Tourniquet

Tourniquet
Ted Kirkpatrick, the drummer and main songwriter of Tourniquet
Background information
Origin	Los Angeles, California, USA
Genres	Heavy metal Neo-classical metal Progressive metal Speed metal Thrash metal
Years active	1989 - present
Labels	Metal Blade Records, Intense Records, Benson Records
Associated acts	Trouble, Echo Hollow
Website	Official Website
Members
Ted Kirkpatrick Luke Easter Aaron Guerra
Former members
Gary Lenaire Guy Ritter Victor Macias Erik Mendez Vince Dennis Steve Andino

Tourniquet is a Christian thrash / heavy metal band that was formed in 1989, Los Angeles, California, USA. They are known to incorporate elements of thrash, neo-classical and progressive metal into their music. They have achieved 6 GMA Dove Award nominations and won multiple recognitions from the readers of HM Magazine, including "Favorite Band of the 1990s" and "Favorite Album of the 1990s" (Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance). They have released 7 studio albums, a compilation album, EP, acoustic album, 5 music VHSs and 3 music DVDs. They have sold over 300,000 albums.^[1] Tourniquet is known for its characteristic style. One of the band's trademarks is the incorporation of classical music into their guitar riffs. They are also known for the medical terminology used in their lyrics.

In the early 1990s Tourniquet stood out from other thrash groups with its drum work and two vocalists who mastered their vocal ranges outstandingly well.^[2] While Tourniquet is said to be a musically skilled group, they never became as big as the "Big Four" of thrash metal: Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax, and Megadeth.^[2] Some critics have speculated that this might possibly be due to their complex style which probably did not appeal to wider audiences. ^[2] However, Tourniquet has become so well-known that they are probably the best-known Christian metal band after Stryper.^[3]

The current members of Tourniquet are Ted Kirkpatrick (drums), Luke Easter (vocals), and Aaron Guerra (guitar, vocals). Kirkpatrick has continuously achieved top rankings when there has been voting for the best metal drummers in the world.^[4] The band's latest release, Where Moth and Rust Destroy, features special guests Marty Friedman, formerly of Megadeth, and Bruce Franklin, formerly of Trouble, on lead guitar. They are outspoken against animal abuse, appearing in many publications such as The Vegetarian Times and United Animal Nations, and Animals Agenda.

The band is named after a tourniquet which is "a surgical device for arresting hemorrhage by compression of a blood vessel." According to the band, tourniquet is a metaphor for "a lifelong spiritual process by which a personal God, through the atoning blood, death, and resurrection of His only Son—Jesus Christ—can begin to stop the flow of going through life without knowing and serving our Creator. He is our Tourniquet."^[5]

History

Classic line up (1990–1993)

	"Ark of Suffering" Sample of "Ark of Suffering" by Tourniquet, from Stop the Bleeding (1990). A video was done for the song, containing footage of animal abuse, and it received some airplay on MTV before it was banned for being too graphic.[6]
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	"A Dog's Breakfast" Sample of "A Dog's Breakfast" by Tourniquet, from Psycho Surgery (1991). Representing their more modern sounding thrash metal style, the song criticizes heretical sects and beliefs.
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	"Incommensurate" Sample of "Incommensurate" by Tourniquet, from Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance (1993). Showcasing the band at its heaviest and darkest, the song deals with the power that good has over evil.
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Tourniquet was formed in 1989 by drummer Ted Kirkpatrick, vocalist Guy Ritter, and guitarist-vocalist Gary Lenaire. The group was one of many bands who were, at the time, affiliated with a church group called Sanctuary - the rock and roll refuge in Los Angeles. Kirkpatrick had previously played in the Chicago doom metal group Trouble on their Run to the Light tour.^[4]

Tourniquet recorded its first studio album Stop the Bleeding in 1990. It was produced by Bill Metoyer of Metal Blade Records, and released by Intense Records. While it was mostly distributed to Christian bookstores, Stop the Bleeding was a notable Christian thrash metal album in its time. Tourniquet's characteristic style broke new ground and quickly gained them fans all over the world. Musically, the album showcased strong elements from 1980's speed metal with its Mercyful Fate/King Diamond influences such as the falsetto vocals. The promotional photos from their Stop the Bleeding era also show that Tourniquet had some 1980's influences on their image. In this line up, Guy Ritter sang the more melodic vocal parts while Gary Lenaire did the aggressive, thrash metal shouts. Session guitarist Mark Lewis played lead guitars on the album. The band was later rounded out by bassist Victor Macias and Erik Mendez on lead guitar. This version of the group is commonly referred to as the "classic" line up of Tourniquet.^[2] The band, including Macias and Mendez, filmed a music video for the song "Ark of Suffering". The video got limited airplay on MTV, but it was quickly pulled by the network due to violent content portraying animal abuse. Because of the song and it's subsequent video, the band became known for its stance on animal rights.

In 1991, Tourniquet abandoned most of its 1980's metal influences and recorded a more modern album titled Psycho Surgery. On the song "Spineless" the band experimented with rap rock in the vein of Anthrax and Faith No More long before the style became popular later in the 1990's.^[7] Psycho Surgery showcased Kirkpatrick's classical music influences more clearly than on 'Stop The Bleeding', and his background in the pharmaceutical industry became more apparent: many of the songs utilized medical terminology as metaphors for social/spiritual issues. Some critics described it as if "Slayer plays Beethoven in a slightly rewritten way".^[2] On 'Psycho Surgery' Tourniquet continued to work with producer Bill Metoyer, and eventually signed a distribution agreement with Metal Blade Records, which released Psycho Surgery to a far wider general market audience than the band was able to reach with Stop the Bleeding. However, Intense Records still released Psycho Surgery and distributed it to Christian retail.^[7]

In 1992, Tourniquet released a music VHS called Video Biopsy. In 1993, Tourniquet recorded what is considered their most technical and dark album, Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance.^[7] Vocalist Guy Ritter had grown increasingly dissatisfied with the band's musical direction, and didn't care for the more aggressive material the rest of the band was writing. Guy Ritter left the band during the recording of Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance due to these musical differences.^[2] Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance quickly became one of the most popular of the band's albums among Tourniquet fans, and it was voted Favourite Album of the 1990's by the readers of HM Magazine. As with the previous album, Metal Blade Records released Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance to the general market and Intense Records released it to the Christian market. Luke Easter, who had formerly sung in a more pop rock oriented group, replaced Ritter, joining Tourniquet for the Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance tour. Prior to this Tourniquet was scheduled to play the Milwaukee Metalfest in 1993, but professed satanist Glen Benton of Deicide, the festival headliner, refused to play with a Christian band. The festival was forced to cancel Tourniquet's performance.^[3][4] This brought more publicity and notoriety to Tourniquet.^[4] During the same year, Intense Records released a live album called Intense Live Series, Vol. 2, which includes Tourniquet's cover of Trouble's song "The Tempter". This EP was recorded between the time of Ritter's departure and Luke Easter joining the band, and so the melodic vocals were handled by Bloodgood vocalist, Les Carlsen.

Heavy metal / hard rock era (1994–1999)

In 1994, Tourniquet abandoned most of the medical terminology in their lyrics, altered their style to a more accessible heavy metal / hard rock sound and soon recorded Vanishing Lessons. At the end of the tour for Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance Erik Mendez left the band, and so this album was recorded by Tourniquet as a four-piece band. Soon after the album's completion, Aaron Guerra joined Tourniquet as Mendez's replacement. Metal Blade Records opted to not distribute Vanishing Lessons, and so Tourniquet continued to work only with Intense Records until 1997. The single "Twilight" became a hit on some mainstream radio stations.^[7] A music video was made for the song "Bearing Gruesome Cargo", and was later released on a home video release titled Pushin' Broom (1995).

After the release of Vanishing Lessons, the band recorded an EP titled Carry the Wounded in 1995. Many older Tourniquet fans had mixed feelings toward the EP's softer sound and the inclusion of a ballad.^[4] Later the band released a compilation album called The Collected Works of Tourniquet for which Tourniquet recorded the new songs "The Hand Trembler" and "Perfect Night for a Hanging". Many fans regard these as the heaviest songs Tourniquet has ever written.^[4]

In 1996, Gary Lenaire left Tourniquet to form a hard rock band called Echo Hollow. While the new songs on The Collected Works of Tourniquet had been Tourniquet's heaviest, the band recorded its lightest album in 1997 called Crawl to China. The album was released by Benson Records. Crawl to China divided opinions of both critics and fans with its diverse, experimental material.

Ted Kirkpatrick is known for his drum solos, and he performs them in nearly every Tourniquet concert. Many of these performances have been filmed, and in 1997 these clips were compiled on a drumming VHS titled The Unreleased Drum Solos of Ted Kirkpatrick.

In 1998 the band recorded a number of songs in acoustic form, and released them on an album titled Acoustic Archives, along with one new completely metal song. This is the only Tourniquet release featuring bassist Vince Dennis. During the same year, Tourniquet released two home videos titled Guitar Instructional Video and Tourniquet Live in California.

Return to thrash metal (2000–)

In 2000, Tourniquet began writing thrash metal oriented songs again. They informed Metal Blade Rocords about it and were signed to the label again.^[7] They soon recorded their most technical album since Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance, Microscopic View of a Telescopic Realm. The aforementioned albums were compared to each other - although the new material lacked the dark atmosphere - and Microscopic View of a Telescopic Realm even contained a sequel to the 1992 album titled "The Skeezix Dilemma Part II - The Improbable Testimony of the Pipsisewah". The album received rave reviews among critics.^[7]

During 2001, Tourniquet reissued its first three albums, remastered and with bonus tracks, on Pathogenic Records. In 2002, bassist Steve Andino - after filling in live for the band on many occasions - became an official member of Tourniquet. The band played various live venues until Aaron Guerra left the band due to personal reasons.^[7]

In the year 2003, Ted Kirkpatrick, Luke Easter and Steve Andino recorded Tourniquet's eleventh studio album titled Where Moth and Rust Destroy with the help of guitarists Marty Friedman (ex-Megadeth) and Bruce Franklin (Trouble). This release continues the technical and progressive direction of their previous album. The songs "Restoring the Locust Years" and "A Ghost at the Wheel" received some radioplay. During the same year, Tourniquet released two music DVDs. The first, Ocular Digital, includes a live show from their 2001 performance at a Dutch festival called Flevo and a concert from 1991 in Escondido, California - the first Tourniquet concert ever. The second DVD release was titled Circadian Rhythms – The Drumming World of Ted Kirkpatrick and included many newly-recorded drum solos as well as a digitalized version of The Unreleased Drum Solos of Ted Kirkpatrick and more personal segments in which Ted, at his home and around town, answers questions from fans and even takes the viewer on a partial tour of his vast collection of butterflies and insects.

Aaron Guerra returned to Tourniquet in 2005, and they began to appear sporadically at concert events both in the U.S. and abroad. Notable shows include the Elements of Rock festival in Switzerland and Bobfest in Sweden (the latter of which was filmed and released in 2006 as the band's third DVD release, entitled "Till Sverige Med Kärlek" (Swedish for "To Sweden With Love")).

Music

Tourniquet's early albums are technical thrash metal and are characterized by dark atmosphere.^[2] The song writing is technically precise, as the drummer Kirkpatrick is known to play the guitar parts himself when he thinks that the other members' playing isn't precise enough.^[2] Kirkpatrick's drumming incorporates polyrhythms and peculiar, technical patterns. Many Tourniquet songs are said to include more guitar riffs than most bands write in their entire career. While the first album was more 1980s speed metal, the band began incorporating classical music in their guitar riffs, most notably on the albums Psycho Surgery and Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance. This was due to the main songwriter Kirkpatrick, who cites Beethoven, Bach, and other classical composers as some of his influences. While there are some progressive elements on Pathogenic, such as on "The Skeezix Dilemma", their latter releases Microscopic View of a Telescopic Realm and Where Moth and Rust Destroy have more progressive metal influences. Originally, Guy Ritter sang the more melodic vocals while Gary Lenaire did the aggressive thrash metal shouts.^[2] The hard rock era Tourniquet material is characterized by a more laid back atmosphere, especially on Vanishing Lessons.

Tourniquet's lyrical influences span a wide range; everything from Old Testament narrative to medical allegories to Edgar Allan Poe type descriptive horror. Apart from Tourniquet's hard rock era, The drummer Ted Kirkpatrick has written lyrics that incorporated medical terminology. Tourniquet has also dealt with some unique social issues as well. "Ark of Suffering", from their very first release, Stop the Bleeding created a lot of attention by addressing the biblical perspective against animal abuse. "Ruminating Virulence" (from Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance) offers hope to the severely disabled. "Twilight" (from Vanishing Lessons) addresses the neglect of the elderly. Most notably, all issues are balanced with the biblical perspective.

Accomplishments

Due to the band's worldwide popularity, Tourniquet has performed in the US, Canada, Norway, Sweden, Holland, Denmark, Germany, Brazil and Puerto Rico. Some of their music has received notice in the media. The music video for "Ark of Suffering" received airplay on MTV and gained notice for its stance on animal abuse. Tourniquet kept bringing this stance to the public and has later been interviewed about it in magazines like Vegetarian Times, Journal of the United Animal Nations, Animal’s Agenda, PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) and many others in connection with animal protection activities. Tourniquet is known to be musically talented as some critics describe them as better than most of their counterparts^[2], and the band members have appeared in many music magazines. For example, Kirkpatrick has been featured on Modern Drummer, Drums, and Aaron Guerra has been interviewed in Guitar World and Guitar for the Practicing Musician.

Awards and nominations

Tourniquet has been the recipient of a number of awards.

• 2003, 1999, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 91, 90 - HM Magazine's Favorite Drummer of the Year (Ted Kirkpatrick)
• 2003 - HM Magazine's Favorite Lyricist of the Year (Ted Kirkpatrick)
• HM Magazine's Favorite Band of the 90's
• HM Magazine's Favorite Album of the 90's (Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance)
• 1999 - HM Magazine's Favorite Band of the Year
• 1999 - HM Magazine's Favorite Song of the Year ("Trivializing the Momentous...")
• 1999 - HM Magazine's Favorite Lyricist of the Year (Ted Kirkpatrick)
• 1995 - GMA Dove Award nomination for Metal Album of the Year for Vanishing Lessons
• 1995 - GMA Dove Award nomination for Metal Recorded Song of the Year for "Bearing Gruesome Cargo"
• 1997- 95,92, 91, 90 - HM Magazine’s Favorite Band/Thrash Band/New Band of the Year
• 1994 - HM Magazine’s Favorite Lyricist of the Year (Ted Kirkpatrick)
• 1994 - HM Magazine’s Favorite Album of the Year for Vanishing Lessons
• 1992 - GMA Dove Award nomination for Metal Album of the Year for Psycho Surgery
• 1992 - GMA Dove Award nomination for Metal Recorded Song of the Year for "Psycho Surgery"
• 1992 - HM Magazine’s Favorite Video of the Year for "Ark of Suffering"
• 1991 - GMA Dove Award nomination for Metal Recorded Song of the Year for "You Get What You Pray For"
• 1991 - GMA Dove Award nomination for Metal Album of the Year for Stop the Bleeding
• 1991 - Christian News Forum Contemporary Christian Music Award for Rock Video of the Year "Ark of Suffering"
• 1991 - HM Magazine’s Favorite Album of the Year for Psycho Surgery
• 1991 - HM Magazine’s Favorite Album of the Year for Stop the Bleeding

Number one songs

The following songs have reached #1 in various sales and airplay charts:

• "Microscopic View" - Microscopic View
• "Crawl to China" - Crawl To China
• "Carry the Wounded" - Carry the Wounded
• "Heads I Win, Tails You Lose" - Carry the Wounded (CCM Rock Chart)
• "Vanishing Lessons" - Vanishing Lessons
• "Twilight" - Vanishing Lessons (CCM Rock Chart)
• "Acidhead" - Vanishing Lessons
• "Bearing Gruesome Cargo" - Vanishing Lessons
• "Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance" - Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance
• "Phantom Limb" - Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance
• "The Skeezix Dilemma" - Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance
• "Psycho Surgery" - Psycho Surgery
• "Spineless" - Psycho Surgery
• "Viento Borrascoso" - Psycho Surgery
• "Ark of Suffering" - Stop the Bleeding
• "You Get What You Pray For" - Stop the Bleeding
• "Somnambulism" - Stop the Bleeding

Discography

Albums

• Stop the Bleeding (1990)
• Psycho Surgery (1991) (2001 rerelease titled Psychosurgery)
• Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance (1992)
• Intense Live Series, Vol. 2 (1993) (also known as Recorded Live, Vol. 2)
• Vanishing Lessons (1994)
• Carry the Wounded (1995)
• The Collected Works of Tourniquet (1996)
• Crawl to China (1997)
• Acoustic Archives (1998)
• Microscopic View of a Telescopic Realm (2000)
• Where Moth and Rust Destroy (2003)

Videos

• Ark of Suffering (1991) - Music Video
• Video Biopsy (1992) - VHS
• Pushin' Broom Video (1995) - VHS
• The Unreleased Drum Solos of Ted Kirkpatrick (1997) - VHS
• Guitar Instructional Video (1998) - VHS
• Tourniquet Live in California (1998) - VHS
• Video Biopsy (re-release) (2000) - VHS
• Circadian Rhythms - The Drumming World of Ted Kirkpatrick (2003) - DVD
• Ocular Digital (2003) - DVD
• Till Sverige Med Kärlek (To Sweden With Love) (2006) - DVD

See also

• Echo Hollow
• Christian metal
• List of rock instrumentals
• Instrumental rock

References

External links

• Official Tourniquet Website
• Official Tourniquet Discussion Zone
• Tourniquet at MySpace
• Tourniquet discography at MusicBrainz
• Tourniquet at Firestream.net
• Tourniquet at Metal Archives