Stabbing Westward

Stabbing Westward was an American industrial rock band. They formed in 1986^[1] in Macomb, Illinois, but did not release their first studio album until eight years later. The band released three more studio albums in 1996, 1998, and 2001, respectively, before announcing a dissolution on February 9, 2002. Stabbing Westward briefly reunited in 2016 to celebrate their 30th anniversary together.

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."^[2]

History

Early years (1986–1992)

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 WIUS-FM. In a 1996 interview, Hall stated, "Since we went to Western Illinois University, 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 Robert Smith with real big hair, big baggy black clothes, black fingernail polish and eye makeup. They just didn't get it. We hated the town."^[3]

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 Dairy Queen in Macomb, Illinois). In 1990, a four song demo tape was recorded by an early conception of Stabbing Westward. This "EP" called, "Iwo Jesus" featured an early version of "Violent Mood Swings" (titled, "Violent Mood Swing") which eventually wound up on the compilation CD, The Cyberflesh Conspiracy.

Hall took a brief break to tour with Die Warzau as that group's percussionist before continuing work on Stabbing Westward. Hall and Flakus later recruited Jim Sellers on bass and Chris Vrenna (Nine Inch Nails) 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 Evanston, Illinois and 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.

Ungod (1993–1995)

The trio added Wax Trax recording artist Stuart Zechman on guitar and David Suycott (Spies Who Surf, Machines of Loving Grace) on drums. In 1993, the band recorded in Eden Studios; London, England with producer John Fryer. This resulted in their major label (Columbia Records) debut, Ungod, which was released on February 15, 1994. The band landed an opening slot on the Depeche Mode Exotic Tour in Summer 1994 and opened North American tour dates in Fall 1994 for Killing Joke, but Stabbing Westward album sales were still sluggish.

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.

Also, their song "Nothing" was featured in the "Club Hell" scene of the motion picture, Bad Boys, as well as during the closing credits of Johnny Mnemonic. The songs "Lies", "Lost", and "Can't Happen Here" were also all featured in the first Mortal Kombat movie. However, these songs weren't featured on the CD soundtrack.

Wither, Blister, Burn & Peel (1995–1997)

When Stuart Zechman departed the band after the Ungod tour due to personal differences,^[2] the 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 The The, recorded one song for Nine Inch Nails, and played in Prick, but had been the singer and songwriter in the Cleveland based Exotic Birds. 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 Wither and Darkest Days albums. When the band headed to Bearsville Studios in Woodstock, New York without 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 Wither, Blister, Burn & Peel recording sessions were completed to handle the live-element of the main guitar parts.

In 1996, the Wither Blister Burn & Peel LP became a success, landing them their first certified gold album, aided by the singles "Shame" and "What Do I Have to Do?" which granted the band heavy rotation on MTV, MuchMusic and radio. Tour mates for this album included Sponge.

Darkest Days (1998–2000)

Stabbing Westward relocated to Los Angeles, California where they began work on the 1998 album, titled Darkest Days. 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 Placebo, The Cult, Monster Magnet, and Depeche Mode, while playing numerous summer festivals.

The day before the band was to fly to Hawaii to record the follow-up to Darkest Days with producer Bob Rock, the band was dropped by Columbia Records.

The song "The Thing I Hate" was featured as the opening theme song in the Sony PlayStation game Duke Nukem: Time to Kill, which was released in September 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 Masterminds, as well as "Smallville (episode 21 - Tempest)". The song "Save Yourself" was featured in the 1998 films Urban Legend and Tekken, in addition to the 2012 True Blood season five finale of the same name. The song "Haunting Me" was featured in the opening scenes of the 1998 teen horror flick The Faculty.

"Sometimes It Hurts" music video was supposed to be Wizard of Oz themed video, but the label feared they would be sued so they took out most references.

Self-titled (2001–2002)

After signing with Koch Records, the new manager wanted the band to create an album with a heavy pop influence. Christopher Hall, Walter Flakus and Mark Eliopulos fought against the decision. Mark Eliopulos was fired by the manager who then brought in Derrek Hawkins as both a studio and live musician; as well as a new producer, Ed Buller^[4]

The demo for the self-titled album was considered too dark. Old guitar parts from the demos were muted and new pop-driven riffs were created by the new guitarist.^[4]

The self-titled album, Stabbing Westward, was released on May 22, 2001 and featured the hit "So Far Away". The album did well in Australia, but ultimately failed to sell worldwide.^[4]

Their manager recruited two members from Stabbing Westward in order form another band. Before a fifth LP could be recorded, the band did not sign for a new record deal and formally announced on February 9, 2002 they had disbanded.

Post-break-up

• Lead singer Christopher Hall has formed the Los Angeles-based band The Dreaming. They released their first studio album Etched In Blood in 2008. Songs from the album received airplay on XM Satellite Radio and rock stations nationwide. The album was distributed in Hot Topic and Best Buy. The band spent three years touring as a headliner and co-headliners with bands such as Trust Company and Flaw. In 2011, the band released its second album The Dreaming: Puppet. It reached #32 on the Billboard Heatseekers Albums chart.^[5]
• Walter Flakus has been working with The Clay People and Chokt. He is now APD/Music Director/Afternoon host for Chicago alternative station 101 WKQX.
• Jim Sellers and his wife have opened a natural foods market called Sellers Market.
• Andy Kubiszewski has filled in as the drummer for a handful of Prick shows, joined a new project called Affected with Chris Schleyer, written and produced several songs for the popular Russian pop duo t.A.T.u., and has composed music for dozens of TV shows (including Monster Garage, Monster House, Ax Men, America's Toughest Jobs, The Colony), SWORDS -Life On The Line, Hillstranded, and most recently Storage Wars. Other film credits include Jam. Andy also composes the music to the popular Habla Blah Blah line of Kids Cds.
• Mark Eliopulos now plays guitar in the bands Violent New Breed, HTH, Super Model and Brave Ulysses.

Rumors of a reunion (2010)

In June 2010, a news item appeared on Tunelab.com which read as follows:

Stabbing Westward vocalist Christopher Hall and keyboardist Walter Flakus have reunited after eight years apart and are planning a late-summer or fall tour this year under their old moniker. Potential support acts are Gravity Kills and Hall’s current project The Dreaming. There are currently no plans to record a new album, but the possibility has not been ruled out for a 2011 release depending on how the two feel after touring this year.^[6]

The next day, another piece of news appeared on the same website:

As a followup to yesterday’s news post on Stabbing Westward reuniting and touring, TuneLab did speak to former keyboardist Walter Flakus, who stated had no knowledge of any reunion but wasn’t exactly adverse to the idea. We were originally told the information by the booking agency for former vocalist Christopher Hall’s current project The Dreaming. After seeking clarification from the agency, we have learned that Stabbing Westward will actually be made up of current members of The Dreaming, and vocalist Christopher Hall at some point was going to be approaching keyboardist Walter Flakus to reunite for the tour. The exact lineup of the band is up in the air, but their agency is in fact booking a tour for late-summer or fall for Stabbing Westward, The Dreaming, and potentially Gravity Kills.^[7]

Since this post, there have been no more announcements regarding a Stabbing Westward tour and it is unclear whether these two news items were merely just rumors or actual plans.

In a radio interview on December 7, 2011, Christopher Hall along with the rest of The Dreaming, were guests on WJJO (Madison, WI) morning show. Hall stated there were absolutely no plans for a Stabbing Westward reunion, because of continued animosity between original and more recent members. Hall also hinted that neither he nor Flakus, the founding members, have rights to the name Stabbing Westward anymore. Other more recent members of the band somehow through contracts and agents, had acquired the naming rights along with some of the song rights.

On July 23, 2012, a fan created a petition for a reunion tour.^[8]

Christopher Hall, Walter Flakus, and Johnny Haro reunited at one of The Dreaming's shows in Las Vegas on November 15, 2013.^[9] Flakus 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.

30 Year Reunion (2016)

Stabbing Westward reunited for two 30th Year Reunion shows. The first will take place in Chicago on September 22. It was part of Cold Waves Festival and it was a charity show for suicide prevention. The event had been sold out. The lineup for the reunion concert featured Chris Hall, Walter Flakus, Mark Eliopulos and Johnny Haro along with some special guests.^[10] Jim Sellers did not take part in the reunion because of work commitments.

The second show took place at Dracula's Ball in Philadelphia on October 31, 2016 at the Trocadero Theatre.^[11]

Members

• Christopher Hall - vocals, guitar, keyboards, drum machine programming (1986–2002)
• Walter Flakus - keyboard and programming (1986–2002)
• Jim Sellers - bass (1993–2002)
• Andy Kubiszewski - drums, guitar, keyboard, backing vocals, songwriter (1995–2002)
  • began as live drummer at the end of the 1995 Ungod tour following David Suycott's departure.
• Derrek Hawkins - guitar, backing vocals (1999–2002)
• Chris Vrenna - drums (1992)
• Stuart Zechman - guitar (1993–1995)
• David Suycott - drums (1993–1995)
• Mark Eliopulos - guitar, backing vocals (1996–1999)
• Johnny Haro - drums (1998 - filling in for an injured Andy Kubiszewski)

Discography

Studio albums

EPs

Compilation albums

Singles

• The songs "What Do I Have to Do?" and "Shame" were not released as commercial singles, and they charted on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay as they received airplay.

Promotional singles

Other songs

• "Dawn" appears on the Escape from L.A. soundtrack
• "Torn Apart" (Josh Wink Remix) appears on the Spawn soundtrack
• "Bizarre Love Triangle" (New Order cover) appears on the Not Another Teen Movie soundtrack
• "Top of the World" (The Carpenters cover) appears on the Triple M Musical Challenge II compilation

References

External links

• Allmusic entry for Stabbing Westward
• The Dreaming Myspace Page
• @ MTV News Archive
• Fortune City entry for Stabbing Westward