Bio Full Biography »

Southern California punkers Strung Out were formed in 1992, with a lineup featuring vocalist Jason Cruz, guitarists Jake Kiley and Rob Ramos, bassist Jim Cherry, and drummer Jordan Burns (formerly of Ten Foot Pole, who joined up after the band's first 7"). The quintet signed with NOFX bassist Fat Mike's Fat Wreck Chords label in 1993 and issued a debut album, Another Day in Paradise, the following year. The band took an artistic leap forward with the 1996 follow-up, Suburban Teenage Wasteland Blues, an album whose rapid-fire playing began to build their following among fans of new-school punk-pop. In 1998 Strung Out issued the Crossroads & Illusions EP and the full-length Twisted by Design, the latter a more progressive work that found the group beginning to mix elements of technique-oriented heavy metal into its instrumental attack; in addition, Fat Wreck Chords issued a set of early Strung Out material titled The Skinny Years: Before We Got Fat. Cherry left the band in 1999, going on...