Biography

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=168 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="041a11c3.gif"> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="A reason to exist"><U>A reason to exist</U></A></div> <bR> <div> Biography</div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Lyrics"><U>Lyrics</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id29.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Discography"><U>Discography</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id30.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Rare Songs/Remixes"><U>Rare Songs/Remixes</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id20.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Images"><U>Images</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id32.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Downloads"><U>Downloads</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id31.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Demos 90/91"><U>Demos '90/'91</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id34.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="About me"><U>About me</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contact me"><U>Contact me</U></A></div> <bR> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#99CC00" FACE="Arial" ><B>A reason to exist</B></FONT>     <FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#CCCC66" FACE="Arial" >|   <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="A reason to exist"><U><B>home</B></U></A></FONT></div> <div> <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contact me"><U>Contact me</U></A>   |   <B>Biography</B>   |   <A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Lyrics"><U>Lyrics</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id29.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Discography"><U>Discography</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id30.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Rare Songs/Remixes"><U>Rare Songs/Remixes</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id20.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Images"><U>Images</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id32.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Downloads"><U>Downloads</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id31.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Demos 90/91"><U>Demos '90/'91</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id34.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="About me"><U>About me</U></A></div> <div> <IMG SRC="040f4010.gif" border=0 width="500" height="1" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Biography</div> <bR> <div> <U>Band Members:</U></div> <div> <B><U>Christopher Hall:</U></B> --- vocals, guitar --- Robert Christopher Hall was born on May 18th in 1965. Chris was one of the original founders of Stabbing Westward in 1985. <U>Previous Bands:</U> Odd Man Out, Die Warzau, Last Visible Band </div> <div> <B><U>Walter Flakus:</U></B> --- keyboards, programming, guitar --- Walter was born on September 20th in 1966. He was one of the original founders of Stabbing Westward in 1985. <U>Previous Bands:</U> Last Visible Band</div> <div> <B><U>Jim Sellers:</U></B> --- bass, guitar --- Jim was born on February 25th in 1965. He became a band member during 1990 demos. <U>Previous Bands:</U> Cathedral Burns</div> <div> <B><U>Andy Kubiszewski:</U></B> --- drums, guitar, programming, backing vocals --- Andy was born on September</div> <div> 30th in 1961. He became a band member after the UNGOD album and replaced David Suycott on drums. <U>Previous Bands:</U> NIN, Exotic Birds, Cleveland Symphony Orchestra, The The, Prick, Crowded House</div> <div> <B><U>Derrek Hawkins:</U></B> --- he's the new guitarist for the tour --- </div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U>Biography</U></B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Stabbing Westward was started by Chris Hall and Walter Flakus back as they were </B><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B>former </B></FONT><B>students at Western Illinois University. </B><B>They lived in a close-minded town called Macomb, Illinois. As Chris and Walter were putting the band together, they had a gig and there was a deadline for a name for the band, so they pulled out a bunch of album covers. They pulled out a record cover and it had an excerpt of a speech, it was about communism coming to the west and there was used the phrase 'stabbing westward' and they choose this name not only for the band, but also to show that they didn't like the place where they lived. Moving to Chicago in 1986, Chris on bass and Walter on keybords, they started to form Stabbing Westward. Chris switched to guitar when Jim joined the band as bass player. In 1990 the band released a 4-song EP, the demos. Then Chris took a brief break to tour with DIE WARZAU as that group's percussionist and this break convinced him that Stabbing Westward had something special and was worthy of major attention. Columbia finally signed the band up. With the new band members David Suycott (drummer) and Stuart Zechman (guitarist) the band flew to London in 1993 to record UNGOD with producer John Fryer. After they had released UNGOD in 1994 and after they toured, Stabbing Westward parted ways with Suycott and Zechman. Andy joined the band and replaced Suycott on drums. The band entered the studio with Fryer to record 1996's WITHER BLISTER BURN + PEEL. Zechman wasn't replaced until after WITHER BLISTER BURN + PEEL was released and Stabbing Westward was on tour. Zechman's replacement was the younger guy Mark Eliopulos who played for Stabbing Westward </B><B>the first time </B><B>during their tour. After this extensive tour and much success with their singles 'Shame' and 'What Do I Have To Do' the band moved to Los Angeles, where they went back into the studio in 1997 to record the bands' 3rd album DARKEST DAYS. Stabbing Westward enlisted the talents of producer Dave Jerden. Recording during the summer of 1997 in L.A., Jerden used his keen ear to obtain the live vibe, while Andy and Walter handled the sensitive fusion of keybords and programming. Chris explained that the band needed help which tried to capture the sound of the live band, and Dave Jerden was the perfect man for the job.</B></div> <div> <B>This potent combination led the band to mix the album themselves, beginning with 'Save Yourself' which became the first single after it was remixed. DARKEST DAYS included 16 songs divided in four parts by a mood and emotion change. "The first four are about the various ways in which you mess up; the next group are obvious relationship type songs that go from being hopeful to the answer to hope to 'they're still hanging around'; the ambient 'Drowning', 'Desperate Now' and 'Goodbye' are when you've hit the bottom of a barrel; and the last four are emerging from the dark and sticking to what you believe in - the climax of a rollercoaster." says Chris. After the band started the tour when releasing DARKEST DAYS they left Columbia Records to search for a new record label. </B><B>Mark Eliopulos left the band on August 16th, 2000. Afterwards</B><B> the four remaining band members signed up with KOCH Records in September 2000. On October 15th, 2000 the band started to record their 4th album titled STABBING WESTWARD with producer Ed Bueller in San Francisco. The band says it was a new beginning and a new sound for Stabbing Westward. The new album includes 10 tracks and will be released on May 22nd, 2001. The band plans to start the tour by April or early May.</B></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <U>Other stuff that might could be interesting:</U></div> <bR> <div> - Chris is left-handed and he can play guitar, bass, drums and trumpet.</div> <div> - The baby-voice in the remix of 'On your way down' is the voice of Walters' son. His son is called Collin.</div> <div> - Chris Hall appeared in an issue of Playgirl a few years back in 1996. He was one of the "10 Hottest Rockers of L.A.". </div> <div> - Violent Mood Swings was originally about the Vampire Lestat before it was re-written into the VMS-version on 'Ungod'.</div> <div> - 'ACF' is called ACF because the first three chords in the song are A,C and F.</div> <div> - 'Can't Happen Here' is about an acid trip.</div> <div> - Chris does some extreme sports: Rock Climbing</div> <div> - Chris worked in 'Baker's Square' in Skokie, Illinois</div> <div> - 'The Thing I Hate' appeared on the game-soundtrack for DUKE NUKEM</div> <bR> <bR> <div> - Thanks to Lis @ <A HREF="http://www.virtualdrugstore.cjb.net" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.virtualdrugstore.cjb.net"><U>Virtual Drugstore</U></A> for some information - </div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>