Strung Out and Belvedere

Originally formed of vocalist Jason Cruz, guitarists Jake Kiley and Rob Ramos, bassist Jim Cherry, and drummer Adam Austin, Strung Out made their debut with a 7” self-titled record released shortly after their formation. Following the release the band became one of the first bands to sign with Fat Mike of NOFX’s label Fat Wreck Chords, which marked the departure of Austin on drums eventually replaced by Jordan Burns.

Strung Out’s debut album “Another Day in Paradise” arrived in May 1994, produced by Fat Mike himself and featured the singles “Population Control” and “In Harm’s Way”. The band subsequently released the albums “Suburban Teenage Wasteland Blues” in 1996 and the pre-Fat Wreck Chords compilation album “The Skinny Years… Before We Got Fat” in 1998.

The band’s third album proper “Twisted by Design” released in 1998, showed a musical maturity and development of technical skill compared to its predecessors, and largely established Strung Out’s future sound. In 1999 bassist Jim Cherry was fired from the band and went on to join the band Pulley and later Zero Down, before dying of heart failure in 2002. Cherry’s replacement Chris Aiken, represented a slight shift of focus for the band and made a notable contribution to the EP “The Element of Sonic Defiance” released in 2000.

Strung Out’s fourth full-length album “An American Paradox”, released in 2002, was their first to appear in the Billboard 200 and featured the single and video “Cemetery” – which found its way onto a number of punk rock compilations. The band has subsequently released the albums “Exile in Oblivion” in 2004 and “Blackhawks Over Los Angeles” in 2007. Both albums earned positive reviews from critics, the latter of which reached No.5 on the Billboard Top Heatseekers chart.

A collection of rare tracks and B-side got its release in March 2009 entitled “Prototypes and Painkillers”, followed by Strung Out’s seventh studio album “Agents of the Underground” released in September 2009.