STNNNG

Last updated
STNNNG
Also known asThe Stunning
Origin Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
Genres Post-punk, noise rock
Years active20032017
LabelsModern Radio
Members
  • Chris Besinger
  • Adam Burt
  • Jesse Kwakenat
  • Nathan Nelson
  • Ben Ivascu
  • J. Michael Ward

STNNNG (pronounced 'Stunning') was an American noise rock band from Minneapolis, Minnesota. [1] Formed in 2003, [1] they played over 400 live shows in the United States, England, France, and Belgium. STNNNG released four full-length albums on the Twin Cities-based Modern Radio record label before splitting up in 2017.

Contents

History

For their first two years as a band, STNNNG performed as the quartet of Chris Besinger (vocals), Adam Burt (guitar), Nathan Nelson (guitar), and J. Michael Ward (drums). Their first releases, 2004's split 7-inch with Chicago's The Means and 2005's debut album, Dignified Sissy, were recorded with this lineup. The cover of Dignified Sissy features Bear Attack, a painting by historical artist Mort Kunstler.

STNNNG took first place in the annual "Picked To Click" band poll in Minneapolis' City Pages in 2005. [2]

STNNNG's second album, Fake Fake, was the first to feature Jesse Kwakenat (also of Heroine Sheiks) on bass. [3] Fake Fake was recorded and engineered by Mike Lust at Lust Manor in Chicago.

STNNNG's 3rd full-length album, The Smoke of My Will, was released in October 2010. [1] [4] The album was the band's first after the departure of original drummer J. Michael Ward in August 2009. He was replaced by Ben Ivascu (also known for playing drums in Poliça, Marijuana Death Squads, and Signal to Trust) as a permanent member.

In February 2013, STNNNG released Empire Inward, an eight-song album recorded at Electrical Audio studio in Chicago, Illinois, and engineered and mixed by Steve Albini.

In 2017 they released Veterans of Pleasure, the band's final album, on which they again worked with Albini. [5] [6]

STNNNG announced their immediate disbanding after a show in September 2017. [7]

The band's final release was a split EP with Child Bite, released in November 2017. [8]

Discography

Albums

Singles & Compilations

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mars (band)</span> American rock band

Mars were an American, New York City-based no wave experimental noise rock band, formed in 1975 when China Burg and artist Nancy Arlen (drums) brought Mark Cunningham (bass) and vocalist Sumner Crane together to talk about music. They were joined briefly by guitarist Rudolph Grey. The band played one live gig under the name China before changing it to Mars. They played a mixture of angular compositions and freeform noise music jams, featuring surrealist lyrics and non-standard drumming. All the members were said to be completely untrained in music before forming the band.

Steve Albini is an American musician, audio engineer and music journalist, whose many recording projects have exerted an important influence on independent music since the 1980s. Most of his projects from 1997 onwards were recorded at the Electrical Audio studios in Chicago. Albini is occasionally credited as a record producer, though he dislikes the term to describe his work, preferring the term "recording engineer" when credited, and refuses to take royalties from bands recording in his studio, as he feels it would be unethical to do so.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Lodger (band)</span> English indie pop band

The Lodger are an indie pop band from Leeds, England, formed in 2004.

Revelation Records is an independent record label focusing originally and primarily on hardcore punk. The label is known for releases by bands such as Youth of Today, Warzone, Sick of It All, Quicksand, Side By Side, Chain of Strength, Shelter, Judge, No for an Answer, Gorilla Biscuits, and End of a Year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Datblygu</span> Welsh experimental rock group

Datblygu were a Welsh experimental rock group formed in 1982. They are regarded as a catalyst of the new wave of Welsh rock in the early 1980s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Youth of Today</span> American hardcore punk band

Youth of Today is an American hardcore punk band, initially active from 1985 to 1990 before reforming in 2010. The band played a major role in establishing the "Youth Crew" subculture of hardcore, both espousing and evolving the philosophies of the straight edge and vegetarian lifestyles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allison Wolfe</span> Musical artist

Allison Wolfe is a Los Angeles-based singer, songwriter, writer, and podcaster. As a founding member and lead singer of the punk rock band Bratmobile, she became one of the leading voices of the riot grrl movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leather Nun</span> Swedish rock band

The Leather Nun are a Swedish rock group. Careening from garage rock to goth and pop-rock, Leather Nun became cult heroes in their native land and wide abroad.

Breaking Circus was a post-punk band from the 1980s, based in Chicago and later Minneapolis, founded by guitarist and vocalist Steve Björklund.

Flour is the musical project and nickname of Minneapolis musician Pete Conway, who wrote songs and played bass guitar in the bands Rifle Sport and Breaking Circus until the mid-1980s. He released four solo albums on Touch and Go Records from 1988 to 1994 on which he plays most of the instruments himself. Flour toured as a live band twice with a lineup that featured ex-Big Black guitarist Steve Albini on bass and former Breaking Circus percussionist Todd Trainer on drums before they went on to form the band Shellac. Flour's solo recordings feature the drum machine sound characteristic of Big Black, which was also toyed with by many other independent rock bands in the Midwest during that time period. Flour's third solo album Machinery Hill was described by Allmusic's Richard Foss as "an oddball masterpiece of grinding guitar, fluid bass, hammering drums, and very creative ideas".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Haughm</span> American singer

John Haughm is an American musician and artist. He is most known for being the founder, guitarist, and vocalist of the band Agalloch, and later Pillorian. He is also a designer who has created packaging and merchandise for several record labels and bands, including every project in which he has performed. From 2008 to 2018 he was the co-owner, creative director, and curator of the Dämmerung Arthouse.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rachel Carns</span> American drummer

Rachel Carns is an American musician, composer, artist and performer living in Olympia, Washington, U.S. Raised in small-town Wisconsin, she went on to study painting and drawing at Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York City, where she completed her B.F.A. in 1991. Carns began her career as drummer for Kicking Giant, later collaborating with several bands, including The Need. She is a celebrated graphic designer, working under the name System Lux, and plays drums and percussion with experimental performance art group Cloud Eye Control.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Intelligence</span> American rock band

The Intelligence is an American rock band from Seattle, formed in 1999. Founded by multi-instrumentalist Lars Finberg, the band currently consists of Finberg, alongside Dave Hernandez (guitar), Drew Church (bass) and Kaanan Tupper (drums).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Molly Neuman</span> American drummer

Molly Neuman is an American drummer, writer and publisher, originally from the Washington, D.C. area who has performed in such influential bands as Bratmobile, the Frumpies, and the PeeChees. She was a pioneer of the early-to-mid '90s riot grrrl movement, penning the zine which coined the phrase in its title. She also co-wrote Girl Germs with Bratmobile singer Allison Wolfe while the two were students at the University of Oregon; that title later became the name of a Bratmobile song.

Cheer-Accident is an American progressive rock ensemble headed by Thymme Jones. Jones took the name of the band from a Hallmark Cards shopping display, and first formed the group in 1981 with singer Jim Drummond and drummer Mike Greenlees.

The Green Pajamas are a musical group from Seattle, Washington. They formed in the spring of 1984 when Jeff Kelly and Joe Ross recorded and released their first album, Summer Of Lust. They are probably best known for the regional hit single "Kim the Waitress".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Extreme Smoke</span>

Extreme Smoke 57 are known as the first grindcore band from Slovenia. The band was formed in early 1990 in the city of Nova Gorica. Their influences include bands such as Napalm Death, Sore Throat, Fear of God, Seven Minutes of Nausea and Agathocles. Band members have played in different grindcore/noisecore/crust/drone/hardcore acts like Patareni, Deeper Than World, Cadlag, PureH, Mozak, Panic Overdose, Absent Minded, Ear Slaughter, Diarrhoea, Strobodeath and Psihoza. Extreme Smoke 57 split in 1992, but reformed in 2008. Since their reunion the band has performed on some well-known European music festivals such as Metaldays, Obscene Extreme, EXIT and Punk Rock holiday. In January 2016 "Corruption deteriorates" was released by band itself. In July 2017 their latest studio material was released as a split 7-inch EP with Belgian grindcore veterans Agathocles. In March 2018 a compilation CD that includes studio recordings from 1991 to 2018 was released on Independent Woman records from New Zealand. The compilation comes with bonus mini CD that includes their final show before split in 1992.

Mule was an American punk blues band from Michigan, active in the early 1990s. Formed by former members of Wig and Laughing Hyenas, their music incorporated elements of hardcore punk, blues-rock, and country music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matt Schulz</span> American drummer

Matt Schulz is an American drummer who was in the past a member of Enon, Lab Partners, Obits and Let's Crash, and is currently active as a member of Holy Fuck, COVERBAND, SAVAK, Lake Ruth, Aperiodic, and Roid Rage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">-ismist Recordings</span> American record label founded in Nebraska

-ismist Recordings was a Lincoln, Nebraska-based independent record label founded in 1992 by Dan Schlissel. Over the 1990s, -ismist released nearly 80 albums and singles by bands including Killdozer, Season to Risk, and House of Large Sizes. It is most widely known for comedy albums by Lewis Black and Doug Stanhope, as well as Iowa metal band Slipknot's 1996 debut/demo, Mate.Feed.Kill.Repeat. By the early 2000s, after Slipknot had moved on to major label Roadrunner Records and Schlissel had found greater success with comedians like Black and Stanhope than with indie rock, he changed his focus to comedy albums on a new, Minneapolis-based label, Stand Up! Records, which eventually replaced -ismist entirely.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Roberts, Chris (2010) "The musical chaos of STNNNG", MPR News, October 22, 2010. Retrieved August 11, 2018
  2. Terhark, Chuck (September 28, 2005). "You Slay Me: Former Oddjobbers turn dark days into avant-rap as Kill the Vultures". City Pages . Minneapolis–Saint Paul. Archived from the original on 2006-06-29.
  3. Peterson, Ben "Fake Fake Review", Allmusic. Retrieved August 11, 2018
  4. "STNNNG behind the music - Page 1 - Music - Minneapolis - City Pages". www.citypages.com. Archived from the original on 2010-10-13.
  5. Zuckerman, Esther; McLevy, Alex; Wanserski, Nick (2017) "A screen print artist, an adorable supercut, and a new album from an old favorite", The A.V. Club, April 29, 2017. Retrieved August 11, 2018
  6. Vellucci, Justin (2017) "Album Review: STNNNG, "Veterans of Pleasure"", popdose.com, March 31, 2017. Retrieved August 11, 2018
  7. Lunney, Tigger (September 6, 2017). "STNNNG says goodbye and Oxbow digs in deep at a fierce Skyway show". City Pages . Archived from the original on 2017-09-09. Retrieved 2023-08-15.
  8. "Premiere: STNNNG / Child Bite Split EP", November 9, 2017. Retrieved August 11, 2018