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Strung Out cleans up in St. Louis

Strung Out stepped onstage and took their positions while the lights dimmed and the crowd waited impatiently for the show to begin. A few vicious chords assaulted the fans' ears like shattering bottles as the group began the night's powerful performance.

When the notes first hit the air, the crowd started jumping and screaming - head banging and moshing. These Urbana fans were showing no mercy. Anyone watching knew that there was no place they would rather be.

Strung Out is touring in promotion of its newest CD, "Exile In Oblivion," which was released Nov. 2 by Fat Wreck Chords. Critics and listeners have been calling it the band's best record yet.

"Eleven years into our career to put out what we all feel is our best record, too," guitarist Jake Kiley said. "It's kind of the exception because a lot of bands seem to put out their best stuff earlier on. A lot of [the album] had to do with experience and working with each other, but also bringing in Matt Hyde to work on this record."

Producer Matt Hyde, a familiar name for Slayer fans, had a very positive effect on the outcome of the album, according to the band.

"He wasn't trying to change us or mold us into something, he had the great talent of just seeing what we were doing and taking it and harnessing the better parts of it," Kiley said.

Strung Out's music mixes heavy, melodic guitar riffs from Rob Ramos and Jake Kiley, the intense bass work of Chris Aiken, fast drum beats of Jordan Burns and emotionally charged lyrics by Jason Cruz. With their new release, the band worked harder to achieve musically what they never tried before.

The music itself is not very radio-friendly. Instead, it tends to lift listeners off their feet and then knocks them back to the ground at full force when they least expect it.

"I think there's a lot of testosterone in the music, you know, and a lot of the time it's so heavy and hard, I try to counter it by writing stuff that's a little more sensitive and lets out a lot of emotion," singer/lyricist Jason Cruz said.

Still, the one thing that keeps fans coming back for more is each new album. Each product has a different feel and reaches the listener on a different level than before, while still sounding like Strung Out.

Another reason why the fans like them is because they don't try to force political views on anyone, such as many bands - new and old - that fall into that trend.

"I don't ever think we're a political band," said Cruz. "I think that's something dangerous to get into. You should let the listeners decide for themselves. It's just not very easy to ignore the things going around you, and people seem to think that just because you write about that that you're political."

The "Exile In Oblivion" tour started in Missouri the day the new album was released. On the way, the band's van broke down in Flagstaff, AZ. They had to rent an RV to make it to the show.

"You never know what's going to happen, even before the show starts," said Kiley. "We almost missed our first show because of that. You have to be ready for everything to fall apart. We've ridden in the back of Ryder trucks with just our gear and us in the freezing cold."

Strung Out has toured all around the world and all over the United States with bands such as NOFX, Pennywise and Rise Against, but perhaps the most well known band they have played with was Metallica, a show the band was unaware of until the day of the show in London.

The Canopy in Urbana was the third stop on the tour list, and was added only about a week in advance.

The late booking of the show gave The Canopy very little time to prepare publicity for the show, so the turnout was pretty small, but those who attended were definitely not disappointed.

The band played songs from their new album, such as "Analog" and "Her Name In Blood," but they also played some of their older songs, including "Bring Out Your Dead," "Too Close To See," and "Ultimate Devotion."

As for the other aspects of the show, the opening bands certainly did not disappoint either.

Last of the Famous, a new pop-punk band out of New York, started the crowd off right with lyrics dished out by Swedish front man Daniel Larsson, giving the music an edge to match the crunchy guitars and fast rhythm. Their music can be heard on their label's website (www.456entertainment.com).

The second band that played was Love Is Red (www.loveisred.com), a hardcore band with an aggressive sound, and they were definitely not for the timid. They got the crowd jumping and screaming to their energetic lyrics right from the beginning of their set.

Strung Out plays the Creepy Crawl in St. Louis, Thurs. Nov. 18, doors open at 6:45; Tickets are $12 (21+), $14 (20 and under); other tour dates and media clips at www.strungout.com

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