finetune artist: Spineshank

Self-professed "party metal" fans, Spineshank formed in 1996 in Los Angeles, California, USA when vocalist Johnny Santos and drummer Tommy Decker abandoned their former band Basic Enigma. After re-evaluating their musical ambitions, the pair recruited guitarist Souren "Mike" Sarkisyan and bass player Robert Garcia before recording a locally distributed three-song demo. A forceful mix of electronica and down-tuned riffing, the tape eventually reached Fear Factory guitarist Dino Cazares, who was sufficiently impressed to offer the band a support slot, which in turn led to a contract with Roadrunner Records. Sessions for the debut album followed but recordings did not go smoothly, the band seemingly more interested emulating the hedonistic behaviour of their collective idols Mtley Cre, than concentrating on working - much to the annoyance of the record company. The ensuing Strictly Diesel, released in 1998, pointedly demonstrated Spineshank's lack of focus in the studio. Compared in part to the Deftones and Korn it was a derivative muddle of fashionable sounds, although "StoveBolt" and the Burton C. Bell collaboration "Stain", did offer a hint of what the band was capable of, but an unwise cover version of the Beatles' "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" did little for their credibility and the album was met by a general indifference on its release.

Listen to Spineshank at Finetune.

(2008) The Best Of Spineshank
(2008) The Height of Callousness [Special Edition]
(2007) Self-Destructive Pattern
(2007) The Height of Callousness
(2007) Strictly Diesel
(2003) Self-Destructive Pattern
(2001) Strictly Diesel
(2001) The Height Of Callousness
(0000) Synthetic

New Disease
Smothered
Beginning Of The End
Asthmatic
Forgotten