert is 'very slim' and 'probably won't happen.'

During the 'extended' hiatus as Stir, several members have established themselves in new musical efforts as solo artists or with new bands during the lull:

• Brad Booker, after spending time in the groups Gravity Kills and Apartment 26, currently writes solo music and has racked up credits as producer, mixer, and co-writer with acts such as Piper and Bloom, J. Relic [2], Mic Averich [3], and Apryl Lauren. He is also involved in the cover band, Wyld Stallyns. In addition, he has played drums on Chloe Day's Trip-Hop hit "Kingpin" [4].

• Founding member and bassist Kevin Gagnepain currently plays with Tobi Kai & the Strays as well as in the tongue-in-cheek cover band Joe Dirt and the Dirty Boys Band (using the stage moniker "Jethro Dirt").

• Thom Donovan has founded the band Lapush, handling vocals and guitar. The band was signed to Carson Daly's co-owned label, FourFiveSix Entertainment in 2005, and has appeared on Last Call with Carson Daly on NBC (Dec. 2, 2005). Their debut album, "Someplace Closer To Here", was released on June 5, 2005. The album went to #15 on the Alternative/Specialty Chart^[3] and featured the singles, "Quit You Now" and "Aurora". "Aurora" was also featured in the television show, "Moonlight" on CBS. The band released their second album, "Modern Blues", in 2007. Songs from this release have appeared in several television shows on MTV, including "The Hill's", "College Life" and "16 And Pregnant".^[4] Donovan has also been spending time in Nashville writing with up and coming artist Meghan Kabir as well as Kyle Cook from Matchbox Twenty.^[5]

• John Pessoni is still active in the St. Louis music scene as part of Joe Dirt and the Dirty Boys Band (using the stage moniker "Johnny Dirt"), as well as with the occasionally-reuniting band The Urge

Kevin and John are involved in a Pink Floyd tribute show entitled "Wish You Were Here" and perform under the name El Monstero Y Los Masked Avengers. They usually schedule 2 to 4 shows, and they typically take place at The Pageant in St. Louis during the week leading up to Christmas. Four shows are scheduled this year, taking place the weekend before and weekend after Christmas. Through 2005, Schmidt participated in this as well, but he has not be involved for the last two years.

Typically, details of the whereabouts and on-goings of founder and frontman Andy Schmidt are more elusive from the online community than the rest of the band. Rumor has it that he is contracted by a well-known entertainment company, chiefly in a song writing capacity. He lives in the Los Angeles, California area. He does occasionally surface for solo performances as well, but his location makes it difficult for extended prep needed for any type of Stir concert.

Discography

Albums

• Fall, 1993, Forty Lashes Music (independent release as four-piece band "The Choice")
• ...Until Now, 1995, Stir Music (independent release as three-piece band "Stir")
• STIR, 1996, Aware Records, re-released on Capitol Records
• Holy Dogs, 2000, Capitol Records
• Untitled, Unmastered, and Unemployed, 2003, (unreleased)

Charting Singles

Trivia

• Andy Schmidt penned a song with John Mayer that was set to be used on Stir's unreleased album. A rough demo was reportedly cut, with Mayer on backing vocals and guitar, but the song never materialized past that point and was not included in the studio sessions for the album.
• Andy and Kevin are hockey fans, fans of the St. Louis Blues in particular.
• Before STIR was signed, Andy used to teach private guitar lessons around the St. Louis area.
• Their final show was actually a short acoustic set performed by Andy and Kevin, opening for some local St. Louis bands, in November 2005.
• The original members actually met in high school in St. Charles, MO. Not until college did they form the early beginnings of STIR.
• In 2000, STIR contributed a live version of their song "Climbing The Walls" to the charity album Live in the X Lounge III.
• Stir has toured nationally and internationally with many bands, including Creed, Collective Soul, 3 Doors Down, Tonic, and Train.

References

1. ^ CMJ Review
2. ^ International Songwriting Competition - Winners
3. ^ FMQB
4. ^ MTV.com
5. ^ thomdonovan.com
6. ^ Billboard Singles. Allmusic.com.

External links

• Stirmusic.net
• WetPaint wiki site - exchange messages, links to music
• MP3.com
• Chart History
• ISC Official 2002 Winners Website
• Stir concert review
• older fan site
• Joe Dirt and the Dirty Boys Band Website
• Tobi Kai & the Strays Band Website
• Bookermusic & Brad Booker Official Website
• LaPush Band Website
• Take 5 interview with LaPush