Taintstick

Taintstick is a satirical American hard rock band, signed to Suburban Noize Records ^[1]. Their debut album released on October 27, 2009.

History

Taintstick (formerly known as "Tony Hawk's Taintstick") was formed in 2007 by skateboarder and radio personality Jason "The Future" Ellis, along with Michael "Cowfucker" Tully, and Christian "Shoebox" Hand. In 2008, Josh "Raw Dog" Richmond would join the group as a bassist, though his musical contributions are unclear. In September 2009, Benji Madden, of Good Charlotte fame, joined as an actual bass player for the band, since Raw Dog does not know how to play the bass guitar. Raw Dog has since been assigned the cowbell and triangle.

Taintstick's music is regularly featured on SIRIUS XM radio's Faction (Sirius XM) channel, which has also broadcast extended programs featuring interviews with band members, and behind-the-scenes looks at the making of their album.^[2]

Controversy

The band has declared a challenge to country singer, Tim McGraw. Whoever sells fewer albums on their release date will have to retire forever from music. Ironically, the band did not realize that McGraw's album does not have the same release date as Six Pounds of Sound, October 27. This only adds to the humor of this challenge against a popular country singer.

"Look, McGraw – you've had a good run. 40 million sold and eleven consecutive number one albums. You've even got a famous wife chick, so we got nothing but love for you. Cowfucker's Mom even went to one of your concerts one time and said you put on a good show, but enough’s enough. Taintstick is here to hunt big game, and you're directly in the bullseye," said the band in a statement. "So let's do this; 'Southern Voice' vs 'Six Pounds of Sound' winner take all. Whomever sells more gets the glory, while the loser goes home forever. You in?" ^[3]

Tim McGraw's camp has yet to respond publicly.

Live performances

To date, the band has played two live shows. In October 2009, Taintstick performed with new member, bass guitarist Benji Madden from Good Charlotte at the club Wasted Space, in the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas. RawDog was on stage playing the cowbell app on his iPhone after losing his bass player spot to Madden.^[4] When playing in October 2009, Blasko (Rob Nicholson (musician)), bassist for Ozzy Osbourne jumped on stage and played bass for Tainstick's tribute to "Crazy Train".

The second show was announced for December 30, 2009 at the Roxy Theatre in West Hollywood, California. Taintstick played before headliner and Subnoize labelmates Unwritten Law.^[5] Lead singer and founder, Jason Ellis, said on his live EllisMania.com show that the record label owner said "He thinks Taintstick could be something big and he's never seen a band win the crown over like that in the 15 years he's been involved in the music business and that if I wanted to take it serious that we could really make a go of it, so maybe I will." ^[6]

Music videos

Released on October 20, 2008, the video for their debut single "Apple Juice", featuring celebrities Tony Hawk, Rob Dyrdek, Amber Smith, Heidi Cortez, Angie Savage, Mayhem Miller, Ryo Chonan, King Mo, has over 155,000 views on Youtube.^[7]

The band has finished shooting the video for their second single "Monkeys Of War." It was reported during a segment on "The Jason Ellis Show" by Tully that the video will be released closer to the release of their debut album.^[8] The video was eventually included with their debut album, Six Pounds of Sound, as part of a DVD bonus disk and can now be found on YouTube and EllisMania

Discography

Albums

Awards and achievements

Gibson Guitars selected Taintstick as one of "Today's Five Worst Band Names." ^[9]

Members

Current ^[10]

• Jason Ellis — Vocals
• Christian Hand — Drums, Production
• Michael Tully — Guitar
• Benji Madden — Bass Guitar
• Josh Richmond — Cowbell, Triangle

References