1) This is where they got the name "Stroke 9":
"Ok, here it is, the (hopefully) COMPLETE MEANING BEHIND THE NAME,
so check it out. (As
remembered
by Greg) When Stroke 9 started in 1990 at Marin Academy in San Rafael, CA, the
founding
members got
together as part of a senior year project. We needed a name, and met one night
at our friend Matt
MacLean's
house to discuss it. Several names came up, a few I can remember being Mama
River, fat kid, and
Suckin'.
Remember, we were in high school, and not too serious (not that we're that
serious now.) Stroke 9 was
brought up,
and being the only "legit" name, it easily won the secret balloting, although
fat kid was a close second.
And so it
stuck. The name is taken from the T.S. Eliot poem "The Waste Land."
Specifically, line 68 of the first
section.
The entire poem deals (and this is a very casual, loose interpretation) with
spiritual decay and despair, and
the rebirth
and growth that comes with salvation. Eliot wrote this in the time after the
first World War, a time when
he saw man
lacking morals and spirit. Our name refers to the state of London at this time,
when people were so
empty, so
lifeless, so "undone" that even a certain clock tower"kept the hours with a dead
sound on the final
stroke of
nine." The poem does go on to give hope for the waste land, a promise of peace
and the return of joy
and life.
So, you ask, what does this have to do with a rock band? Well, I (Greg, I can't
speak for everyone) like
to think
that the name says to fight against that joyless existence, to not live a dead
life, to fill it with whatever
makes you
excited to be alive, be it music (which it is for us), or good food, or friends,
or ponies, or parties, or
the guys
from Fuel, or fast cars, etc. This sort of sounds like some religious thing, but
it isn't. And if you don't like
this
meaning, you could say it's a golf reference, or a masturbation thing, or a
medical thing, or a wizard thing...Is
that enough
info?"
2) Some of the albums that influenced their music:
The Wall, Sunburn, London Calling, Surfing with the Alien, Power Windows, The White Album, What's the Story Morning Glory, Back in Black, License to Ill, and of course Slippery When Wet
3) Little Black Backpack was written in the Summer of 1995
4) Little Black Backpack is "a combination of a true story, and a comment on commercialization in modern society."
5) The songs that were released from Nasty Little Thoughts were: Little Blackpack, Letters, and Washin' + Wonderin'. The only song out of those three that did not appear on their second CD, Bumper to Bumper, is Letters.
6) Stroke 9 makes an appearance in the movie "Ed TV". They're the band in the bar, check them out!
7) They started up in high school, 10
years ago, and are from San Francisco, CA. (10 years as of 1999)
8)Their latest hit, Kick Some Ass, is featured in the movie Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Check out the video on their official site, stroke9.com!
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