Strictly Diesel

guitarist Dino Cazares (pictured) supported Spineshank throughout much of their early career, and he was widely seen as a "father figure" to the band. Spineshank was formed in February 1996 by vocalist Jonny Santos, guitarist Mike Sarkisyan and drummer Tom Decker. Santos, Sarkisyan and Decker had grown up together in the San Gabriel Valley in Los Angeles and had previously been members of a band called Basic Enigma, which disbanded after its members heard Fear Factory's Demanufacture (1995). Instead of performing any live shows, Spineshank chose to focus on writing and recording new music for the first few months of their existence. In September 1996, the band recorded a three song demo tape with the songs "Stain", "Mend" and "Novocaine". The band made 1,000 copies of the demo, which they handed out at various shows and venues across Los Angeles. One of the demo tapes was given to Miguel "Meegs" Rascón, guitarist of Coal Chamber, who in turn gave the demo to Fear Factory guitarist Dino Cazares, who lived next door to him. A week later, Cazares met and befriended Sarkisyan at a Sick of It All concert in Santa Monica. Spineshank made their live debut on January 11, 1997, after Sarkisyan asked Cazares if his band could open for Coal Chamber and Fear Factory at the Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles. The band's reputation as a live act helped them secure further opening slots for Brujeria, Coal Chamber, Snot, Soulfly, Sepultura, and Danzig. Spineshank were soon offered record deals by Earache Records, Noise Records, and Roadrunner Records. Roadrunner was the only label of the three that offered the band a formal deal; Kevin Estrada, the label's A&R rep for the West Coast, offered the band a "demo deal", giving them the opportunity to work with producers Jay Baumgardner, Jay Gordon and Amir Derakh—who had worked together on Coal Chamber's self-titled debut album in 1997—on a demo that, if Roadrunner liked it, would lead to the band getting signed. However, Estrada reconsidered his offer and instead told the band he wanted to sign them outright. Sarkisyan recalled: "Kevin [Estrada said], 'You know what, I was thinking of giving you guys a demo deal but screw that, I just want to offer you a record deal.' I remember that was one of the happiest days of my life." Spineshank signed a seven-album deal with Roadrunner (the only type of contract the label offered at the time), guaranteeing a $30,000 advance for their first album with a $10,000 increase to that amount per the band's subsequent albums with the label. Cazares assisted the band in their signing with Roadrunner, with Fear Factory's attorney helping them sort out their contract as they did not have a lawyer at the time. == Recording and composition ==

After signing with Roadrunner, Spineshank commenced work on Strictly Diesel, with Baumgardner and Derakh as producers. The album's sound drew from, and was compared to, Korn, Deftones, Machine Head, Sepultura, Misery Loves Co., Tool and Pantera—bands which Spineshank cited as musical influences. Sarkisyan cited the Deftones' second album Around the Fur (1997) as a "huge influence" on the album's sound in particular. In a 1998 interview with Loudside, Santos cited Mike Patton, Burton C. Bell, Chino Moreno and Maynard James Keenan as influences on his vocals. Decker was responsible for its electronic beats. The album's programming and loops were handled by Josh Abraham, who was given a co-writing credit on seven of the album's fourteen songs. It would ended up costing over $100,000 to make, well above the $30,000 advance that Roadrunner was only obligated to give the band. == Release and reception ==

Strictly Diesel was released in the United States on September 22, 1998, and in Europe on September 28, 1998. In December 1998, Santos reported that the album was selling around 600 to 700 copies per week. Strictly Diesel received generally positive reviews from critics. Jody Webb of Chronicles of Chaos liked over half of the album's tracks, but felt that it lacked "anything killer". Quoting/paraphrasing a line from the album's press kit, Oliver of Metal.de called the album's sound "Fear-Factory-Sepultura-Tool-Deftones-light." A contemporary review of the album by Chad Calek of the Iowa State Daily anticipated that Spineshank would "have a hard time separating itself from the oncoming masses of bands that share its same sound", with The Encyclopedia of Popular Music similarly describing it as "a derivative muddle of fashionable sounds". Mark Griffiths of Kerrang! praised Abraham's programming and Santos' vocals, the latter which he compared favorably with Burton C. Bell. He also acknowledged that whilst Strictly Diesel bore elements from Korn, Deftones and Tool, it had "just enough depth and originality to avoid outright plagiarism" and ultimately considered the album to be "one of the most blistering debuts in some time". Chris Ayers of The Herald opined that the band mixed "the thrashy aggression of Sepultura with the mechanical mayhem of Fear Factory". AllMusic reviewer Greg Prato similarly felt that the album's sound wasn't "a direct ripoff of [Spineshank's] influences; it's hard to think of any band today that would have had the guts to redo the Beatles' classic "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" as a distorted, heavy dirge." Rock Hard also praised the cover of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", although the reviewer conceded that the main reason they liked Strictly Diesel was because it was a "potent (yes, yes...) copy [sic]" of Fear Factory's sound. == Touring and aftermath ==

Following the album's release, Spineshank toured Europe as support for Fear Factory and Kilgore in late 1998. In January 1999, the band joined Fear Factory and System of a Down for a tour of the United States that was intended to end in February 1999. However, on January 23, 1999, the truck containing the gear of all three bands (worth $250,000) was stolen in Philadelphia and several tour dates had to be postponed to March 1999. Roadrunner pulled Spineshank's touring support following the theft, and it worsened pre-existing tensions within the band. The band later toured as support for Fear Factory, Sepultura and Hed PE between April and May 1999, and they also made an appearance at the Dynamo Open Air festival on May 21, 1999, performing on the Gallery Stage. Spineshank's association with Fear Factory created pre-release hype for Strictly Diesel; Garcia noted: "When it first came out, [the album] got rave reviews. But all of a sudden, it became cool to hate Spineshank, and this was mostly overseas." Both Spineshank and Roadrunner Records ultimately considered the album a failure. In 2001, Decker told Kerrang!: "I honestly thought it was all over. I honestly thought we'd blown it.". The band were motivated by the poor reception of Strictly Diesel to prove themselves when writing and recording their next album, The Height of Callousness (2000), which several critics saw as a triumph over their detractors from this period. The members of Spineshank would consider The Height of Callousness to be the band's true debut album, as they had not established a musical identity on Strictly Diesel; Sarkisyan would later call the album a "glorified demo". Despite this, the members of Spineshank felt that Strictly Diesel was important in shaping the band's future musical output. Santos believed that The Height of Callousness "would not have been possible without [Strictly Diesel]". Sarkisyan also felt that "A lot of good things came out of [the album] [sonically]", and that it "didn't get a fair shot" upon its release. There have also been some positive reassessments of the album; Metal Hammer included Strictly Diesel in their list of "The Top 10 Essential Nu Metal Albums" in 2016, praising the album's songwriting and Santos' vocals. Revolver also included the album in their list of "20 Essential Nu-Metal Albums" in 2021, calling it "largely overlooked". ==Track listing==

All lyrics are written by Jonny Santos and Tom Decker, except "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" written by George Harrison. ==Personnel==

Personnel per liner notes.Spineshank • Jonny Santos – lead vocals • Mike Sarkisyan – guitars, sitar, screaming • Robert Garcia – bass, backing vocals • Tommy Decker – drums, electronics, backing vocals Additional personnel • Josh Abraham – programming, loops • Amir Derakh – synth guitar • Chris Thompson – additional guitar • Burton C. Bell – guest vocals Production • Jay Baumgardner – production, engineering, mixing • Amir Derakh – production, engineering, mixing • Steve Mixdorf – assistant mix engineer • Derek Carlson – additional engineering • Ulyssees Noriega – additional engineering • George Marino – mastering Artwork • Kevin Estrada – photography • Smay Vision – design • Linda Kusnetz – creative direction ==Chart positions==