Psychostick

Like all long-term projects, Psychostick has evolved into its current form through many years and members to get where it is today. Not unlike Godzilla and other Japanese monsters from the 1950’s, it didn’t just appear one day to try and take over the world. It took lots of mutation and toxic waste, for Godzilla anyway. Psychostick didn’t exactly become what it is from radiation and living underground, but close enough. To start our journey of learning, we will start in the little town of Odessa, TX. Evidently, it is home to the greatest Mexican food restaurant in the world, but that is merely an opinion. One thing we know for sure is that is was the home of Joshy and Rawrb for many years. But before Psychostick ever existed, there was “Asinine”!

Asinine was the name of the band that came before the initial inception of what we have today. The line up was almost completely different as well. Like Jeff Goldblum in The Fly, he had a wonderful idea that he was fiddling around with for a while before he ever managed to horribly mutate himself into a grotesque monstrosity. It’s kind of like that, except they aren’t nearly as scary, or disease ridden. Anyway, Asinine consisted of four members: Joshy (on vocals, not guitar), Steve W. (guitar), Marvin S. (bass), and Bozzy C. (percussion). The name change took place for a multitude of reasons. The biggest reason was probably because there were other bands with the same name, and you can’t just take someone’s name if you want to be taken seriously. Who on earth would ever rent a movie called “Godzilla VS Other Godzilla”? Well, I would, but no one else would.

So in 2000, the year of the Y2K nonsense and lots cult leaders declaring the end of humanity, Psychostick had officially formed. Joshy had ended Asinine and left Texas behind for Arizona, with future band mate Rawrb. It was Odessa; can you blame them? At that point, Joshy had taken up the guitar for the band, and Rawrb had become the vocalist. Now they just needed a couple more members to complete the initial lineup that was known as Psychostick.

Meanwhile, at a mere 15 years old, Alex was still in high school! In an attempt to start his own band at the time, he posted an ad in the Phoenix New Times proclaiming his interest in playing drums for some crazy people. He tried out for several groups, and all he got was crazy people. One was a hippie band that just wanted tambourines and congas. Another was a 70’s rocker guy with no band at all; he just wanted to jam. Then he got a call from a bass player named Hunter. Unfortunately, Alex had to tell him that he had no band, just himself at the time. Then he got the call from Rawrb and Joshy, and was given the original demo for the track “Why, Oh, Why?” Alex was hooked, Psychostick had a drummer, and luckily, Hunter called back! The lineup had been completed as of August in 2000.

In September of 2000, they recorded their first demo, “Don’t Bitch, It’s Free”. Hopefully, this attrocity will never again find its way to the surface and be content to sit there, out of site, in eternal slumber.

Valentine’s Day, 2001, Psychostick played its very first show! Interestingly enough, they opened with the song “Throwin’ Down” about the Beast, who happened to be front and center that night, yet still complaining that she and Rawrb weren’t on a date instead.

In August of 2001, they released their second demo, “Die…A Lot!” at the crappiest excuse for a club ever. But at least the demo was better. A lot better, actually. That year they won three awards in the Xtreme-Zone awards. Best Band Merchandise, Best Stage Show, and Best Stage Persona.

Soon after December 1st, 2001, Hunter had taken his leave from the group and was replaced by Mike Hawkizzard on Bass. Mike, also from Texas originally, had seen them for the first time at their Halloween show with his own band, Product, also on the bill. Hunter went on to form other groups where he would sing, play guitar, bass, and pretty much everything but the drums.

2002 was interesting. They played lots of shows including some CD release parties, high school shows, and even a couple where they really didn’t belong on the bill at all. Let’s just say it was a learning experience. They had also begun recording their debut album around then.

By May of 2003, they released their full length, “We Couldn’t Think Of A Title”. They sold a bunch of CDs, started selling more merchandise, and even filmed a video for the track “Pluh”. They were also included on several compilations and documentaries. Then Mike left! Not for good, just for a little while. He had gone back home for about two years for college. So they essentially just took a break for a while. They played shows here and there whenever Mike came back in town.

By 2004, Psychostick had not broken up, although they were getting a little restless and started several other projects to keep occupied. About this time, Psychostick had added a fifth member and second guitarist, Vince. Vince had known Alex for many years previous to that and had already become friends with the band as well. It was apparant that Vince was a grand addition when he came to his first show wearing a strainer on his head a towel for a cape. Perfect!

(Later in 2006, Vince was let go from Psychostick.)

Then by 2005, Mike had graduated and moved back to Arizona! Psychostick was a happy family again. Then everything started getting crazy. The Squizz XM station 48 began playing the song “BEER!” and got an overwhelming response from the listeners. So much so that the track hit the #1 spot on their top 10 countdown for 7 consecutive weeks, but stayed on in the top 10 for much longer than that. After that, they began playing “Two Ton Paperweight” as well and got great responses from that as well. Not long after that, Ebaumsworld.com started hosting the flash movie for “BEER!” on their site. Then Collegehumor.com did the same thing. Toward the end of the year, CD sales were increasing exponentially, and the guys were contacted by Lunatic Radio and interviewed over the phone that November.

Now it is 2006, and as you can see, the band has become increasing powerful, or popular, whatever. Both, perhaps! When Godzilla first came out in 1954, he was actually called Gojira, kind of like Asinine. And like the band, I bet he got increasingly more popular with time too, although I wasn’t personally around to see it. Over the years, he battled many other monsters and won the hearts of millions of misguided fans all over the world. He also had many different looks and designs, like all the members that were in the band over the years. Psychostick may not be a bunch of Japanese guys in monster suits, but they’re pretty cool anyway.

So the point of all this is that Psychostick = Godzilla. Except, Psychostick isn’t going to put $200 million into a project that Hollywood is just going to screw up…

Source: http://psychostick.com/bio.php