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American Head Charge
Most high school friends lose contact and drift apart
when they graduate from high school. But what would happen if two crazy
friends who loved metal went on to createa metal band? Not just any metal
band, but a metal band with a crazy sense of humor?
The result is Psychostick: a comedy metal (self-proclaimed "humorcore")
band with areputation for having hilarious lyrics, heavy riffs, notorious
stage antics, and a high energy performance. The music successfully crosses
a level of heaviness and aggression foundin bands such as Chimaira, Machine
Head, and Hatebreed with the wit and humor of The Bloodhound Gang, Tenacious
D, and Weird Al Yankovic.
It all started when Rob Kersey and Josh Key decided to
take the crazy sense of humor that only two best friends can share, and
throw it onto a canvas of heavymusic. "I noticed that we had a different
view of metal than other metalheads... we found certain things about
it funny", Kersey confesses |
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"It's a magical moment when you see
a band doing exactly what they love to do."
Since it's start in Phoenix, AZ in the year 2000, Psychostick has worn silly
costumes on stage and caused millions of laughs around the world and hundreds
of mosh pits across the US... sometimes at the same time. They are best known
for their hit "BEER!" (also affectionately called "The Beer
Song"), whose video has become a internet viral hit, has acheived respectable
airplay on satellite radio and FM radio stations in the US. Fans who heard "BEER!" and
checked out the bands' full cds were rewarded with an entertaining experience
that was destined to become a roadtrip favorite.
"...the more you listen, the funnier
and harder it becomes."
Psychostick has always maintained a fiercely independent, do-it-yourself attitude:
all Psychostick records are self-produced as well as engineered and mixed by
their guitarist Joshua Key.The website, artwork, and general marketing is done
by their singer Rob Kersey, who also exchanged and sacrificed his personal
dream truck for a touring van for the band to hit the road in 2006.
Their label,Rock Ridge music, encourages their creative
freedom, supporting what the band does rather than nudging them towards a "safer" style
which has proven to sell. "When it comes time to releasea cd, we give
it Rock Ridge, they give us the thumbs up, ad release it. I didn't know a record
deal could be so simple," says Key.
After locating to Phoenix, Kersey and Key found their
drummer Alex Dontre (formerly Alex Preiss) through a classified ad in a local
paper. He was a solid and fiercely aggressive drummerthat was paranoid that
aliens would take over the world, which of course made him the perfect fit
as Psychostick's rhythm section. After finding and settling on bassist Mike
Kocian, another great fit, the band quickly developed a reputation in the
music sceneas "those crazy
Psychostick guys", and fans would the next show in anticipation so that
they could get their "Stick Fix".
Fun facts about Psychostick
- Completed 21 nationwide tours, in 47 states, since
July 2006.
- Completed nationwide tours with Mushroomhead, Green Jelly, Nashville Pussy,
Look What I Did, Screaming Mechanical Brain, Powerglove, Bobaflex, Mower, Indorphine,
Better Left Unsaid, Retard-O-Bot, and 9mm Solution.
- Played "Noctis V Metalfest" in
Calgary, Canada in 2012, with Venom, Pig Destroyer, Manilla Road, Nunslaughter,
and many others.
- Played the "Rockstay Mayhem Festival" in St
Louis, MO in 2012, with Slipknot, Slayer, Motorhead, Anthrax, As I Lay Dying,
The Devil Wears Prada, White Chapel, Asking Alexandria, and many others
- Played "Dirtfest" 2012
with Clutch, In This Moment, Hurt, Falling In Reverse, and many others
- Played "Rockstary
Mayhem Festival" in St Louis,
MO in 2011, with Disturbed, Godsmack, Megadeth, Machine Head, In Flames,
Suicide Silence, Trivium, Kingdom of Sorrow, Unearth, Straight Line Stitch,
and more
- Played "Earthday Birthday 18" in Orlando, FL
in 2011, with Sevendust, Coheed and Cambria, Finger Eleven, Nonpoint, Drowning
Pool, Hollywood Undead, A Day To Remember, All That Remains, The Supervillians,
Hail the Villain, and Pop Evil
- Played the "Jagermeister Music Tour" in
Kansas City and St. Louis, MO in 2011, with Buckcherry, Hellyeah, All That
Remains, and The Damned Things
- Played the "Rockstar Mayhem Festival" in
St. Louis, MO in 2010, with acts such as KORN, Rob Zombie, Lamb of God, Five
Finger Death Punch, Hatebreed, Chimaira, Norma Jean, Atreyu, Winds of Plague,
In This Moment, Shadows Fall, and 3 Inches of Blood
- Played "The Gathering
of the Juggalos" in southern
Illinois, 2010, with acts such as Insane Clown Posse, Tech N9ne, Method Man/Red
Man, and Twiztid
- Played "Skatopia" in southern Ohio, 2010, with
acts such as GWAR, Green Jelly, Fishbone, Meat Puppets, 7 Seconds, Murphy's
Law, Agent Orange, Mustard Plug, and Downtown Brown
- Played the "Jagermeister
Music Tour" in St.
Louis and Columbia, MO in 2009, with Pennywise and Pepper
- Played the "Rockstar
Mayhem Festival" in Phoenix,
AZ in 2008, with acts such as Slipknot, Disturbed, Dragonforce, Mastodon,
Machine Head, Underoath, Black Tide, Walls Of Jericho, 36 Crazyfists, and
Five Finger Death Punch
- Played a sold out show at The Myth in Minneapolis,
MN in 2006, with Three Days Grace and Army of Anyone with an attendance of
nearly 4,700 people.
- Played with other national acts such as Hemlock, Exotic
Animal Petting Zoo, Flaw, Within Chaos, Sexy Heroes, Oblige, Smile Empty
Soul, Sick Puppies, Red Line Chemistry, The Exies, Autovein, Phunk Junkeez,
Pumpjack, A New Revolution, Rehab, Downtown Brown, Vehemence, American Standard,
Rikets, Opiate For The Masses, Butcher Jones, Sixstitch, Society 1, and Lennex.
The band recorded their first full length cd, "We Couldn't Think of a
Title" in 2003, which was later re-released nationally in stores through
Rock Ridge Music in 2006.Combining that with a series of relentless touring
started that same year, new fans around the country got their first taste of
Psychostick, and they were hungry for thefresh twist on a heavy genre they
already so much loved.
Follow-up records "The Flesh Eating Rollerskate Holiday Joyride" (2007)
and "Sandwich" (2009) featured a new bassist (Jimmy Grant) as well
as additional guitarist (Jake McReynolds). The single "Girl Directions" off
of "Sandwich" saw airplay on many stations around the US,such as
Q101 in Chicago, IL.
In December of 2009, the band parted ways with Grant
and McReynolds, and in 2010 (after releasing an EP called "The Digital Appetizer" with Joshy
slappin' a bass) Psychostick tried out a new bassist, Matt Rzemyk, aka "Moose".
Moose had just graduated college with a mechanical engineering degree decided
to apply that degree (somehow) in a touring band. Psychostick toured with Green
Jelly and Nashville Pussy, and Matt passed with flying colors.
In August of 2011, The band's third LP "Space Vampires
VS Zombie Dinosaurs in 3-D" was unleashed with a support tour with Mushroomhead.
Currently Psychostick is touring and filming music videos.
For more info, music and tour dates, please visit the following links:
http://www.psychostick.com
http://www.facbeook.com/psychostick
http://www.twitter.com/psychostick
Publicity:
Krista Mettler / Skye Media & Rock Ridge Music
publicity@rockridgemusic.com |
