Psychostick
Encyclopedia
Psychostick is a heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...

 band from Tempe, Arizona
Tempe, Arizona
Tempe is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, USA, with the Census Bureau reporting a 2010 population of 161,719. The city is named after the Vale of Tempe in Greece. Tempe is located in the East Valley section of metropolitan Phoenix; it is bordered by Phoenix and Guadalupe on the west, Scottsdale...

, known for a silly image and usage of extreme humor in their songs and lyrics. Their style is referred to by themselves and some online album review sites as humor-core.
To date they have released three albums nationally. The most recent, titled Space Vampires VS Zombie Dinosaurs in 3D
Space Vampires VS Zombie Dinosaurs in 3D
-Personnel:Psychostick* Alex "Shmalex" Dontre – drums* Robert "Rawrb" Kersey – lead vocals* Joshua "The J" Key – guitars, vocals* Matty J "Poolemoose" Rzemyk – bass, vocals* Additional Musicians:...

, was released August 16, 2011, while We Couldn't Think of a Title
We Couldn't Think of a Title
-B-sides:* "Hokey Fuckin' Pokey" — 3:42 * "Those Stupid Ifs" - 5:17 -Alternate Releases:...

and Sandwich
Sandwich (album)
-Personnel:Psychostick* Joshua "The J" Key — guitars, vocals* Jimmy "Jimmychanga" Grant — bass, vocals* Jake "Jakermeister" McReynolds — guitars, vocals* Alex "Shmalex" Preiss — drums* Rob "Rawrb" Kersey — lead vocals...

, were released on September 12, 2006, and May 5, 2009, respectively. They began touring nationally in July 2006, and have toured with Look What I Did
Look What I Did
Look What I Did is an American post-hardcore band, formed in 2001 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. The music combines elements of jazz/fusion, hardcore, metal, and progressive pop punk...

, Powerglove
Powerglove (band)
Powerglove is an American power metal band. They are known to play metal versions of classic video game themes. The band is named after the Power Glove, a NES controller accessory.-Early years, Total Pwnage and Metal Kombat :...

, Bobaflex
Bobaflex
Bobaflex is an American rock band from Point Pleasant, West Virginia. They were part of Gigantour in 2005 and Rock on the Range in 2008.-History:...

, and have played with many national bands, including Three Days Grace
Three Days Grace
Three Days Grace is a Canadian rock band, formed in Norwood, Ontario, Canada in 1992, originally under the name Groundswell. After a breakup in late 1997, the band regrouped in the same year under its current name and with a line-up consisting of guitarist and lead vocalist Adam Gontier, drummer...

, Army of Anyone
Army of Anyone
Army of Anyone was a supergroup formed by Filter frontman Richard Patrick with two of the then-former members of rock band Stone Temple Pilots. In addition to Patrick on vocals, the band featured Dean DeLeo and Robert DeLeo on guitars and bass, respectively, and Ray Luzier on drums...

, Sick Puppies
Sick Puppies
Sick Puppies is an Australian rock band, formed in 1997. The band consists of vocalist and guitarist Shimon Moore, bassist Emma Anzai and drummer Mark Goodwin....

, Anew Revolution
Anew Revolution
Anew Revolution is an American hard rock band.-History:Anew Revolution was formed by ex-Unloco frontman Joey Duenas and includes Frank "Frankie" Salvaggio and Rob Urbani, former members of Slaves on Dope...

, The Exies
The Exies
The Exies are an American rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1997. Their name, "The Exies", is short for "The Existentialists". Their two Virgin Records releases, Inertia and Head for the Door , have sold over 400,000 copies combined.-History:The Exies formed in 1997 when singer and...

, Smile Empty Soul
Smile Empty Soul
Smile Empty Soul is an American post-grunge band from Santa Clarita, California.-History:Smile Empty Soul formed in 1998, while its original members were attending different high schools in the Santa Clarita area...

, as well as many others.

Early success (2007-2010)

As of March 2007, Psychostick's debut album has had minor chart success in the US, reaching #41 on the Billboard's Top Heatseekers, #4 on the Billboard's Top Heatseekers (West North Central), and #48 on the Billboard's Top Independent Albums. Psychostick gained notoriety in Spring 2007 when their song "Beer" became a #1 single on XM Radio's Liquid Metal show for seven weeks. The band's holiday EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...

 The Flesh Eating Roller Skate Holiday Joyride
The Flesh Eating Roller Skate Holiday Joyride
The Flesh Eating Rollerskate Holiday Joyride is a holiday album by humor-core band Psychostick, released in the United States on September 25, 2007, through Rock Ridge Music....

reached #18 on Billboard's Top Holiday Albums. The band finished recording their second album in 2009, entitled Sandwich
Sandwich (album)
-Personnel:Psychostick* Joshua "The J" Key — guitars, vocals* Jimmy "Jimmychanga" Grant — bass, vocals* Jake "Jakermeister" McReynolds — guitars, vocals* Alex "Shmalex" Preiss — drums* Rob "Rawrb" Kersey — lead vocals...

, which was released on May 5, 2009 or "Psycho de Mayo."

Space Vampires VS Zombie Dinosaurs in 3D (2010-present)

The band announced during a webcast
Webcast
A webcast is a media presentation distributed over the Internet using streaming media technology to distribute a single content source to many simultaneous listeners/viewers. A webcast may either be distributed live or on demand...

 on November 4, 2010, that they are working on their new album to be released in summer 2011. The title of the new album, Space Vampires VS Zombie Dinosaurs in 3D
Space Vampires VS Zombie Dinosaurs in 3D
-Personnel:Psychostick* Alex "Shmalex" Dontre – drums* Robert "Rawrb" Kersey – lead vocals* Joshua "The J" Key – guitars, vocals* Matty J "Poolemoose" Rzemyk – bass, vocals* Additional Musicians:...

, was announced on another webcast on March 10, 2011, and the band has said that it will have a "Tentative August 2011 release date" through Rock Ridge Music. This will be the first album to feature their new bass player, Matt "Poolmoose" Rzemyk. On Facebook on July 12, the album release was given an official date of August 16, 2011.

Style

Psychostick uses goofy prop comedy
Prop comedy
Prop comedy is a comedy genre that makes use of humorous objects, or conventional objects used in humorous ways. The stage and film term "prop", an abbreviation of "property", refers to any object handled by an actor in the course of a performance. Although some form of prop comedy has likely...

 with things like rubber chickens, stuffed animals or their instruments at shows and in their videos. Rawrb (Psychostick's vocalist and co-founder) has been known to use a Guitar Hero guitar during performances, and even a Tennis racket.

Although lyrically rich in humor, unlike many bands who tend to use a lot of comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...

, the instrumental portions of the songs are not neglected and are very serious. When they're not joking too much they usually play heavy, violent riff
RIFF
The Resource Interchange File Format is a generic file container format for storing data in tagged chunks. It is primarily used to store multimedia such as sound and video, though it may also be used to store any arbitrary data....

s.
Some songs are parodies of love songs, like "Orgasm = Love" or sad, depressing songs, like "Prozak Milkshake".

A lot of comedy is also mid-song action. For example, during "Orgasm = Love" Josh yells out, "You know what... Fuck this! I'm out of here!" and leaves. Occasionally, the band will hold conversations during songs. On the same track, a band member sarcastically says to the others, "This song ain't getting on the radio any time soon."

When interviewed about their style, Rawrb often compares how serious the band takes their music and lyrical content to how serious a comedian takes their comedy. He will often correct the interviewer saying, "We're comedic musicians that take every part of this band very seriously." Joshy (Psychostick's guitarist and co-founder) often reminds those who are curious that Psychostick is "serious about being dumb."

First tour ever

The original tour for Psychostick began on June 13, and finished up on September 24, 2006. It also featured Bobaflex
Bobaflex
Bobaflex is an American rock band from Point Pleasant, West Virginia. They were part of Gigantour in 2005 and Rock on the Range in 2008.-History:...

, as well as Indorphine
Indorphine
- History :Like many influential grassroots bands before them, Indorphine began in the garage of lead singer Jimmy Grant as he, and high school friend and drummer Everett Sailor, annoyed their Kissimmee neighbors with their loud and abstract music...

, for the first few weeks.

New Revolution Tour

From January 27 - February 24, 2007, Psychostick and Indorphine played all over the southern half of the country. It was originally supposed to feature Invitro as well, but they were offered a tour spot on the Sevendust
Sevendust
Sevendust is an American heavy metal band from Atlanta, Georgia. Formed in 1994 by bassist Vince Hornsby, drummer Morgan Rose and guitarist John Connolly. After their first demo, lead vocalist Lajon Witherspoon and guitarist Clint Lowery joined the group...

 tour, to which they gladly obliged. Psychostick couldn't play the show in Murfreesboro, NC due to the fact members of the band were sick from a virus.

The Alcoholic Aliens Tour

From May 18 - June 3, 2007, Psychostick and Screaming Mechanical Brain embarked on a midwest tour.

Holiday Hate Tour 2007

From November 23 - December 22, 2007, Psychostick toured the country to profess their hatred towards the commercialization of the Christmas season. Along for the hate were Screaming Mechanical Brain and Indorphine. Without question, this was the bands most successful tour to date. Among the many highlights - a studio takeover at XM Radio with Ward Cleaver / Liquid Metal, a sold out crowd in LaCrosse, WI, a guest appearance by Shwillex, Rawrb getting his first mohawk and zero trouble with the van and trailer.

The Terrible Shirt Tour

From May 16 - June 19, 2008, Psychostick set out on the Terrible Shirt Tour, featuring Look What I Did
Look What I Did
Look What I Did is an American post-hardcore band, formed in 2001 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. The music combines elements of jazz/fusion, hardcore, metal, and progressive pop punk...

 and Powerglove
Powerglove (band)
Powerglove is an American power metal band. They are known to play metal versions of classic video game themes. The band is named after the Power Glove, a NES controller accessory.-Early years, Total Pwnage and Metal Kombat :...

. Each night there was a competition where the band would bring up all of participating members of the crowd, and the crowd would vote for the worst shirt of the night by screaming.

Rockstar Energy MayhemFest

Psychostick was the Jägermeister Opening Band during the Phoenix show on 07/18 at the Mayhem Festival 2008
Mayhem Festival 2008
Mayhem Festival 2008 was the first iteration of the annual concert festival created by Kevin Lyman.-Mayhem Festival 2008 tour information:The Mayhem Festival, like most large festivals of a similar caliber, feature bands that recently released or are just about to release a new album...

. Psychostick is the Jägermeister Opening Band for the St. Louis show on 07/20 show at the Mayhem Festival 2010
Mayhem Festival 2010
Mayhem Festival 2010 was the third annual Mayhem Festival created by Kevin Lyman. The 2010 edition of the festival was co-headlined by Korn and Rob Zombie. As in previous years, the main sponsor of the festival is Rockstar Energy drink, and each date had a different Battle of the Bands winner...

 and was the Jägermeister Opening Band for the St. Louis show on 07/19 show at the Mayhem Festival 2011

Holiday Hate Tour: Season 2

Winter of 2008, Psychostick toured through November and December, this time with Retard-O-Bot in tow. The tour was from November 14 in Farmington, NM, and ended on December 13 in Odessa, TX.

The Sandwich CD Release Party Tour

Starting the day their new album, Sandwich, was released on May 5, 2009, Psychostick stayed on the road until August 30, 2009. Although the tour was a solo / self-headlining run, the band shared select dates with 9mm Solution, Screaming Mechanical Brain, Saved By Ruin, and Diabase.

Holiday Hate Tour: Season 3 / The Radio Tour

Teaming up briefly with Suburban Noize band Mower
Mower
A mower is a machine for cutting grass or other plants that grow on the ground. Usually mowing is distinguished from reaping, which uses similar implements, but is the traditional term for harvesting grain crops, e.g...

, Psychostick hit the road from October 31 - December 14, 2009.

2010 Parental Advisory Tour

From March 25 - May 30, 2010, Psychostick hit the road with Green Jelly
Green Jellÿ
Green Jellÿ is a Grammy-nominated American comedy rock band formed in 1981. Originally named Green Jellö, the band changed its name due to legal pressure from the owners of the Jell-O trademark, Kraft Foods, who claimed that it was an infringement of their trademark...

 and Nashville Pussy
Nashville Pussy
Nashville Pussy is an American hard rock band from Atlanta, Georgia. Their musical style mixes boogie rock, Southern metal and psychobilly. Much of the band's lyrical themes mostly revolve around sex, drugs, drinking, fighting, and rock 'n' roll...

.

2010 Pay off the Van tour

From June 17 - July 31, 2010, Psychostick hit the midwest starting with Shawnee, KS and ending in Louisville, OH. The supporting act for the tour was Look What I Did. They paid off the van!

2010 MN and ND tour

From September 17–21, 2010, Psychostick played with Wrecking Day and Pinwheel for a few shows in Minnesota and North Dakota. Billy Rymer from the Dillinger Escape Plan filled in on the drums for these dates.

2011 Unleash The Dumb Tour

Psychostick's "Unleash The Dumb Tour" began on April 12, 2011, in Columbia, MO and boasts over 60 dates confirmed stretching into July. Psychostick will play familiar venues as well as make their debut in many smaller cities across the country. Along with using the tour to promote the album, they've told everyone coming to the shows to dress as "dumb as they can" in an attempt to focus on the visually comedic side of the band. Trying to make this a tradition for all shows in the future, "Don't you DARE show up normal!"

Current members

  • Alex "Shmalex" Dontre (formerly Preiss) — drums (2000–present)
  • Josh "The J" Key — guitar
    Guitar
    The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

    s, vocals
    Singing
    Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...

     (2000–present)
  • Rob "Rawrb" Kersey — lead vocals
    Lead vocalist
    The lead vocalist is the member of a band who sings the main vocal portions of a song. They may also play one or more instruments. Lead vocalists are sometimes referred to as the frontman or frontwoman, and as such, are usually considered to be the "leader" of the groups they perform in, often the...

     (2000–present)
  • Matty J "Poolemoose" Rzemyk — bass
    Bass guitar
    The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

    , vocals (2010–present)

Former members

  • Jake "Jakermeister" McReynolds — guitars, backing vocals (2008–2009)
  • Jimmy "Jimmychanga" Grant — bass, vocals (2008–2009)
  • Mike "MiketheEvil" Kocian — bass, backing vocals (2001–2007)
  • Vince "V" Johansen — guitar (2004–2006)
  • Hunter Alexander — bass (2000–2001)

Touring members

  • Billy Rymer
    The Dillinger Escape Plan
    The Dillinger Escape Plan is an American mathcore band from Morris Plains, New Jersey. The group originated in 1997 after the disbanding of Arcane, a hardcore punk trio consisting of Ben Weinman, Dimitri Minakakis, and Chris Pennie. The band's current line-up consists of guitarist Ben Weinman,...

     — drums (September 2010)
  • Jesse "Turff" McInturff — rhythm guitar (Holiday Hate Tour 2007)
  • Cassidy Nee — bass (Holiday Hate Tour 2007)
  • Rev. John Wheeler IV — guest vocals on live performances of "BEER!!" (Holiday Hate Tour 2007)

Discography

  • We Couldn't Think of a Title
    We Couldn't Think of a Title
    -B-sides:* "Hokey Fuckin' Pokey" — 3:42 * "Those Stupid Ifs" - 5:17 -Alternate Releases:...

    (2003)

  • Sandwich
    Sandwich (album)
    -Personnel:Psychostick* Joshua "The J" Key — guitars, vocals* Jimmy "Jimmychanga" Grant — bass, vocals* Jake "Jakermeister" McReynolds — guitars, vocals* Alex "Shmalex" Preiss — drums* Rob "Rawrb" Kersey — lead vocals...

    (2009)
  • Space Vampires VS Zombie Dinosaurs in 3D
    Space Vampires VS Zombie Dinosaurs in 3D
    -Personnel:Psychostick* Alex "Shmalex" Dontre – drums* Robert "Rawrb" Kersey – lead vocals* Joshua "The J" Key – guitars, vocals* Matty J "Poolemoose" Rzemyk – bass, vocals* Additional Musicians:...

    (2011)


Other works

They have played a number of unrecorded songs live including "The World's Shortest Song" (During "The Holiday Hate Tour" they called it "The Worlds Shortest Christmas Song." During the "Sandwich CD Release Party Tour" they called it "The Whole Sandwich Album in 0.4 Seconds"), "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are a fictional team of four teenage anthropomorphic turtles, who were trained by their anthropomorphic rat sensei in the art of ninjutsu and named after four Renaissance artists...

," "The Sombrero Prophecy," "The Log Song" (A slinky parody from The Ren and Stimpy Show
The Ren and Stimpy Show
The Ren & Stimpy Show, often simply referred to as Ren & Stimpy, is an American animated television series, created by Canadian animator John Kricfalusi for Nickelodeon. The series focuses on the titular characters: Ren Höek, a psychotic chihuahua, and Stimpson J. Cat, a good-natured, dimwitted cat...

), "Happy Birthday," "HURRY UP!!", a song played live for when a band member has to make an instrument repair, a rendition of Gloria Estefan
Gloria Estefan
Gloria María Milagrosa Fajardo García de Estefan; known professionally as Gloria Estefan is a Cuban-born American singer, songwriter, and actress. Known as the "Queen Of Latin Pop", she is in the top 100 best selling music artists with over 100 million albums sold worldwide, 31.5 million of those...

's "Conga
Conga (song)
"Conga" is the first single released by the American band Miami Sound Machine led by Gloria Estefan on their second English language album, and ninth overall, Primitive Love.-Song history:...

" (Rob and Josh each drag out a drum head and do some percussion themselves during the song), and Rick Astley
Rick Astley
Richard Paul "Rick" Astley is an English singer-songwriter, musician, and radio personality. He is known for his 1987 song, "Never Gonna Give You Up", which was a #1 hit single in 25 countries...

's "Never Gonna Give You Up
Never Gonna Give You Up
A group of London dance producers, called The Rickrollerz made a house music cover version of "Never Gonna Give You Up" on that day, and in honor of that event....

," in a live attempt at rickrolling
Rickrolling
Rickrolling is an Internet meme involving the music video for the 1987 Rick Astley song "Never Gonna Give You Up". The meme is a bait and switch; a person provides a hyperlink seemingly relevant to the topic at hand, but actually leads to Astley's video...

. This recent tour they played "Danger Zone (song)" by Kenny Loggins
Kenny Loggins
During the next decade, Loggins recorded so many successful songs for film soundtracks that he was referred to as, King of the Movie Soundtrack.He began with "I'm Alright" , "Mr. Night", and "Lead the Way" from Caddyshack...

.

Other recorded works include:
  • MILF (Rob and Josh with Arizona based rappers Crack Money)
  • The Dumb Song (from the website Pluh.com)
  • Tales From The Sink (also a Pluh.com song featuring Alex and V).
  • Chris Noguera: Awesome Man Extreme (from bonus track found on Pluh.com, featuring Rob and Josh)

The Dumb Song and The Dumb Album

Though often confused as a Psychostick song, it is in fact not by them. "The Dumb Song" is by Gawkman (aka: Josh Key from Psychostick) and Murph (aka: Josh's friend from Chicago). No other member of Psychostick appears on the song. The Dumb Song was released as a Pluh.com Entertainment track on July 18, 2002.

Josh and Murph are working on a Dumb Album which includes "The Dumb Song." It will be released through Pluh.com when it is finished.

Evacuate Chicago and Veracity

Three members of Psychostick (Alex, Josh, and Rob) recently finished recording an album under their more serious persona, Evacuate Chicago, entitled Veracity
Veracity (album)
-Personnel:Evacuate Chicago is:* Alex Preiss — drums / vocals* Josh Key — guitars / bass / vocals* Rob Kersey — lead vocals* Co-Produced by Alex Preiss / Josh Key* Mixed and Engineered by Josh Key* Tracking at Toxic Recording...

. The album was finished in May 2008 and will be released through Rock Ridge Music
Rock Ridge Music
Rock Ridge Music is an independent record label based in Newark, New Jersey. Some of the more recognized artists on the Rock Ridge roster include Reel Big Fish, Sister Hazel, Psychostick, Attack! Attack! UK, The Ike Reilly Assassination, and Ingram Hill....

 on January 26, 2010.

The Stuttering C-Cowboys

The 'Cowboys were a rock 'n roll band that Alex played drums in from 2004-06. The lineup was Alex Preiss, Micah Smith, Shane Leopard, and Ryan Graves.

Web Comic

Rawrb runs his own Web Comic website, Alfredo Afro, which is a comic that he says is about "ridiculousness and apparent dumbassery that takes place while on the road as well as other aspects of being in a national touring band." It often stars Rawrb as well as other members of the band, but they aren't always band or music related. He is the main writer and artist of Alfredo Afro, with the rest of the band helping out every so often.

Rock Band Network

Josh is currently working on putting Psycostick songs for sell on Rock Band Network
Rock Band Network
The Rock Band Network is a downloadable content service designed by Harmonix Music Systems with the help of Microsoft to allow musical artists and record labels to make their music available as playable tracks for the Rock Band series of rhythm video games, starting with Rock Band 2...

 as of early 2011. The song "Beer" is currently being in beta testing and will likely be available for Rock Band 3
Rock Band 3
Rock Band 3 is a music video game, developed by Harmonix Music Systems. The game was initially published and distributed by MTV Games and Electronic Arts, respectively, with Mad Catz taking over both roles a year later. It is the third main game in the Rock Band series...

 soon. When first charting the song "Beer", Josh asked Harmonix if it was okay to have a song with a large amount of alcohol references. Harmonix said it was up to the community and that they would not likely have a problem. Josh will most likely put more Psycostick songs on Rock Band Network.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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