Flatstick albums Omnicore and Unfinished Business now on Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play, Napster, etc..Go get!!

Alarum currently playing Not Fit To Breathe in their live setlist

The French love Flatstick!

New Flatstick website HERE

Omnicore album on YouTube HERE

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Flatstick is:

Doug Steele: Guitar, All male vocals, bass, keys and drum programming

Gary McKay: Guitars, bass, keys and drum programming, producer/mixer

Marcel Yamounni: Bass on Bend Over, Twilight Dementia, and Bitter

Finn Waters: Sax on Bend Over

Lisa Huntington: Asian girl on Tony!

Jennifer Hayes: Female vocal on The Perfect Day

Recorded in a A Secret Place in Heidelberg, Vic circa 1999. Mastered by John Ruberto at Crystal Mastering.

Recorded in a bedroom at Gary’s house, using a Yamaha DAW and minimal pro tools.

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And no, this project has never played live. We sold roughly 500 copies out of the music store we worked, and that was it. Not much of a happy ending here. Gary died of cancer and the recorder burned in the black saturday fires, so all that we recorded for album two is GONE. I’m going to re-record and have guest guitarists all up on here. It will get released.

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Flatstick was born from friendship — a studio project between guitarists and close collaborators John Sanders and Gary McKay, whose musical partnership produced something that quietly turned heads across the industry.

Their sole release, Flatstick’s Omnicore (2000), was the kind of record that defied easy categorisation — threading together the twisted art-rock of Faith No More, the compositional madness of Frank Zappa, shards of electronica, and heavy, unrelenting doses of shred guitar into something entirely its own. It found its audience on mp3.com, where it planted itself inside the platform’s top 10 metal songs and stayed there for the better part of a year.

The ripples reached further than expected. Chris Adler of Lamb of God stumbled across the tracks and liked what he heard enough to pursue a deal. Glen Sobel — LA session royalty and current touring drummer with Alice Cooper — also took notice, as did the acclaimed Haji’s Kitchen. Not bad for a studio project.

Omnicore stands as a testament to what two friends with serious chops and zero interest in playing it safe can create when left to their own devices.

Dedicated to the memory of Gary McKay — guitarist, teacher, friend.

I played the Universe (which I made Gary sell me, ha ha) on the solo to Adios.

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The ripples reached further than expected. A track called Adios caught the ear of Chris Adler — drummer of a then-unsigned band still going by Burn the Priest — who reached out via ICQ. The two struck up a genuine friendship, trading messages about metal, music, and life. Adler was convinced his band was about to explode and pushed hard for Flatstick to tour with them. Sanders’ response was characteristically grounded: “Dude, we’re two guys recording in Gary’s spare guest room.” Finding the right players to make it a live proposition simply wasn’t in the cards — at least not in 2000. Burn the Priest, of course, went on to become Lamb of God.

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Check out the US band I was in before Flatstick HERE

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A nice email

Believe it or not, but for many years I’ve owned this peculiar little album called Omnicore.  Not sure when exactly it entered my collection but I can say that it’s always been a favourite.

Today, while sitting here finally committing my collection to the PC (a long and arduous task in itself), I decided to actually research Flatstick to see if I could find anything to educate me!  Obviously, my arrival here suggests that I did have some luck.     :o)

So, without further ado, and while still not really knowing all that much about you guys,  I will say ‘great work!’…….Omnicore has always been a really cool album which has given me much pleasure over the years.  Trust me, there’s not too many albums that maintain their appeal with me for an overly long time.  Add to that the fact that I’m verging on 40 and have listened to metal since ’87, and you will hopefully appreciate the calibre of my compliment.

Whatever your future holds and whatever musical direction you may take, may you and the band members enjoy much happiness, both personally and professionally.

Take care

Response:

Thanks!! Gary and I had lots of fun (and alcohol) whilst making that album. The songs wrote themselves. One day I will finish album two, by hook or by crook. I also want to get into chill/out stuff as well. We’ll see!!

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