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).
White Knucklin' the Rosary
Tourniquet Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
my Genie in a bottle needs to give me some more
and when this mess is over-I don't need Him anymore
I'll put my God back on temporary ignore
If you will do what I need you to do
I'll find some time to praise you when this whole thing is through
If you get me out of this, Oh great Almighty
I get along fine most of the time
no thought for thanks or blessings sublime
when turmoil breaks through the shell of my comfort
my lack of a prayer life abort
White knucklin the rosary
I know my God by what He does for me
open only in case of emergency
white knucklin the rosary
When turmoil breaks through the shell of my comfort
my lack of a prayer life abort
An acrostic for prayer that I learned as a kid
praise and repentance, ask for others, yourself
but now in my lackluster state of affairs
give me what I ask for-beyond that who cares?
White knucklin the rosary
I know my God by what He does for me
open only in case of emergency
white knucklin the rosary
Pray without ceasing-give thanks for all things
a prayer life that's missing the joy that can bring
The song "White Knucklin' the Rosary" by Tourniquet exposes the theme of incongruity between a person's prayer life and their materialistic approach towards life. The lyrics open with the persona dismissing the importance of prayer and instead placing their faith in materialistic objects, seeking fulfillment and prosperity from a genie in a bottle, considering prayer as redundant in their life. The following lines put forth hypocritical promises of praising and worshiping God once their crises are over, while in reality, they merely use God as an emergency exit to come out of troubles.
The song continues to depict a lack of devotion to prayer and the inclination towards materialistic belief that underpins this attitude. The persona only remembers to pray when faced with a problem, left to 'white-knuckle the rosary' in the face of trouble. As the turmoil of crises breaks through the persona's comfort, they denounce the power of prayer since their prayer life has been too unproductive to help them in times of need. They even demand an instant response from God and question the importance of a prayer that does not yield what they ask for.
In conclusion, the song "White Knucklin' the Rosary" by Tourniquet resonates with the contemporary mindset inclined towards materialism, wherein people use God only as an emergency exit, and prayer is left redundant. It also attempts to remind the listener of the importance of devotion and the need to recognize that prayer is more than just a tool to pull oneself out of a crisis.
Line by Line Meaning
Don't even try to tell me what prayer is for
I refuse to listen to anyone's explanation of prayer.
my Genie in a bottle needs to give me some more
I treat God like a genie, expecting Him to grant my wishes.
and when this mess is over-I don't need Him anymore
I will ignore God once my problems are solved.
I'll put my God back on temporary ignore
I will forget about God for a while.
If you will do what I need you to do
I will only pray to God if He does what I want.
I'll find some time to praise you when this whole thing is through
I will only thank God after my problems are solved.
If you get me out of this, Oh great Almighty
I only pray to God in times of trouble.
I promise I'll never do it again-well maybe…
I make empty promises to God.
I get along fine most of the time
I don't think about praying to God when things are going well.
no thought for thanks or blessings sublime
I don't appreciate the good things in my life.
when turmoil breaks through the shell of my comfort
I only turn to God when I am in trouble.
my lack of a prayer life abort
My lack of prayer prevents me from having a relationship with God.
White knucklin the rosary
I only pray when I am desperate and need a quick solution.
I know my God by what He does for me
I judge God based on how He answers my prayers.
open only in case of emergency
I only pray in times of dire need.
An acrostic for prayer that I learned as a kid
I learned a simple formula for prayer as a child.
praise and repentance, ask for others, yourself
The formula includes praising God, asking for forgiveness, praying for others, and then for oneself.
but now in my lackluster state of affairs
I don't follow the prayer formula anymore.
give me what I ask for-beyond that who cares?
I ask God for what I want, but don't care about anything else.
Pray without ceasing-give thanks for all things
One should pray constantly and express gratitude for everything they have.
a prayer life that's missing the joy that can bring
My lack of prayer prevents me from experiencing the joy of having a relationship with God.
Lyrics © TUNECORE INC
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