If you listen closely to some the song "a bundle of sticks" on the s/t record from Southern California's STICKFIGURECAROUSEL, you will hear parts reminiscent of the song "those who were" by Excessive Force. The reason for that is because two dudes played on both recordings.
Stickfigurecarousel was formed when Justin McMahon and Joe Addeo decided to leave
Excessive Force to start something more fulfilling. They recruited Sean Brummel on bass and Dan Sena on guitar, who were both playing in the band
Palefire.
The musical direction was more melodic and discordant than most of what was being played in southern California at the time. It was more akin to Threadbare and Unbroken, but still had that "heavy" feel. Chad Stroup was soon recruited to take vocal duties. Mixing raspy screams with clean vocals was not anything groundbreaking, but again was a breath of new air into the chug-filled mess that was hardcore in 1996. Chad was a big part of the San Diego hardcore scene, and had to travel by train to practice with the band. A few short excursions throughout California were done, but the band never toured.
Joe Addeo left and was replaced by Keith Divel, who had also played in Excessive Force, but was known as more of an "emo" kid, playing in a local band called Derailed.
The band put out a s/t record on Nothing Left records before friend Steve Aoki decided to start putting out music by his friends, and released a 7" and eventually a split with the German band Linsay.
A 7" was also released on Schema and a song appeared on the As The Sun Sets southern California hardcore comp.
Stick Figure Carousel - che cafe from keith divel on Vimeo.
The band had a tough time keeping things together for one reason or another, and eventually just decided to call it quits. Dan Sena went on to play in Bullet Train to Vegas. Chad, Justin and Sean formed The Dynamic Seven, who put out a 7" on Indecision Records before continuing on to other projects.
Both Dan Sena and Keith Divel started careers as DJs.
Every song the band recorded was given to me by Chad, including a recording of the band's last show at the Che Cafe.
STICKFIGURECAROUSEL
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