Psychostick

Psychostick

Psychostick is a Comedy Rock band from Tempe, Arizona, 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 two albums nationally. The most recent, titled The Flesh Eating Roller Skate Holiday Joyride, was released September 25, 2007, and We Couldn't Think of a Title, released on September 12, 2006. They began touring nationally in July 2006, and have toured with Look What I Did, Powerglove, Retard-O-Bot, Bobaflex, Indorphine, Screaming Mechanical Brain, and Better Left Unsaid, and have played with many national bands, including Three Days Grace, Army of Anyone, Sick Puppies, Hemlock, Rehab, A New Revolution, The Exies, Smile Empty Soul, Within Chaos, Pumpjack, Vehemence, American Standard, Phunk Junkeez as well as many others.

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.

"The Flesh Eating Rollerskate Holiday Joyride" reached #18 on Billboard's Top Holiday Albums.

The band has finished recording their third album, Sandwich, which will be released on May 5, 2009.

Style

Psychostick uses goofy prop comedy 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.

Although lyrically rich in humor, unlike many bands who tend to use a lot of comedy, 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 riffs. 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 outta here!' and leaves. Occasionally, the band will hold conversations during songs.On the track "I Hate Doing Laundry" Rob Yells "Ahh Crap, I gotta do the dishes too!".

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."

The Dumb Song

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 18th, 2002.

Touring History

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 Terrible Shirt Tour

From May 16 - June 19, 2008, Psychostick set out on the Terrible Shirt Tour, featuring Look What I Did and Powerglove. 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.

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, a 72-roll toilet paper salute to Indorphine in Florida, Rawrb getting his first mohawk and zero trouble with the van and trailer.

The Alcoholic Aliens Tour

From May 18 - June 3, 2007, Psychostick and Screaming Mechanical Brain embarked on a midwest tour, and quickly realized they needed to play more shows together.

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 tour, to which they gladly obliged.

First tour ever

The original tour for Psychostick began on June 13th, and finished up on September 24, 2006. It also featured Bobaflex, as well as Indorphine, for the first few weeks.

Members

Current members

• Rob "Rawrb!" Kersey — lead vocals
• Joshua "Joshy" Key — guitar, vocals
• Alex "Shmalex" Priess — drums, vocals
• Jimmy "Jimmychanga" Grant — bass guitar, vocals (2008 - present)
• Jake "Jakermeister" McReynolds — guitar (2008 - present)

Former members

• Mike "MiketheEvil" Kocian — bass guitar, vocals (2001 - 2007)
• Vince "V" Johansen — guitar (2004 - 2006)
• Hunter Alexander — bass guitar (2000 - 2001)

Touring members

• Jesse "Turff" McInturff — second guitar on the Holiday Hate Tour 2007
• Cassidy "Cass" Nee — bass guitar on the Holiday Hate Tour 2007
• Reverend John Wheeler IV — guest vocals on live performances on "BEER!!" during the Holiday Hate Tour 2007

Discography

Main article: Psychostick discography

• We Couldn't Think of a Title (2003)
• The Flesh Eating Roller Skate Holiday Joyride (2007)
• Sandwich (2009)

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".), "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles", "I Can Only Count To Four" (A parody of Drowning Pool's "Bodies"), "The Sombrero Prophecy", "The Log Song" (A slinky parody from the The Ren and Stimpy Show), and "Happy Birthday".

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).

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. The album was finished in May 2008 and has been released online. Hard copies of the CD are planned but have no release date yet.

External links

• Official Band Website
• Psychostick's biography on allmusic
• Psychostick on purevolume
• Psychostick's profile on MySpace