The current members of Tourniquet are Ted Kirkpatrick (drums), Luke Easter (vocals), and Aaron Guerra (guitar, vocals).
Former members include Gary Lenaire, Guy Ritter, Victor Macias, Erik Mendez, Steve Andino (bass) and Vince Dennis.
The band is named after a tourniquet which is a surgical device for arresting hemorrhage by compression of a blood vessel. According to the band, tourniquet is a metaphor for "a lifelong spiritual process by which a personal God, through the atoning blood, death, and resurrection of His only Son—Jesus Christ—can begin to stop the flow of going through life without knowing and serving our Creator. He is our Tourniquet."
Tourniquet was formed as a christianthrash metal band. The group was one of many bands who were, at the time, affiliated with a church group called Sanctuary - the rock and roll refuge in Los Angeles. They started out with Ted Kirkpatrick(drums), Guy Ritter (vocals) and Gary Lennaire (guitaris/vocalist).
Their first record Stop the Bleeding was produced in 1990, by Bill Metoyer of Metal Blade Records, and released by Intense Records. While it was mostly distributed to Christian bookstores, Stop the Bleeding was a notable Christian thrash metal album in its time. Tourniquet's characteristic style broke new ground and quickly gained them fans all over the world. In their early line up, Guy Ritter sang the more melodic vocal parts while Gary Lenaire did the aggressive, thrash metal shouts. The band brought forth their first single Ark of Suffering, which received some minor airplay on MTV, but was pulled down due to video shots of animal abuse. Because of the song and it's subsequent video, the band became known for its stance on animal rights.
In 1991, Tourniquet abandoned most of its 1980's metal influences and recorded a more modern album titled Psycho Surgery. On the song Spineless the band experimented with rap rock in the vein of Anthrax and Faith No More long before the style became popular later in the 1990's. Psycho Surgery showcased the classical music influences more clearly than on 'Stop The Bleeding', and the drummer’s background in the pharmaceutical industry became more apparent: many of the songs utilized medical terminology as metaphors for social/spiritual issues. On Psycho Surgery. Tourniquet continued to work with producer Bill Metoyer, and eventually signed a distribution agreement with Metal Blade Records, which released Psycho Surgery to a far wider general market audience than the band was able to reach with Stop the Bleeding. However, Intense Records still released Psycho Surgery and distributed it to Christian retail
In 1993, Tourniquet recorded what is considered their most technical and dark album, Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance. Guy Ritter left the band during the recording of Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance. Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance quickly became one of the most popular of the band's albums among Tourniquet fans, and it was voted Favourite Album of the 1990's by the readers of HM Magazine. As with the previous album, Metal Blade Records released Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance to the general market and Intense Records released it to the Christian market. Luke Easter, who had formerly sung in a more pop rock oriented group, replaced Ritter, joining Tourniquet for the Pathogenic Ocular Dissonance tour. On this tour, Tourniquet was scheduled to play the Milwaukee Metalfest in 1993, but professed satanist Glen Benton of Deicide, the festival headliner, refused to play with a Christian band. The festival was forced to cancel Tourniquet's performance. This brought more publicity and notoriety to Tourniquet.
The band's sound took a sharp turn from their early thrash metal days, following the departure of original vocalist Guy Ritter. In the interim, the band recorded a "live in studio" album with Les Carlsen of Bloodgood. The following album, Vanishing Lessons was much more hard rock, but no less technical. After another EP, Gary Lennaire left the band.
The band's latest release, Where Moth and Rust Destroy, features special guests Marty Friedman, formerly of Megadeth, and Bruce Franklin, formerly of Trouble, on lead guitar (tourniquet had previously covered Trouble's The Tempter on their live EP).
Crawl To China
Tourniquet Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
To trudge through the desert through Arabian heat
Or to accomplish the impossible, an Herculean feat
Or maybe just trade in bad thoughts obsolete
Is it the concentration camps at Dackow?
Is it Joan of Arc revisited?
Niagara Falls in a barrel?
Crawl to China
He is faithful, it remains in His hands
From the cold barren Arctic to the war stricken lands
From the place in your heart where despair takes its hold
To the lairs of the demons where deceptions are told
Is God asking you to crawl to China or just to cross the street?
Crawl to China
With emotional rigor mortis freezing your step
You won't be going far at all
It feels pretty safe but the danger is real
You won't grow until you face the fear that you feel
Crawl to China
The lyrics to Tourniquet's song Crawl To China seem to suggest that God is testing the listener's faith by requiring them to take a difficult or seemingly impossible journey. The first stanza lists various potential challenges, such as crossing the desert or accomplishing a Herculean feat, or simply letting go of negative thoughts. The second stanza offers examples of historical figures who faced great challenges, from concentration camp victims to Joan of Arc, as well as more mundane challenges like repairing a broken relationship.
The chorus, "Crawl to China," repeats several times throughout the song, serving as a metaphorical destination that the listener is being called to reach. The lyrics acknowledge that this journey may feel overwhelming, but that God remains faithful and in control. The bridge suggests that emotional "rigor mortis" may be holding the listener back, but that they must face their fears and take the journey in order to grow.
In essence, Crawl To China seems to be about faith, perseverance, and the importance of facing one's fears in order to grow spiritually. It encourages listeners to trust in God even in the face of difficult challenges, and suggests that there is growth and strength to be found in confronting those challenges head-on.
Line by Line Meaning
Is God asking you to crawl to China, or just to cross the street?
Are you being called to something difficult and far-reaching, or just to something simple and close at hand?
To trudge through the desert through Arabian heat
To endure hardship and suffering in a hostile environment
Or to accomplish the impossible, an Herculean feat
To achieve something that seems impossible, that requires great strength and effort
Or maybe just trade in bad thoughts obsolete
Or perhaps to replace old negative thoughts with positive ones
Is it the concentration camps at Dackow?
Is it facing extreme evil and suffering like that experienced in concentration camps?
Is it Joan of Arc revisited?
Is it taking a courageous stand, like Joan of Arc did?
Niagara Falls in a barrel?
Is it risking your life for adventure and excitement?
Or to mend a broken relationship instead?
Or is it repairing a damaged relationship?
He is faithful, it remains in His hands
God is trustworthy, and whatever the task, it is ultimately within His control
From the cold barren Arctic to the war stricken lands
From the extremes of environment to the ravages of war
From the place in your heart where despair takes its hold
From the depths of emotional pain and hopelessness
To the lairs of the demons where deceptions are told
To confront the lies and temptations of evil forces
With emotional rigor mortis freezing your step
Paralyzed by overwhelming emotions
You won't be going far at all
You won't make progress without facing your fears
It feels pretty safe but the danger is real
The safe, comfortable choice may not be the best one in the long run
You won't grow until you face the fear that you feel
Personal growth requires facing and overcoming fear
Crawl to China
Embrace the challenge, no matter how difficult or distant the goal may seem
Crawl to China
Trust in God's guidance and provision, even when the path is not clear
Lyrics © OBO APRA/AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Rey Ban YAHUAH
God Bless you, always remember that one sin is enough to send someone to hell. We've all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God. We've all lied or stolen or used God's name in vain before.
We are all guilty sinners who are in need of a Savior. Luckily, God became flesh and blood around 2019 years ago, Jesus Christ of Nazareth. He lived a perfect life without sin and died on the cross for our sins and rose from the dead on the third day. God desires to save us! Even though you and I are guilty. All you have to do is,
Repent of your sins (Doesn't mean you're perfect but you will recognize the sin in your life and begin to turn from them more & more the longer you are in Christ) and to have faith on The Lord Jesus Christ! Trust Jesus in all that you do. Trust him to save your soul, trust him to help you overcome any addictions, trust him to help you live a more Holy life that is pleasing to God.
That if thou shalt confess The Lord Jesus you will be saved, brothers and Sisters!
Believe that Jesus is The Son of God who died on The Cross for our sins and that God rose him from the dead on the third day and you will be saved!
You will be forgiven! Not because of how good you are but because how good Jesus is and his righteousness on to your account.
Faith alone!
God Bless you
masamune0666
I'm an atheist but I believe that Tourniquet is one of the best bands of all time
Joshua Scott
awesome ,well im a christian and i believr Athiest is one of the best bands of all time ,great music transcends ideology
Rodrigo Moraes da Silva
Ouvia muito na minha adolescência !!! BRAZIL
John Gore
I love this album and my fave from these guys. Its so diverse, either you like or hate it. After 20 years, i still blast this song often.
Jason Odermatt
Tourniquet never made a bad album
Tyler Spunucious
@Jason Odermatt Everything after Pathogenic is pretty bad, except Microscopic, which was okay.
joe skill
I like the more slower songs with melody too that they did. You have to switch it up it can’t be all heavy thrash all the time. Variety is good and having an ear for different..👍🏽❤️
HighwayLand
Rip Ted kirkpatrick. I never was a big fan of this style of music, but I still vividly remember watching tourniquet play at Tom Fest 98 along with that extremely awesome bass player that was up there on stage. How many piercings did that guy have anyway? I did get a picture with Ted after the concert, I was really impressed with his drumming, and I still have that picture to this day.
kuruptsoul
bands like this kept me sane when forced to go to church 3 times a week, and could only buy music at the Christian book store...
Joelle Spring
That was my life, too. Thank gosh there was something beyond Sandi Patty and Carmen, and the Gaithers.