Early years (1985–1992) Christopher Hall and Walter Flakus formed the band Stabbing Westward when they were in college. They came up with the name while working at the college radio station
WIUS-FM. It was allegedly from a 1950s speech regarding political fears of Communism "stabbing westward". During an interview in 1996, Hall stated, "Since we went to
Western Illinois University, [the name] Stabbing Westward had a certain 'kill everybody in the school' vibe to it! The school's way out in farm country and the country is really close minded. I was walking around like
Robert Smith with real big hair, big baggy black clothes, black fingernail polish and eye makeup. They just didn't get it. We hated the town." Moving to
Chicago,
Illinois in 1985, the original lineup for Stabbing Westward consisted of Hall on bass and lead vocals, Flakus on keyboards, and Jim Clanin on guitars. Clanin would briefly be replaced on guitars by Andrew Hunter, and bassist Jim Sellers was added on as well. Angelo Negrette was also added as a live drummer. This lineup of the band recorded the 1991 extended play
tape Iwo Jesus, and featured four songs: an early version of "Violent Mood Swings" (titled "Violent Mood Swing"), "P.O.M.F." (which contains elements of the later song "The Thing I Hate"), an early version of "Shame", and "Plastic Jesus". "Violent Mood Swing" was also included on the 1992 compilation CD
The Cyberflesh Conspiracy. The band's official website stated that "the original EP was recorded on an eight-track tape machine synched to an Emax II Sampler and an EMU SP1200 sampling drum machine. 100 copies were originally printed and sold both at local shows and in the legendary Wax Trax Record store in Chicago." as Hall had met Vrenna when playing in Die Warzau. Vrenna played drums on all of the demo recordings that ultimately landed Stabbing Westward their record deal with
Columbia Records. the remaining band members found themselves without one of their major songwriters. New drummer Andy Kubiszewski took over some songwriting duties afterward. The demo for the self-titled album was considered too dark. Old guitar parts from the demos were muted and new pop-driven riffs were created by the new guitarist. Their third album,
Rise Again, was released in February 2015.
From the Ashes, a
remix album, was released in June 2017. • Walter Flakus has been working with
The Clay People and
Chokt. He was the APD/Music Director/Afternoon host for Chicago alternative station
101 WKQX. He is now a midday DJ for the Chicago rock station
WCHI-FM. He joined Hall's band The Dreaming in 2015. • Jim Sellers and his wife opened a natural foods market called Sellers Market in 2005. It appears to have closed in 2012. • Jim Clanin left the music industry. He owned and operated a
Dairy Queen in
Illinois. • Andy Kubiszewski has filled in as the drummer for a handful of
Prick shows, joined a new project called Affected with Chris Schleyer, written and produced several songs for the popular Russian pop duo
t.A.T.u., and has composed music for dozens of TV shows, including
Monster Garage,
Monster House,
Ax Men, ''
America's Toughest Jobs, The Colony, and most recently Storage Wars. Other film credits include Jam. Andy also composes the music to the popular Habla Blah Blah'' line of kids CDs. • Mark Eliopulos played guitar in the bands Violent New Breed, HTH, Super Model, and Brave Ulysses. • Johnny Haro joined
Econoline Crush after briefly playing drums for Stabbing Westward. He eventually formed The Dreaming along with Christopher Hall. • Stuart Zechman retired from the music industry. He moved to New York and started a family. • David Suycott joined
Machines of Loving Grace in 1995 as their new drummer. He continues to do production and remix work with various bands. • Derrek Hawkins continued to work in the music industry, notably contributing to the song "Outer Space" on
Ace Frehley's 2009 solo album
Anomaly. In June 2010, a rumor was afloat that Stabbing Westward would reunite to tour and possibly work on new material; however, this proved false. In July 2012, a fan created a petition which asked frontman
Christopher Hall to reconcile with his former Stabbing Westward bandmates for a reunion tour; again, the reunion never happened. Christopher Hall, Walter Flakus, and Johnny Haro reunited at one of The Dreaming's shows in Las Vegas on November 15, 2013. Flakus would later join The Dreaming on a permanent basis.
Reunion and Chasing Ghosts (2015–present) Stabbing Westward reunited in 2015 after Eliopulos joined them onstage to play a set of Stabbing Westward songs when the Dreaming came through Chicago on their "Rise Again" tour on June 11, 2015. The band officially reunited for two shows, which coincided with the band's 30th anniversary. The first show took place in Chicago on September 22, 2016, as a part of the Cold Waves Festival, a charity festival benefiting suicide prevention causes. The lineup featured Christopher Hall, Walter Flakus, Mark Eliopulos, and Johnny Haro along with
Carlton Bost (mainly known from The Dreaming, and also the reunited bands Orgy and Berlin). Jim Sellers did not take part in the reunion because of work commitments. The second show took place at Dracula's Ball in Philadelphia on October 31, 2016, at the Trocadero Theatre. In a January 2017 interview with
audioBoom, Walter Flakus was asked if there would be more Stabbing Westward reunion shows in the future. His response was, "We'll see. I don't have anything planned yet, but I'm always open to opportunities. It was great to get back on stage and play those songs again." Dates for a full tour began to be announced in February 2017. The band also performed at the 2017 edition of Cold Waves Festival in Chicago, Illinois. The band released new material after their formation, such as a re-recorded version of the song "Plastic Jesus" (released on the
Cold Waves V compilation on September 22, 2016) and an outtake from 2001 entitled "Home in You" (released on the
Cold Waves VI compilation on September 28, 2017). On August 17, 2018, Johnny Haro had been "let go" from the band, and will not be participating in any further band activities. In his Facebook post of that date, he stated that "The Dreaming is done." Stabbing Westward announced Bobby Amaro, from Orgy, as a replacement for Haro. The band embarked on a U.S. tour from October to December 2018 by celebrating the 20th anniversary of the release of
Darkest Days and performing most of the album, along with other songs. In June 2019, the ensemble stated via their
Facebook page that they were working on a new album, with Eliopulos via his Facebook site stating that he has left the band. In early 2020, 19 years after the band's self-titled album, the first proper release of all new material was put out by the band, titled
Dead and Gone. In May 2020, the band announced their signing to label
COP International for their forthcoming studio album
Chasing Ghosts, the band's first full studio album since 2001. The lead single was "I Am Nothing" and the album was released on March 18, 2022. ==Musical style and influences==