Stroke 9 have made an immediate impression on Rock radio with the hit song, "Little Black Backpack." Unfortunately, it appears to have been something of a misguided impression, at least based on what singer/guitarist Luke Esterkyn has heard from curious fans.
The song, with its memorable, darkly comic lyrics ("I say there's got to be some good reason/For your little black backpack/Up, smack, turnaround he's on his back/Don't want to tango with you/I'd rather tangle with him/I think I'm gonna bash his head in") has obviously sparked plenty of curiosity.
"I don't really think most people understand the message of that song at all," Esterkyn says. "And I tried to explain it in various different places. We have a Web site that has a question and answer section on it where fans can write in and ask a question to the band. And still like 20 percent of the questions are 'What is "Little Black Backpack" about?'
"That song was always really funny to me," Esterkyn says, starting to explain the context of the song. "It's funny because ever since it got played on the radio, people are always asking me why this song is so violent? What are you trying to say? It was never like an intentionally violent song. It was always meant to be a funny story, like a silly story. It came about when all those little black backpacks were all of sudden kind of like omnipresent, and overnight. It really made me think about a lot of things that have this overnight kind of success, not unlike a Pop song. That's pretty much what the song is about to me. It's about seeing things in society that pop up and are all of a sudden like completely recognizable. They have an effect on the way you judge somebody. They just carry, no pun intended, a lot of baggage. If you see somebody wearing a little black backpack -- at least, if I do -- I kind of have an impression of what they're like. It's not necessarily a good thing, but not necessarily a bad thing, and it's not necessarily relevant in any way."
For some fans, Esterkyn's intended message is probably more profound than they might have expected, based on the lyrics of "Little Black Backpack." But then, thoughtful lyrics are an immediate trademark of Nasty Little Thoughts, their CD which contains that hit single, as well as the follow-up, "Letters."
That's not to say there isn't considerable musical appeal to Stroke 9 as well. With a guitar Pop sound like a slightly punkier and edgy Third Eye Blind or Matchbox 20, the Nasty Little Thoughts CD boasts several songs that feature first-rate Pop melodies. These tunes include: "City Life," a song with a smart, shuffling tempo; the snappy rocker "Washin' + Wonderin';" the hummable, Reggae-inflected "Not Nothin';" and the hearty mid-tempo tune, "Angels."
But what really separates Stroke 9 from the guitar Pop pack are Esterkyn's lyrics, most of which examine the intricacies and insecurities of romance with more originality and insight than the typical relationship song.
In general, many songs on Nasty Little Thoughts relate to the big-picture question of why most relationships seem doomed to failure. Esterkyn examines that general theme by focusing on several specific ingredients that cause relationships to splinter.
For instance, on "Make It Last," the ghosts of former lovers surface and threaten a romance at the very point where a couple seems ready to surrender to their feelings and dive further into their relationship. Doubts about self-worth surface in songs such as "Tear Me Apart" and "Down," while an issue of control poisons a relationship in the song "Tear Me In Two." On the songs, "Angels" and "Washin' & Wonderin'," Esterkyn examines the challenge of maintaining some sort of self-identity and self-pride within a relationship.
"I've seen a lot of my friends who seem to kind of lose their identity when they're in a relationship," Esterkyn says. "I've definitely been there, and I think definitely a lot of it is finding somebody where you can be yourself and who doesn't try to change you. It just seems like a trap that a lot of people fall into, is losing a sense of self and what not."
To Esterkyn, his emphasis on lyrics are a function not only of his interest in words and communication -- he studied literature and creative writing in college -- but of trying to give Stroke 9 some sort of identity within the Rock marketplace.
"For me lyrics are by far the hardest part," he says. "I find that there are so many songs, the whole genre is pretty played out in terms of what you can and can't do and what's been done. Everything in Rock music has been recycled in terms of the short Rock song or whatever. And lyrics are really the one thing, I think, for a band like us that can really set you apart. Obviously there's the (band) sound and everything, but it's also the one thing that if you're not careful can be very, very trite and can easily sound like a bazillion other songs."
The core members of Stroke 9 have been developing the group's musical and lyrical identity for nearly a decade now. The three original members -- Esterkyn, lead guitarist John McDermott and bassist Greg Gueldner -- formed the San Francisco area band as a class project at their high school, Marin Academy in San Rafael, recording a six-song tape as their senior project. The fourth member, drummer Eric Stock, joined about two years ago.
"We went to kind of an arts-first school," Esterkyn says. "Like we didn't have a football team, but we had a Rock band. So it was definitely a great opportunity to play music that you like rather than being forced to be in the marching band or whatever."
Esterkyn, McDermott and Gueldner each went to different colleges, but during summer breaks continued to reconvene as a band. During the college years, they self-financed and self-released their 1993 debut CD, Boy Meets Girl. By graduation, they had decided to try the band full-time, recording a second CD, Bumper to Bumper, followed by a self-booked tour of the United States in 1996.
Shows around California continued to solidify the group's regional following, and finally in early 1998 the touring and recording paid off with a deal with Cherry/Universal Records.
Producers Jerry Harrison and Rupert Hine helped to create a CD whose songs sound accessible and radio-friendly. Esterkyn admits that near the end of the project the band members realized they might have made a CD that could appeal to mainstream radio.
"I don't think it was ever a real conscious thing on our part as much as kind of the fact that, I mean I kind of grew up listening to the radio in the early '80s, and I was always attracted to kind of Modern Rock as they called it back then," he says. "For us, we never made a conscious effort to be a 'radio-friendly band,' as they say."
STROKE 9 perform at Bogart's on Monday with Nine Days and SR71.
