Slapstick is an American punk-
ska
Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walki ...
fusion band from the Chicago area that was primarily active from 1993 to 1996. Started by a group of friends from the
Elgin area, the group took inspiration from
Operation Ivy
Operation Ivy was the eighth series of American nuclear tests, coming after '' Tumbler-Snapper'' and before '' Upshot–Knothole''. The two explosions were staged in late 1952 at Enewetak Atoll in the Pacific Proving Ground in the Marshall Is ...
and the guttural punk vocals of
Crimpshrine
Crimpshrine was an American punk rock band from Berkeley, California. The group was formed in 1982 by Aaron Cometbus, founder of the seminal punk rock zine ''Cometbus'', and future Operation Ivy vocalist Jesse Michaels. They grew out of the East ...
. Though they had made the decision to break up a couple of weeks beforehand, their original final show was October 5, 1996 at the Metro with
Less Than Jake
Less Than Jake is an American ska punk band from Gainesville, Florida, formed in 1992. The band consists of Chris DeMakes (guitars, vocals), Roger Lima (bass, vocals), Matt Yonker (drums), Buddy Schaub (trombone), and Peter "JR" Wasilewski (saxoph ...
and
Skankin' Pickle
Skankin' Pickle was an American ska punk band formed in San Jose, California that was active from 1989 to 1997.
Biography
Skankin' Pickle first formed in December 1988, made up of students from Westmont High School and Los Gatos High School. T ...
. Since disbanding, Slapstick has periodically reunited to perform shows for various reasons, including benefits and anniversaries. The band is known for being the root of the "Slapstick Family Tree", a group of musical projects which spawned from members of Slapstick, including
Alkaline Trio
Alkaline Trio is an American punk rock band from Chicago, Illinois. Since 2001, the band has consisted of Matt Skiba (vocals, guitar), Dan Andriano (vocals, bass) and Derek Grant (drums, vocals).
Founded in late 1996 by Skiba, bassist Rob Do ...
,
The Lawrence Arms
The Lawrence Arms are an American punk rock band from Chicago, formed in 1999. They have released seven full-length albums and toured extensively.
Band history Pre-history
Prior to forming the Lawrence Arms, the three band members were active i ...
,
The Broadways,
Tuesday
Tuesday is the day of the week between Monday and Wednesday. According to international standard ISO 8601, Monday is the first day of the week; thus, Tuesday is the second day of the week. According to some commonly used calendars, however, ...
, Duvall,
Colossal,
The Honor System and
The Falcon.
Members
Final (and ‘current’) members
*
Brendan Kelly: vocals
*
Dan Andriano
Daniel Michael Andriano (born June 27, 1977) is an American singer and musician. He is best known as the co-lead vocalist and bassist of the punk rock band Alkaline Trio, with whom he has recorded nine studio albums to date.
Andriano also rec ...
: bass, backing vocals
* Dan Hanaway: trumpet, backing vocals
* Matt Stamps: guitar
* Rob Kellenberger: drums, backing vocals
* Peter Anna: trombone
Former members
* Karl Henkelmann: trumpet
* Aaron Flaks: trombone
Releases
Slapstick played typically fast-paced
ska
Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walki ...
with gruff vocals, which set them apart from most other bands of the time. The band was active until 1996. They have 2 full-length releases: the album ''Lookit!'' was released on
Mike Park
Mike Park is a Korean American musician and progressive activist. His musical ventures include Skankin' Pickle for whom he both played the saxophone and sang, The Chinkees, The Bruce Lee Band, and Ogikubo Station, as well as an acoustic solo proj ...
's now-defunct Dill Records, and later on his next and still-active label
Asian Man Records
Asian may refer to:
* Items from or related to the continent of Asia:
** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia
** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia
** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...
; and a
self-titled compilation (also referred to as ''25 Songs
or ''Discography'') was released on Asian Man, featuring the songs from ''Lookit!'', a few unreleased songs, and 6 new songs that were intended to be released on a 10" record had the band not split.
Prior to the release of these albums, the band had released two 7" vinyl EPs: ''Superhero'', which came in various colours of vinyl and with two different covers; and ''Crooked'', which featured 4 songs later released on ''Lookit!'' (and by extension the eponymous compilation). ''Superhero'' was originally self-released, and later repressed and released alongside ''Crooked'' on
Dyslexic Records. A few songs were released exclusively on now out-of-print compilations, and thus remain unavailable. The band also released a split with Tommyrot, and a few demo tapes containing otherwise unreleased songs. Thus, the self-titled 'discography' is not technically a complete collection.
Breakup and legacy
Reason
Slapstick broke up because we couldn't write songs together anymore.
Dan (Hanaway) or I would bring a song in and Matt, Danny and Rob wouldn't like it.
Conversely, those three would bring in songs and Dan and I wouldn't like
them. The creative process stagnated. it has a lot to do with the fact
that none of us really ever liked ska a lot. It was a phase for all of
us and once we got through the phase, writing ska became hard to do (not
to mention silly). We had different ideas about what direction Slapstick
should go, and there was no other resolution. We are all still great
friends though.
- ''Brendan Kelly''
Subsequent projects by (ex-)members
The members of Slapstick went on to form a number of notable groups. Andriano, Stamps and Kellenberger formed
Tuesday
Tuesday is the day of the week between Monday and Wednesday. According to international standard ISO 8601, Monday is the first day of the week; thus, Tuesday is the second day of the week. According to some commonly used calendars, however, ...
. Likewise, Kelly and Hanaway formed
The Broadways with Rob DePaola and
Tricky Dick guitarist
Chris McCaughan. When Tuesday broke up in 1999, Andriano further focused his efforts on the
Alkaline Trio
Alkaline Trio is an American punk rock band from Chicago, Illinois. Since 2001, the band has consisted of Matt Skiba (vocals, guitar), Dan Andriano (vocals, bass) and Derek Grant (drums, vocals).
Founded in late 1996 by Skiba, bassist Rob Do ...
, who he had joined in late 1997. The Broadways broke up in late 1998, after which Kelly and McCaughan started the still-active
The Lawrence Arms
The Lawrence Arms are an American punk rock band from Chicago, formed in 1999. They have released seven full-length albums and toured extensively.
Band history Pre-history
Prior to forming the Lawrence Arms, the three band members were active i ...
, and a little later Hanaway and DePaola formed
The Honor System. In 2004, Kelly and Andriano collaborated once again in the Chicago
supergroup Supergroup or super group may refer to:
* Supergroup (music), a music group formed by artists who are already notable or respected in their fields
* Supergroup (physics), a generalization of groups, used in the study of supersymmetry
* Supergroup ...
The Falcon. Kellenberger later formed
Colossal, and briefly played with the
Smoking Popes
Smoking Popes is an American pop punk band from the northwest suburbs of Chicago. They are composed of brothers Matt Caterer (bass), Josh Caterer (lead vocals/guitar) and Eli Caterer (guitar/backing vocals) and Mike Felumlee (drums).
History ...
. Trombonist Pete Anna played in
Less Than Jake
Less Than Jake is an American ska punk band from Gainesville, Florida, formed in 1992. The band consists of Chris DeMakes (guitars, vocals), Roger Lima (bass, vocals), Matt Yonker (drums), Buddy Schaub (trombone), and Peter "JR" Wasilewski (saxoph ...
from 1998-2001.
After years of refusing, and occasionally mocking, fans' requests to play songs from their old bands, The Lawrence Arms performed Slapstick's "Broken Down" and songs by The Broadways at the Asian Man Records 11th anniversary show. They also performed these songs on their 2007 tour, in which their own side-projects,
Sundowner and The Falcon, served as support acts; this was probably to somewhat round out the 'family tree' aspect of these shows.
Reunions
On November 23, 1997, Slapstick reunited for two final shows at the Fireside Bowl in Chicago. The shows were a benefit for a family in need, and they ended up raising over $7,000, both selling out. In 2006 Asian Man Records released a DVD of the second show, filmed by bassist Dan Andriano's dad. It also features optional video commentary by Brendan Kelly and Rob Kellenberger.
On June 15, 2011, all the original members of Slapstick reunited at Slim's in San Francisco, for the
Asian Man Records
Asian may refer to:
* Items from or related to the continent of Asia:
** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia
** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia
** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...
15th Anniversary Festival. After two other reunited Asian Man Records bands –
The Chinkees
The Chinkees are an American ska punk band fronted by Mike Park (formerly of Skankin' Pickle). The group debuted with 1998's ''The Chinkees Are Coming!'', and followed with 1999's ''Peace Through Music'' and 2002's ''Searching for a Brighter Fut ...
and
MU330
MU330 are an American ska punk band from St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Formed by students of St. Louis University High School in 1988, MU330 played a self-described brand of music called "Psycho Ska", high energy ska punk marked by manic ...
– opened, Slapstick played an hour-long set, constantly poking fun at how old they were, how little they like to play ska, and how they were "uh, Slapstick, I guess". Many fans requested Lawrence Arms songs from Kelly, who said this was like his wife asking him to put his pants back on. Late in the set, a drunken
Matt Skiba of fellow Chicago punk rock band
Alkaline Trio
Alkaline Trio is an American punk rock band from Chicago, Illinois. Since 2001, the band has consisted of Matt Skiba (vocals, guitar), Dan Andriano (vocals, bass) and Derek Grant (drums, vocals).
Founded in late 1996 by Skiba, bassist Rob Do ...
joined Slapstick on stage, slurring, gushing, giving hugs to all the band members, and even engaging in drunken humour at risk of misinterpretation.
In May 2012, frontman
Brendan Kelly announced on his personal site that Slapstick would again be reuniting, this time to perform at
Riot Fest Chicago later that year.
References
{{Authority control
Asian Man Records artists
Punk rock groups from Illinois
Musical groups from Illinois
Musical groups from Chicago
American ska punk musical groups
American punk rock groups
American punk rock musicians
Ska punk musical groups