Tourniquet (band)

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Origin Los Angeles, California, USA Flag of the United States
Genre(s) Thrash metal
Heavy Metal
Speed metal
Progressive metal
Neo-classical metal
Christian metal
Years active 1989 - present
Label(s) Metal Blade Records
Website Official Website
Members
Ted Kirkpatrick
Luke Easter
Steve Andino
Aaron Guerra
Former members
Gary Lenaire
Guy Ritter
Victor Macias
Erik Mendez
Vince Dennis
For other uses, see Tourniquet (disambiguation).

Tourniquet is a Christian neo-classical progressive thrash metal band, formed in 1989, Los Angeles, California, USA. Tourniquet is known for its characteristic style. One of the band's trademarks is the incorporation of classical music into their guitar riffs. They are also known for the medical terminology used in Tourniquet's lyrics.

Tourniquet's first three albums are cited as classics of thrash metal.[1] In the early 1990s Tourniquet stood out of other thrash groups with its drum work and two vocalists who mastered their vocal ranges outstandingly well.[1] While Tourniquet are said to be a musically skilled group, for some reason they never became as big as the "Big Four" of thrash metal: Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax, and Megadeth.[1] Some critics have speculated that this might possibly be due to their complex style which probably did not reveal to wider audiences.[1] However, Tourniquet has become so well-known that they are probably the most well-known Christian metal band after Stryper.[2]

The current members of Tourniquet are Ted Kirkpatrick (drums), Luke Easter (vocals), Steve Andino (bass) and Aaron Guerra (guitar, vocals).[3] Kirkpatrick has continuously achieved top rankings when there has been voted the best metal drummers in the world.[4] The band's latest release, Where Moth and Rust Destroy, features special guests Marty Friedman, formerly of Megadeth, and Bruce Franklin, formerly of Trouble, on lead guitar. They are outspoken against animal abuse, appearing in many publications such as The Vegetarian Times and United Animal Nations, and Animals Agenda to name a few.

The band is named after a tourniquet which is "a surgical device for arresting hemorrhage by compression of a blood vessel." According to the band, tourniquet is a metaphor for "a lifelong spiritual process by which a personal God, through the atoning blood, death, and resurrection of His only Son - Jesus Christ - can begin to stop the flow of going through life without knowing and serving our Creator. He is our Tourniquet."[5]

Contents

Tourniquet was formed in 1989 by drummer Ted Kirkpatrick, vocalist Guy Ritter, and guitarist-vocalist Gary Lenaire, in a parish called Sanctuary - the rock and roll refuge in Los Angeles. Formerly Kirkpatrick had played in the Chicago doom metal group Trouble on their Run to the Light tour.[4] Tourniquet recorded its first studio album Stop the Bleeding in 1990 and it was produced by Bill Metoyer of Metal Blade Records, though it was released by Intense Records. While it was mostly distributed to Christian bookstores, Stop the Bleeding was a notable Christian thrash metal album in its time. Tourniquet's characteristic style broke new ground and quickly brought them fans all over the world. Musically, the album showcased strong elements from 1980s speed metal with its Mercyful Fate influences such as the falsetto vocals, reminiscent of King Diamond. The promotional photos from Stop the Bleeding era also show that Tourniquet had some 1980s influences on their image. With this line up, Guy Ritter sang the more melodic vocals while Gary Lenaire did the aggressive thrash metal shouts. Mark Lewis played lead guitars on the album as a sessionmember. Later, Victor Macias joined the band as a bassist and Eric Mendez as a lead guitarist. This quintet is usually known as the classic line up of Tourniquet.[1] Mendez and Macias performed on the music video for the song "Ark of Suffering". Due to its violent content, portraying animal abuse, the video was not shown too many times on MTV. However, it was noted for its stance in the media.

In the year 1991, Tourniquet abandoned its 1980s metal influences and recorded a more modern album called Psycho Surgery. For example, on the song "Spineless" the band experimented with rapcore in vein of Anthrax and Faith No More – before the style became popular in the late 1990s.[6] Psycho Surgery showed Kirkpatrick's interest in classical music more clearly and his background in pharmacy industry: many of the songs utilize medical terminology as metaphors for social issues, and the guitar riffs show a strong classical music influence. Some critics described it as if "Slayer plays Beethoven in a slightly rewritten way".[1] Tourniquet kept co-working with producer Bill Metoyer and eventually was signed to Metal Blade Records, which released Psycho Surgery to a far wider audience than Stop the Bleeding. However, Intense Records still released Psycho Surgery and distributed it to Christian bookstores.[6]

In 1992, Tourniquet released a music VHS called Video Biopsy.

In 1993, Tourniquet recorded its most technical and darkest album by far, Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance.[6] The vocalist Guy Ritter, however, wanted to write less heavy songs and he didn't like the more aggressive song material the rest of the band was writing. Eventually he left the band during the recording session due to musical disagreements.[1] Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance became one of the most popular albums among Tourniquet fans, and it has been voted as the favourite album of the 1990s by readers of HM Magazine. Metal Blade Records released Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance to secular market and Intense Records released it to Christian market. Luke Easter, who had formerly sung in a more pop rock oriented group, joined the Tourniquet for the Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance tour. Tourniquet was supposed to play in Milwaukee Metalfest in 1993 but since Glen Benton of Deicide, which was the headliner of the festival, didn't want to play with a Christian band, forced the festival crew to cancel Tourniquet's performance.[2][4] However, this brought more publicity to Tourniquet.[4] During the same year, Intense Records released a live album called Intense Live Series, Vol. 2, which includes Tourniquet's cover of Trouble's song "The Tempter".

In 1994, Tourniquet abandoned most of its medical terminology in the lyrics and changed its style to a more laid back hard rock. As Metal Blade Rcords was strictly a heavy metal music based label, Tourniquet continued to work only with Intense Records until 1997. The band soon recorded Vanishing Lessons. The single "Twilight" became a hit on some mainstream radio stations.[6] Erik Mendez had left the band before recording Vanishing Lessons, to focus on his family business. A music video was made for the song "Bearing Gruesome Cargo" which was later released on a VHS called Pushin' Broom (1995).

After the release of Vanishing Lessons, the band recorded an ep called Carry the Wounded in 1995. Many older Tourniquet fans had mixed feelings on the EPs rock ballads.[4] However, the band released a compilation album called The Collected Works of Tourniquet to which Tourniquet recorded the new songs "The Hand Trembler" and "Perfect Night for a Hanging". Many fans regard those as the heaviest songs Tourniquet has written.[4]

In 1996, Gary Lenaire left Tourniquet to form a hard rock band called Echo Hollow. Aaron Guerra joined Tourniquet as a new guitarist. While the previous songs had been Tourniquet's heaviest, the band recorded its lightest album in 1997 called Crawl to China. The album was released on Benson Records. Crawl to China divided opinions of both critics and fans with its experimental song material, such as "Bats".

Ted Kirpatrick was known to play a drum solo in almost every Tourniquet concert. Many of hese performances had also been filmed, an eventually in 1997 these clips were compiled to a drumming VHS called The Unreleased Drum Solos of Ted Kirkpatrick. In 1998 the band recorded some of its songs to an acoustic form and released them on an album titled Acoustic Archives, along with one new completely metal song. This is the only Tourniquet release featuring bassist Vince Dennis. During the same year, Tourniquet released the music VHS' titled Guitar Instructional Video and Tourniquet Live in California.

In the year 2000, Tourniquet began writing thrash metal oriented song material again. They informed Metal Blade Rocords about it and were signed to the label again.[6] They soon recorded their most technical album since Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance, Microscopic View of a Telescopic Realm. The aforementioned albums were compared to each other - although the new material lacked the dark atmosphere - and Microscopic View of a Telescopic Realm even contained a sequel to the 1992 album titled "The Skeezix Dilemma Part II - The Improbable Testimony of the Pipsisewah". The album received rave reviews among critics.[6]

During 2001, Tourniquet reissued its first three albums, remastered and with bonus tracks, on Pathogenic Records label. In 2002, bassist Steve Andino - after filling in live for the band on many occasions - became an official member of Tourniquet. The band played various live venues until Aaron Guerra left the band due to personal reasons.[6]

In the year 2003, Ted Kirkpatrick, Luke Easter and Steve Andino recorded Tourniquet's eleventh studio album titled Where Moth and Rust Destroy with the help of guitarists Marty Friedman (ex-Megadeth) and Bruce Franklin (Trouble). This release continues the technical and progressive direction of their previous album. The songs "Restoring the Locust Years" and "A Ghost at the Wheel" received some radioplay. During the same year, Tourniquet released two music DVDs. The first, Ocular Digital, includes a live show from their 2001 performance at a Dutch festival called Flevo and a concert from 1991 in Escondido, California - the first Tourniquet concert ever. The second DVD release was titled Circadian Rhythms – The Drumming World of Ted Kirkpatrick and included many newly-recorded drum solos as well as a digitalized version of The Unreleased Drum Solos of Ted Kirkpatrick and more personal segments in which Ted, at his home and around town, answers questions from fans and even takes the viewer on a partial tour of his vast collection of butterflies and insects and the like.

Aaron Guerra returned to Tourniquet in 2005, and they begain to appear sporadically at concert events both in the U.S. and abroad. Notable shows include the Elements of Rock festival in Switzerland and Bobfest in Sweden (the latter of which was filmed and released in 2006 as the band's third DVD release, entitled "Till Sverige Med Kärlek" (Swedish for "To Sweden With Love")).

Tourniquet's early albums are technical thrash metal and are characterized by dark atmosphere.[1] The song writing is technically precise, as the drummer Kirkpatrick is known to play the guitar parts himself when he thinks that the other members' playing isn't precise enough.[1] Kirkpatrick's drumming is known to incorporate poly rhythms and peculiar, technical patterns. Many Tourniquet songs are said to include more guitar riffs than most bands write in their entire career. While the first album was more 1980s speed metal, the band began incorporating classical music on their guitar riffs notably on the albums Psycho Surgery and Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance. This was mostly due to the main songwriter Kirkpatrick who cites Beethoven, Bach and other classical composers as some of his influences. While there are some progressive elements on Pathogenic, such as on "The Skeezix Dilemma", their latter releases Microscopic View of a Telescopic Realm and Where Moth and Rust Destroy have more progressive metal influences. Originally, Guy Ritter sang the more melodic vocals while Gary Lenaire did the aggressive thrash metal shouts.[1] While Luke Easter is regarded as a good vocalist, he was said to have a narrower vocal range than Guy Ritter.[6] The hard rock era Tourniquet material is characterized by a more laid back atmosphere, especially on Vanishing Lessons.

Tourniquet's lyrical influences span a wide range; everything from Old Testament narrative to medical allegories to Edgar Allan Poe type descriptive horror. Apart from Tourniquet's hard rock era, The drummer Ted Kirkpatrick has written lyrics that incorporated medical terminology. Tourniquet has also dealed some unique social issues as well. "Ark of Suffering", from their very first release, Stop the Bleeding created a lot of attention by addressing the biblical perspective against animal abuse. "Ruminating Virulence" (from Pathogenic Ocualr Dissonance) offers hope to the severely disabled. "Twilight" (from Vanishing Lessons) addresses the neglect of the elderly. Most notably, all issues are balanced with the biblical perspective.

Due to the band's world wide popularity, Tourniquet has performed in the US, Canada, Norway, Holland, Denmark, Germany, Brazil and Puerto Rico. Some of their music has received notice in the media. The music video for "Ark of Suffering" received airplay on MTV and gained notice for its stance on animal abuse. Tourniquet kept bringing this stancy to public and has later been interviewed about it in magazines like Vegetarian Times, Journal of the United Animal Nations, Animal’s Agenda, PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) and many others in connection with animal protection activities. Tourniquet is known to be musically talented as some critics describe them as better than most of their counterparts[1], and the band members have appeared in many music magazines. For example, Kirkpatrick has been featured on Modern Drummer, Drums, and Aaron Guerra has been interviewed in Guitar World and Guitar for the Practicing Musician.

Tourniquet has been the recipent of a number of awards.

  • 2003, 1999, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 91, 90 - HM Magazine's Favorite Drummer of the Year (Ted Kirkpatrick)
  • 2003 - HM Magazine's Favorite Lyricist of the Year (Ted Kirkpatrick)
  • HM Magazine's Favorite Band of the 90's
  • HM Magazine's Favorite Album of the 90's (Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance)
  • 1999 - HM Magazine's Favorite Band of the Year
  • 1999 - HM Magazine's Favorite Song of the Year ("Trivializing the Momentous...")
  • 1999 - HM Magazine's Favorite Lyricist of the Year (Ted Kirkpatrick)
  • 1995 - GMA Dove Award nomination for Metal Album of the Year for Vanishing Lessons
  • 1995 - GMA Dove Award nomination for Metal Recorded Song of the Year for "Bearing Gruesome Cargo"
  • 1997- 95,92, 91, 90 - HM Magazine’s Favorite Band/Thrash Band/New Band of the Year
  • 1994 - HM Magazine’s Favorite Lyricist of the Year (Ted Kirkpatrick)
  • 1994 - HM Magazine’s Favorite Album of the Year for Vanishing Lessons
  • 1992 - GMA Dove Award nomination for Metal Album of the Year for Psycho Surgery
  • 1992 - GMA Dove Award nomination for Metal Recorded Song of the Year for "Psycho Surgery"
  • 1992 - HM Magazine’s Favorite Video of the Year for "Ark of Suffering"
  • 1991 - GMA Dove Award nomination for Metal Recorded Song of the Year for "You Get What You Pray For"
  • 1991 - GMA Dove Award nomination for Metal Album of the Year for Stop the Bleeding
  • 1991 - Christian News Forum Contemporary Christian Music Award for Rock Video of the Year "Ark of Suffering"
  • 1991 - HM Magazine’s Favorite Album of the Year for Psycho Surgery
  • 1991 - HM Magazine’s Favorite Album of the Year for Stop the Bleeding

The following songs have reached #1 in various sales and airplay charts:

  • "Microscopic View" - Microscopic View
  • "Crawl to China" - Crawl To China
  • "Carry the Wounded" - Carry the Wounded
  • "Heads I Win, Tails You Lose" - Carry the Wounded (CCM Rock Chart)
  • "Vanishing Lessons" - Vanishing Lessons
  • "Twilight" - Vanishing Lessons (CCM Rock Chart)
  • "Acidhead" - Vanishing Lessons
  • "Bearing Gruesome Cargo" - Vanishing Lessons
  • "Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance" - Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance
  • "Phantom Limb" - Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance
  • "The Skeezix Dilemma" - Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance
  • "Psycho Surgery" - Psycho Surgery
  • "Spineless" - Psycho Surgery
  • "Viento Borrascoso" - Psycho Surgery
  • "Ark of Suffering" - Stop the Bleeding
  • "You Get What You Pray For" - Stop the Bleeding
  • "Somnambulism" - Stop the Bleeding

Stop the Bleeding

(1990)

Intense Records
Psycho Surgery

(1991)

Metal Blade Records
Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance

(1993)

Metal Blade Records
Vanishing Lessons

(1994)

Intense Records
Carry the Wounded EP

(1995)

Intense Records
The Collected Works of Tourniquet

(1996)

Intense Records
Crawl to China

(1997)

Benson Records
Acoustic Archives

(1998)

Independent
Microscopic View of a Telescopic Realm

(2000)

Metal Blade Records
Where Moth and Rust Destroy

(2003)

Metal Blade Records

Circadian Rhythms - The Drumming World of Ted Kirkpatrick

(2003)

Pathogenic Records
Ocular Digital

(2003)

Metal Blade Records
Till Sverige Med Kärlek

(2006)

Pathogenic Records

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Ryhänen, Pekka (2004-11-18). TTourniquet - Psychosurgery (Finnish). Imperiumi. Retrieved on 2007-09-20.
  2. ^ a b Smit, Bas (2003). Tourniquet Interview. Lords of Metal webzine. Retrieved on 2007-09-20.
  3. ^ http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/3147/
  4. ^ a b c d e f Ollila, Mape (2003). Tourniquet Interview (Finnish). Imperiumi. Retrieved on 2007-09-20.
  5. ^ http://www.tourniquet.net
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Waters, Scott (2005). Tourniquet. No Life 'til Metal. open Publishing. Retrieved on 2007-09-20.

 v • d • e Tourniquet
Current Members
Ted Kirkpatrick | Luke Easter | Steve Andino | Aaron Guerra
Former Members
Gary Lenaire | Guy Ritter | Victor Macias | Erik Mendez | Vince Dennis
Discography
Albums: Stop the Bleeding | Psycho Surgery | Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance | Vanishing Lessons | Crawl to China | Microscopic View of a Telescopic Realm | Where Moth and Rust Destroy
Other: | Intense Live Series, Vol. 2 | Carry the Wounded | The Collected Works of Tourniquet | Acoustic Archives
Videography
VHS: | Video Biopsy | Pushin' Broom Video | The Unreleased Drum Solos of Ted Kirkpatrick | Guitar Instructional Video | Tourniquet Live in California
DVD: | Circadian Rhythms - The Drumming World of Ted Kirkpatrick | Ocular Digital | Till Sverige Med Kärlek
Labels
Metal Blade Records | Intense Records | Benson Records
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourniquet_%28band%29"
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