Tim Gaines to play bass with Tourniquet at the Flevo Festival in Holland, August 15, 2008. Rock out with 10,000 other fans as Tourniquet headlines the Mainstage at the Flevo Festival - Friday, August 15, 2008. Join Ted, Luke, Aaron... and Tim Gaines on bass for an evening of Tourniquet classics! "Tim did an awesome job on the Tourniquet tune "Claustrospelunker" off our Crawl To China album, Ted says, "and we are looking forward to sharing the stage with him and just hanging out in Holland."
[May 23, 2008] Note from Ted:
"Hi - thanks so much for the cool page on Tourniquet - well done! My wife is from the Philippines - beautiful country - hope to play there sometime!"
take care, Ted Kirkpatrick
TOURNIQUET is a Christian neo-classical progressive thrash metal band, formed in 1989, Los Angeles, California, USA, by drummer Ted Kirkpatrick, vocalist Guy Ritter, and guitarist-vocalist Gary Lenaire. The group was one of many bands who were, at the time, affiliated with a church group called Sanctuary - the rock and roll refuge in Los Angeles. Kirkpatrick had formerly played in the Chicago doom metal group Trouble on their Run to the Light tour.
To date, with seven full length albums, two EP's, one acoustic album, one "Best of" album, and six videos later, the members of Tourniquet remain committed to communicating the message of the Gospel through music. Tourniquet has been the recipient of numerous awards and accolades, including HM magazine's Favorite Band, two CCM magazine #1 Rock Singles, many #1 Metal Singles, and six Dove Award nominations. They have appeared in countless magazine, newspaper, and online publications. Known for their intense live show, their fans have been known to drive (or fly) long distances just to see the band play. As the popularity of the band increases, so does the opportunity to play international shows in Europe and South America, as well as performing in the U.S. The success of their "acoustic unplugged" shows has further advanced their strong reputation for musical integrity and versatility.
LYRICALLY - influences span a wide range-everything from Old Testatment narratives to medical allegories to Edgar Allan Poe type descriptive horror. Tourniquet has also tackled some important, unique and often controversial social issues as well. Ark of Suffering, from their very first release, created a lot of attention by addressing the biblical perspective against animal abuse. Ruminating Virulence offers hope to the severely disabled. Twilight addresses the neglect of the elderly. Most importantly, all social issues are balanced with the biblical perspective.
MUSICALLY - the span of influences is no less varied. Tourniquet's music has been classified in many different ways: from hardcore to hard rock, from technical metal to speed metal, from alternative to groove. As Tourniquet's music blends elements of all these styles, two things stand out...melody and originality. In fact the melodic incorporation of classical music into many guitar riffs has become a trademark of "the Tourniquet sound". Finally, as people, their approachability and respect for their fans lends itself to creating a comfortable common ground for discussing everything from Bach to Babylon.
"To define Tourniquet is to not define us, " says founding member and drummer, Ted Kirkpatrick. "It has been our great privilege to not be put in a box. We have had the freedom to experiment with new musical sounds because we haven't been confined to one musical style. Yet in the midst of all the variety, there will always be a basis for who Tourniquet is - an extremely aggressive, heavy band."
"In order for us to reach the lost, we have to attract people to our music," Ted says, "When they respect us as musicians, the chances are greater that they'll listen to the lyrics. We hear all the time about Christians who use our music as a tool to witness to their non-Christian friends, and they wouldn't dare do that unless they felt good about the music."
Much of the influence for Tourniquet's sound comes from classical music, which Ted Kirkpatrick believes represents "the epitome of what can be achieved with the arrangement of musical notes and rhythms. Bach and Beethoven proved that heavy music can be melodic and emotional, and that both beautiful and ugly sounds combined can produce a complete musical statement. These extremes - beauty and ugliness, cacophonic dissonance and melodic harmony - are what we want to express in our music."
A reputation for uniquely crafted heavy music has helped Tourniquet build an intensely loyal following, with fans often driving or flying long distances just to see the band perform, or to catch one of the band's new acoustic sets. Also known for straight-forward lyrics and unexpected turns of phrases, Tourniquet demonstrates their diversity of expression with a range of lyrical influences spanning everything from Deuteronomy to Edgar Allan Poe. Principle songwriter Ted's way with words garnered him a vote of "Favorite Lyricist" with HM readers in 1994.
From the beginning, Ted based many of his song ideas on medical allegories for spiritual themes, thus the band's name. Technically, a "tourniquet" is a surgical device for arresting hemorrhage by compression of a blood vessel. Ted gives the band's definition: "We believe in a lifelong spiritual process by which a personal God, through the atoning blood, death, and resurrection of His only Son - Jesus Christ - can begin to stop the flow of going through life without knowing and serving our creator. He is our Tourniquet!"
The members of Tourniquet believe that lifelong spiritual process is something to be taken seriously everyday. This is evidenced in the song, "White Knucklin' the Rosary," a sarcasm-laden look at our self-centered prayer lives. Ted explained, "The natural tendency of our sinful nature is to trust in our own flesh and call on God only in times of emergency. We want to encourage people to get back to a daily practice of faith in God, through good times and bad.""
Ted had a chance to see the result of a Christian's faithfulness first-hand on a trip to New Guinea to collect butterflies, a surprising lifelong hobby which has carried this heavy-rockin' drummer around the world. Apparently, no American had ever been to the tiny mountain village Ted found himself in, because the natives didn't know what to make of the strange white man they were staring at. But an unknown missionary had brought the Gospel to the people there many years before, and Ted was able to sit down with a beat-up, out-of-tune guitar he found and sing, "What a Friend We Have in Jesus" with the handful of believers in the village church. "That was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for me," Ted says, "to see the fantastic effects of a missionary's love for the Lord, and the natives who now know the joy of loving and serving Christ because someone was faithful to God."
Another aspect of Tourniquet's mission to serve God faithfully is caring for his creation. The band members have filled a very active role in fighting animal abuse, appearing in many preservationist and animal rights magazines across the country, and even filming a video from their first album, Stop the Bleeding, for the song, "Ark of Suffering," which shows disturbing scenes of animal abuse interspersed with images of the band performing. The video received airplay on MTV with the song for a short time in 1991, in response to hundreds of requests from viewers. Ted also did an educational video with the National Antivivisection Society (NAVS) which detailed alternatives to the common practice of dissecting animals for educational purposes.
Tourniquet is truly a band with a mission - to use creative heavy music to deliver a message of strong, active faith to the world. "We see what we do as a privilege and a responsibility," Ted concludes. "We make music that we think people will enjoy, but over all, we make music to carry the message where it hasn't gone before."
VIDEOGRAPHY
2004 - Circadian Rhythms - The Drumming World of Ted Kirkpatrick
2003 - Ocular Digital DVD (Tourniquet Productions)
2000 - Video Biopsy 2000 (Tourniquet Productions)
1998 - Live in California (Tourniquet Productions)
1997 - Guitar Instructional Video (Tourniquet Productions)
1996 - The Unreleased Drum Solos (Tourniquet Productions)
1995 - Pushin Broom Video with "Bearing Gruesome Cargo" (Frontline)
1992 - Video Biopsy with "Ark of Suffering" (Frontline)
AWARDS / NOMINATIONS
2003, 1999, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 91, 90 - HM Magazine's Favorite Drummer of the Year (Ted Kirkpatrick)
2003 - HM Magazine's Favorite Lyricist of the Year (Ted Kirkpatrick)
HM Magazine's Favorite Band of the 90's
HM Magazine's Favorite Album of the 90's (Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance)
1999 - HM Magazine's Favorite Band of the Year
1999 - HM Magazine's Favorite Song of the Year ("Trivializing the Momentous...")
1999 - HM Magazine's Favorite Lyricist of the Year (Ted Kirkpatrick)
1995 - GMA Dove Award nomination for Metal Album of the Year for Vanishing Lessons
1995 - GMA Dove Award nomination for Metal Recorded Song of the Year for "Bearing Gruesome Cargo"
1997- 95,92, 91, 90 - HM Magazine's Favorite Band/Thrash Band/New Band of the Year
1994 - HM Magazine's Favorite Lyricist of the Year (Ted Kirkpatrick)
1994 - HM Magazine's Favorite Album of the Year for Vanishing Lessons
1992 - GMA Dove Award nomination for Metal Album of the Year for Psycho Surgery
1992 - GMA Dove Award nomination for Metal Recorded Song of the Year for "Psycho Surgery"
1992 - HM Magazine's Favorite Video of the Year for "Ark of Suffering"
1991 - GMA Dove Award nomination for Metal Recorded Song of the Year for "You Get What You Pray For"
1991 - GMA Dove Award nomination for Metal Album of the Year for Stop the Bleeding
1991 - Christian News Forum Contemporary Christian Music Award for Rock Video of the Year "Ark of Suffering"
1991 - HM Magazine's Favorite Album of the Year for Psycho Surgery
1991 - HM Magazine's Favorite Album of the Year for Stop the Bleeding
NUMBER ONE SONGS
"Microscopic View" - Microscopic View
"Crawl to China" - Crawl To China
"Carry the Wounded" - Carry the Wounded
"Heads I Win, Tails You Lose" - Carry the Wounded (CCM Rock Chart)
"Vanishing Lessons" - Vanishing Lessons
"Twilight" - Vanishing Lessons (CCM Rock Chart)
"Acidhead" - Vanishing Lessons
"Bearing Gruesome Cargo" - Vanishing Lessons
"Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance" - Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance
"Phantom Limb" - Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance
"The Skeezix Dilemma" - Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance
"Psycho Surgery" - Psycho Surgery
"Spineless" - Psycho Surgery
"Viento Borrascoso" - Psycho Surgery
"Ark of Suffering" - Stop the Bleeding
"You Get What You Pray For" - Stop the Bleeding
"Somnambulism" - Stop the Bleeding
(all words and music by Ted Kirkpatrick except "You Get What You Pray For")
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
· Have performed in the US, Canada, Norway, Holland, Denmark, Germany and Brazil.
· Produced video of the song, "Ark of Suffering" (Stop the Bleeding), which received airplay on MTV with its graphic portrayal of animal abuse
· Features in Vegetarian Times, Journal of the United Animal Nations, Animal's
Agenda, PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) and many others in connection with animal protection activities
· Have appeared in Modern Drummer, Drums, Guitar World, Guitar for the Practicing Musician, and many other "musicians" magazines.
