Stroke 9 is an American

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

band formed in

Marin County, California Marin County is a County (United States), county located in the northwestern part of the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 262,231. Its county seat and ...

, in 1989.

History

The band formed due to a "Rock Band" class at

Marin Academy Marin Academy (familiarly known as MA) is a private college preparatory high school in San Rafael, California. Located on the campus that for decades housed the San Rafael Military Academy prior to its closure, Marin Academy was founded in 19 ...

San Rafael, California San Rafael ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for "Raphael (archangel), St. Raphael", ) is a city and the county seat of Marin County, California, Marin County, California, United States. The city is located in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), ...

. In 1990, as a project, students Luke Esterkyn, Greg Gueldner, Tom Haddad and Kirsten Stromberg went to Jim Reitzel's Right Sole Studio in

Kentfield, California Kentfield (formerly Ross Landing, Tamalpais, and Kent) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Marin County, California, United States, just north of San Francisco. Kentfield is located southwest of downtown San Rafael, at an elevation of 115 fee ...

. They produced a

demo Demo, usually short for demonstration, may refer to: Music and film *Demo (music), a song typically recorded for reference rather than release * ''Demo'' (Behind Crimson Eyes), a 2004 recording by the band Behind Crimson Eyes * ''Demo'' (Deafhea ...

containing five songs, including "Blindness", "Wild", and "Dream Song". After spring that year, they took their final half-semester off during Senior Project to form the band Stroke 9 for full credit. They set up in Esterkyn's basement, and started writing songs for their next demo. Stroke 9 had their first "official" live performance at Caffe Nuvo in San Anselmo. They split up for the summer and didn't get back together until the summer of 1991. Haddad and Stromberg had no desire to revive Stroke 9, so Esterkyn and Gueldner recruited old schoolmates John McDermott and Stephen Heath. They moved from the basement to the garage and played publicly anywhere that they could. The band put out two independent releases in 1993 and 1995. Eric Stock began filling in on drums in April 1997; Stock was a New York transplant who had previously toured with Modern English. After signing to

Universal Records Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch–American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

, the band released '' Nasty Little Thoughts'' in 1999, which charted in the US, yielded two rock radio hits, a re-release of "Little Black Backpack" (originally released in Bumper to Bumper) and "Letters", and was certified Gold by the RIAA on April 21, 2000. The band appeared in the film ''

EDtv ''EDtv'' is a 1999 American satirical comedy film directed by Ron Howard. An adaptation of the Quebecois film ''Louis 19, King of the Airwaves (Louis 19, le roi des ondes)'' (1994), it stars Matthew McConaughey, Jenna Elfman, Woody Harrelson, ...

'' as part of the promotion of ''Nasty Little Thoughts''. A second album on Universal followed, entitled '' Rip It Off''. The album's art cover was made to resemble a bootleg

CD-R CD-R (Compact disc-recordable) is a digital optical disc storage format. A CD-R disc is a compact disc that can be written once and read arbitrarily many times. CD-R discs (CD-Rs) are readable by most CD readers manufactured prior to the i ...

, similar to that of

System of a Down System of a Down (also known as SoaD or simply System) is an Armenian-American heavy metal band formed in Glendale, California, in 1994. Since 1997, the band has consisted of Serj Tankian (lead vocals, keyboards); Daron Malakian (guitar, voc ...

's ''

Steal This Album! ''Steal This Album!'' is the third studio album by Armenian-American heavy metal band System of a Down, released on November 26, 2002, by American Recordings and Columbia Records. Produced by Rick Rubin and Daron Malakian, it peaked at number ...

'', which was released about a year later. The album was not promoted heavily, and its lead single, "

Kick Some Ass "Kick Some Ass" is a song recorded by the American rock band Stroke 9. It was a single released from their 2002 album '' Rip It Off''.Campus Activities Programming', volume 37, issues 5-8 (2004). NACA. p. 59. The song peaked at #36 on the ''Billbo ...

", was less successful at radio. "Kick Some Ass" appeared in

Kevin Smith Kevin Patrick Smith (born August 2, 1970) is an American filmmaker, actor, comedian, comic book writer, author, YouTuber, and podcaster. He came to prominence with the low-budget comedy buddy film '' Clerks'' (1994), which he wrote, directed, ...

's ''

Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back ''Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back'' is a 2001 American satirical stoner buddy comedy film written and directed by Kevin Smith, the fifth to be set in his View Askewniverse, a growing collection of characters and settings that developed out of h ...

'' during a montage of Jay and Silent Bob flying around the country to attack message board users who bashed them. Late in 2003, the band split with Universal and announced plans to release its next album, ''All In'', independently. The band released ''

The Last of the International Playboys ''The Last of the International Playboys'' is the sixth full-length studio album from San Francisco-based alternative rock band Stroke 9. It was released on June 5, 2007. The album was the band's first in which bass player Jens Funke contribut ...

'' on June 5, 2007, on Rock Ridge Records. Stroke 9 also recorded "Tap Tap Domination" for the iPhone OS game ''

Tap Tap Revenge ''Tap Tap Revenge'', also known as ''Tap Tap Revenge Classic'' was a music game created by Nate True, and developed and published by Tapulous for iOS in July 2008. It is the first game in Tapulous' ''Tap Tap'' series. Development for the gam ...

''. It features "The Yeah Song" as a free downloadable track. On November 14, 2019, the band announced via their social media a new single "Calafrio" as well as a new album of the same name. The album was released January 17, 2020. During the summer of 2021, Stroke 9 released three new tracks, and a year later continued to release new songs, one of which was written for the film ''Losers of Eden''.

Members

{, class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" , - ! Position !! Current !! Original Universal !! Original Rock Band , - , style="text-align:left;", Guitar & Vocals , , colspan=3 , Luke Esterkyn , - , style="text-align:left;", Drums , , Greg Gueldner , , Eric Stock , , Greg Gueldner , - , style="text-align:left;", Guitar , , colspan=2 , John McDermott , , , - , style="text-align:left;", Keyboard & Vocals , , colspan=2 {{n/a , , Kirsten Stromberg , - , style="text-align:left;", Bass , , Jens Funke , , Greg Gueldner , , Tom Haddad

Discography

Studio albums

*'' Boy Meets Girl'' (1993) *''

Bumper to Bumper ''Bumper to Bumper'' is the second studio album from San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern ...

'' (1995) *'' Nasty Little Thoughts'' (

, 1999)

Billboard Top 200 The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine and is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artis ...

peak No. 83 *'' Rip It Off'' (Universal, 2002) *'' All In'' ( Rock Ridge Records, 2004) *''

'' ( Rock Ridge Records, 2007) *''Calafrio'' (2020)

Demo albums

*''Bad Language Makes for Bad Feelings'' (1990) *''Music About Friends, Acquaintances, and People We Don't Even Know'' (1991)

Compilation albums

*'' Hidden Treasures'' ( Rock Ridge Records, 2005) nreleased tracks & other demos*'' Cafe Cuts'' ( Rock Ridge Records, 2006) coustic versions of popular songs from their discography*''Songs We Didn't Love'' (Released independently, 2020) nreleased and unfinished demos

Extended plays

*''Jessica Album Part 1 (EP)'' (2010)

Charting singles

{, class="wikitable" style="margin:auto;" , - ! style="width:28px;" rowspan="2", Year ! style="width:150px;" rowspan="2", Title ! colspan="4", Chart Positions class=artist, id=p372374/charts-awards/billboard-singles, pure_url=yes Billboard Singles

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

! style="width:100px;" rowspan="2", Album , - ! style="width:86px;",

US Modern Rock Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks (1988–2009) and Alternative Songs (2009–2020)) is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in ''Billboard'' magazine since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-played ...

! style="width:86px;", US Top 40 Mainstream ! style="width:86px;", CAN
Alt. ! style="width:86px;", NZ , - , 1999 , "Little Black Backpack" , style="text-align:center;", 6 , style="text-align:center;", 39 , style="text-align:center;", 3 , style="text-align:center;", 16 , '' Nasty Little Thoughts'' , - , 2000 , "Letters" , style="text-align:center;", 27 , style="text-align:center;", – , style="text-align:center;", – , style="text-align:center;", – , '' Nasty Little Thoughts'' , - , 2001 , "

" , style="text-align:center;", 36 , style="text-align:center;", – , style="text-align:center;", – , style="text-align:center;", – , '' Rip It Off''

References

{{Reflist

External links

Stroke 9 official website
{{Stroke 9 {{Rock Ridge Music {{Authority control Musical groups from San Francisco Musical groups established in 1989 Alternative rock groups from California Rock Ridge Music artists