Oakland, California-based rock band STIMULI create heavy rock music with thoughtful messages about the human condition. STIMULI's sound is delivered through Jimmy Tomahawk's melodic and edgy vocals and spacious, heavy guitar riffing, Tai Hake's solid and snarling bass tones, and Cole Andrew's intricate and powerful drumming. Not only do STIMULI masterfully rock the traditional power trio format, the band also incorporates synth atmospherics and eclectic instrumentation that is not often associated with contemporary Hard Rock. Bassist Tai Hake also plays Theremin, and their music features Native American flute, sitar, acoustic guitar and ambient synthesizers. Lyrically, STIMULI’s themes possess a rare depth - insightful and meaningful, ruminating on personal experiences and reflections about peace, empathy, destiny, and self-actualization. Combined together, STIMULI have been called a sort of “Thinking Person’s Rock Band.”
The heavy, tight and polished sound of STIMULI has been compared to Alice in Chains, Black Sabbath, Soundgarden, Tool, Rush, and Nirvana. The individual and collective history of the band is just as varied and multi-faceted as their music. Comprised of seasoned musicians from around the world (drummer Cole Andrew is from Australia), STIMULI is a collage of three very strong-willed personalities who, like most productive collaborations, happen to have chemistry and work well together.
"Our music contains a strong emotional intensity with personal, social, and philosophical messages about the human experience,” explains guitarist/vocalist Jimmy Tomahawk. “Although there is an undeniably serious disposition in the band's message, as individuals, we don’t take ourselves very seriously at all - satire, slapstick humor and wisecracks are the norm when we are together. It's a bit of a collective Jekyll & Hyde scenario, really. We try to remind ourselves that the initial spark of joy and the passion of playing music that caused us to pick up our instruments in the first place is why we do this!"
In early 2017 STIMULI found themselves at a formative crossroads as a trio with Tomahawk singing and writing lyrics for a new batch of songs, the music felt new, vivified, and strong among the three of them. In just a few short months the band was in the studio tracking drums and bass for a new album. They decided to go back to the idyllic Russian River Studios on the Ingels Ranch in Talmage, California, where Tomahawk and Hake had recorded with their former band Yeibichai. Ken Ingels, the owner of the studio, was extremely helpful, and they enlisted Andrew Miller to engineer and mix the album.
For the artwork and album layout, the creation an enigmatic image was sought that represented the sound and emotional space that the band found themselves in. The trio had their eyes photographed and then overlaid the irises so the colors merge and overlap in a familiar geometric pattern. In areas where the irises unite and overlap something that does not exist on it's own is created - just like the music and themes on the album.
The band generated buzz when they released their debut single and music video for the album’s title track, “They Are We”. The video can be seen at: https://youtu.be/byEFJ3EcZ7E
In the wake of great anticipation, STIMULI released their first official full-length album titled 'THEY ARE WE' on August 18, 2018. The critically acclaimed album is a winding 11-track explosion of the trio's dense, ambitious, and fiercely original sound. Now that the album is released worldwide, an unprecedented sense of optimism and joy is felt with the music they are creating as a unit. Along with the new fan base that the album has garnered, audiences are reciprocating the energy that is conveyed at their live shows with great fervor. With much more to come from this exciting new Bay Area rock band, it would appear that STIMULI are just getting started!
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