Saturday, December 11, 2004
November 12: Stroke 9 - All In
It's my opinion that, more than any other band, Stroke 9 got royally screwed over by 9/11. See, here's what happened: Stroke 9 were coming off a multiplatinum debut (Nasty Little Thoughts; go pick it up, it's a good listen), and had the lead single, "Kick Some Ass," on the Jay and Silent Bob soundtrack. It was also the lead single off their second album, scheduled to come out early October 2001. But then Sept. 11 happened, and DJs around the country started playing "Kick Some Ass" as some sort of anti-terrorist song. Well, the record company freaked and pulled the album. It was another year before it came out, and by that point, the track listing had been shuffled around, and it was called Rip It Off. Predictably, it sank like a stone, and the record company dropped them.
Well, here it is two years later, and Stroke 9 are back. I know this because I saw their new album on display in Wal-Mart today and picked it up (only $9!) First thing I noticed: when you lose the major-label budget, you also lose the major-label graphic designer, because the packaging looks like it was done in about 45 minutes on Photoshop or something. Second, the bass player's gone. According to the website, he was sick of touring. But it's not like the band's been touring that much anyway.
So how is it? Decent. Certainly not as good as the band's two major label albums. There are two "experimental" tracks in the middle that are kinda cool, but sound a bit too much like "hey, let's screw around in the studio" stuff.
Also, they've gone the Bowling for Soup route by assembling some '90s heavy-hitters to write with. There's a song with Butch Walker of Marvelous 3, and one with the guy that got kicked out of Third Eye Blind, and a couple of others.
I really like this band, but this CD just sort of confirms that the wheels came off this train years ago. Every band's got to come down sometime; I just think Stroke 9 came down sooner than they should have.
Well, here it is two years later, and Stroke 9 are back. I know this because I saw their new album on display in Wal-Mart today and picked it up (only $9!) First thing I noticed: when you lose the major-label budget, you also lose the major-label graphic designer, because the packaging looks like it was done in about 45 minutes on Photoshop or something. Second, the bass player's gone. According to the website, he was sick of touring. But it's not like the band's been touring that much anyway.
So how is it? Decent. Certainly not as good as the band's two major label albums. There are two "experimental" tracks in the middle that are kinda cool, but sound a bit too much like "hey, let's screw around in the studio" stuff.
Also, they've gone the Bowling for Soup route by assembling some '90s heavy-hitters to write with. There's a song with Butch Walker of Marvelous 3, and one with the guy that got kicked out of Third Eye Blind, and a couple of others.
I really like this band, but this CD just sort of confirms that the wheels came off this train years ago. Every band's got to come down sometime; I just think Stroke 9 came down sooner than they should have.
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