After 12 years of Stabbing Westward, members of the Chicago industrial rock quartet are moving in different directions, the group announced on Saturday. The decision to disband was made a week prior to the announcement, but the band wanted the termination to marinate for a bit before going public, according to the group’s manager.
Singer Christopher Hall, drummer Andrew Kubiszewski, bassist Jim Sellers and programmer/multi-instrumentalist Walter Flakus posted a farewell note on Stabbing Westward’s Web site: “Thank you very much for all the support and love. We are very sad and, as well, very excited about all our futures.”
The future plans aren’t yet known, though it’s likely that they’ll stay in the musical realm, their manager said.
Three years after Stabbing Westward’s 1993 debut, Ungod, an LP that featured Stuart Zechman on guitar and David Suycott on drums, the group found success with Wither Blister Burn & Peel, thanks to the hit “What Do I Have to Do?” The follow-up single, “Shame,” failed to reach its predecessor’s bar, though the LP went on to sell more than 717,000 copies, according to SoundScan, while the band latched onto the reunion tours of Kiss and the Sex Pistols. They also contributed to the soundtracks of 1995’s “Johnny Mnemonic,” 1996’s “Escape From L.A.” and 1997’s “Spawn.”
Darkest Days, released in 1998, fared poorly despite efforts to make the volatile “Save Yourself” a widespread alternative anthem, and the band was dropped from the Columbia Records roster by 2000.
Stabbing Westward returned in 2001 with a self-titled record on a new label, Koch. The LP also featured the addition of touring guitarist Derrek Hawkins. But with their forth album selling only 117,000 copies since its May release, an “amicable” split with the label was agreed to by year’s end.
Stabbing Westward were working on new material for a fifth album, which they had hoped to release this year. Those songs are likely to appear on new endeavors from Hall and Kubiszewski, with each song reverting to its primary author, the manager said.
