Tourniquet is an American Christian thrash metal band, based out of Califor… Read Full Bio ↴Tourniquet is an American Christian thrash metal band, based out of California. Formed in 1989.
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).

Stumblefoot
Tourniquet Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Deep in that cranial psycho vault
the thought you are to be sans fault
it ain't meant to happen on our own
the consequence of diligence
without Him will show all the dents
that's why our eyes are always on the throne

What's wrong with me, what's wrong with you

how many times we've fallen through
the thin dev-ice of foolish thinking
all along our pride is sinking

The smoothness of another day
convice me that I'm on my way
at 3 pm it all falls flat
I realize I ain't all that

Stumble foot foot stumble
as your ideals start to crumble
stumble soot foot fumble
just another chance to be humble
Stumble foot foot stumble
as your ideals start to crumble

The consequence of diligence
without Him will show all the dents

You point out others' sins overt
under the carpet, sweep your dirt

Overall Meaning

The song Stumblefoot by Tourniquet is a reflective piece about the flaws, mistakes, and imperfections we all possess as human beings. The lyrics urge one to acknowledge that no one is perfect and that we all stumble and fall at some point in our lives. The opening lines "Deep in that cranial psycho vault, the thought you are to be sans fault, it ain't meant to happen on our own" highlights the internal pressure and expectations we place on ourselves to be perfect, when in reality, perfection is unattainable. The lyrics caution that the consequence of diligence without God's guidance will reveal the dents and flaws in our character.

The chorus emphasizes that we all stumble and fall, regardless of our ideals and beliefs. The lines "Stumble foot foot stumble, as your ideals start to crumble, stumble soot foot fumble, just another chance to be humble" emphasizes that we should recognize our shortcomings and see them as an opportunity to learn and grow, rather than beat ourselves down with self-criticism. In contrast, the lyrics point out that it's hypocritical to point out others' sins while hiding our own mistakes under the carpet, implying that we should be honest with ourselves and strive for self-improvement.

Overall, Stumblefoot is a sobering reminder that perfection is an illusion and that we need to acknowledge our flaws and accept them as part of our humanity. It's a call to be humble, honest, and reflective in our self-evaluation, and to seek guidance from a higher power to overcome our shortcomings.

Line by Line Meaning

Deep in that cranial psycho vault
Within the depths of our minds

the thought you are to be sans fault
The belief that we should be without fault

it ain't meant to happen on our own
We cannot achieve perfection alone

the consequence of diligence
The outcome of hard work and effort

without Him will show all the dents
If we don't have God in our lives, our imperfections will be evident

that's why our eyes are always on the throne
We look to God as our guide and source of strength

What's wrong with me, what's wrong with you
We question our own faults and the faults of others

how many times we've fallen through
We've made mistakes many times before

the thin dev-ice of foolish thinking
Our foolish thoughts have caused us to stumble

all along our pride is sinking
As we realize our mistakes, our pride diminishes

The smoothness of another day
The calmness of everyday life