Chokt is an American

industrial rock Industrial rock is a fusion genre that fuses industrial music and rock music. It initially originated in the 1970s, and drew influence from early experimental and industrial acts such as Throbbing Gristle, Einstürzende Neubauten and Chrom ...

band featuring Pete Murray of

Lo-Pro Lo-Pro is an American rock band formed in 2002 by Pete Murray and Neil Godfrey after the disbandment of their previous band, Ultraspank, in 2001. After attracting the attention of Aaron Lewis of Staind, the band signed to a major record label, ...

and

Ultraspank Ultraspank was an American nu metal band from Santa Barbara, California. They released two albums, a self-titled album in 1998, and a follow-up, ''Progress'', in 2000. The band disbanded shortly after the release of ''Progress'' in 2001 due to ...

Walter Flakus Stabbing Westward is an American industrial rock/alternative rock band. Christopher Hall and Walter Flakus formed the band in 1985 in Macomb, Illinois. The band released an extended play in 1992, followed by four studio albums: ''Ungod'' (19 ...

Stabbing Westward Stabbing Westward is an American industrial rock/alternative rock band. Christopher Hall (musician), Christopher Hall and Walter Flakus formed the band in 1985 in Macomb, Illinois. The band released an extended play in 1992, followed by four ...

, and John Stevens of Ghost Machine and The Clay People. The trio recorded an album's worth of material together, releasing songs one by one over the course of 2006 to 2009. It served as an outlet for Murray for songs that didn't quite fit the

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

sound of Lo-Pro, during the six year gap in between Lo-Pro releases.

History

Formation (2002-2004)

Pete Murray released two albums as the frontman of

nu metal Nu metal (sometimes stylized as nü-metal, with a metal umlaut) is a subgenre of that combines elements of heavy metal music with elements of other music genres such as hip hop music, hip hop, funk, industrial music, industrial, and grunge. Nu ...

band

, and when the band broke up, he eventually formed the

band

with guitarist

Neil Godfrey Lo-Pro is an American rock band formed in 2002 by Pete Murray and Neil Godfrey after the disbandment of their previous band, Ultraspank, in 2001. After attracting the attention of Aaron Lewis of Staind, the band signed to a major record label, ...

. They released one self-titled album in 2003. However, after touring in support of the album, they were dropped from the Geffen record label. The band went through a six-year period before releasing music as a band again, with the band spending searching for a new label while continually writing new material and reworking unsatisfactory material. During this time, Murray worked with

Ivan Moody Ivan L. Moody (born Ivan Lewis Greening on January 7, 1980) is an American singer and songwriter who is the lead vocalist of heavy metal band Five Finger Death Punch (FFDP). He performed for several other bands including Motograter and Gho ...

, who afterward formed

Five Finger Death Punch Five Finger Death Punch, also abbreviated as 5FDP or FFDP, is an American Heavy metal music, heavy metal band from Las Vegas, Nevada, formed in 2005. The band originally consisted of vocalist Ivan Moody, rhythm guitarist Zoltan Bathory, lead g ...

, and

Jon Stevens Jon Stevens (born 8 October 1961) is a New Zealand singer, best known as the lead singer of the band Noiseworks in 1986–1992, the portrayal of Judas in a 1992 Australian production of '' Jesus Christ Superstar'', and as the lead singer fo ...

, past guitarist of The Clay People, in their band Ghost Machine. Murray produced their albums '' Ghost Machine'' and ''

Hypersensitive ''Hypersensitive'' is the second album by American rock band Ghost Machine. It was released on November 21, 2006, via Corporate Punishment Records. The original track listing of the album, displayed on sites like Amazon and AllMusic A ...

''. After the sessions, Murray and Stevens continued to work together outside of Ghost Machine, eventually deciding to form a new band, called Chokt, with Walter Flakus of

''Chokt'' releases (2005-2009)

The band began recording material in 2005. The band opted to pursue an

sound, reminiscent of Flakus's work in Stabbing Westward and Steven's work in The Clay People. Murray used the band as an outlet for the music that wasn't fitting the traditional

sound he aimed for with Lo-Pro. Murray performed vocals, while the other two both contributed "guitar, bass, and programming", while using a

drum machine A drum machine is an electronic musical instrument that creates percussion sounds, drum beats, and patterns. Drum machines may imitate drum kits or other percussion instruments, or produce unique sounds, such as synthesized electronic tones. A d ...

for the drum work. Members were never actually in the same room together when working on music, but rather, they used

Pro-Tools Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed and released by Avid Technology (formerly Avid Audio, Digidesign) for Microsoft Windows and OS X, macOS. It is used for music creation and production, sound for picture (sound design, au ...

and emailed each other parts back and forth. The band started streaming songs in 2006, and continued to stream a few per year up through 2009. Most debuted on the band's Myspace, but occasionally from Murray's Myspace as well. Chokt ceased releasing tracks after the 2009 track "Only You", which was released just before Murray became active with Lo-Pro again, with them releasing the ''

Letting Go EP ''Letting Go'' is the EP of Lo-Pro, initially available only during concerts in July and August during the "Stimulate This" Tour with Staind, Shinedown, Chevelle and Halestorm. It was reported to be released digitally in September 2009, but wa ...

'' in October 2009 and ''

The Beautiful Sounds of Revenge ''The Beautiful Sounds of Revenge'' is the second full-album by Lo-Pro, originally scheduled to be released was May 25, 2010, but was delayed to June 8, 2010,

Discography

;''Chokt'' sessions songs # Train Home to Nothing (2006) # Passion (2006) # Burning (2006) # Distress (2006) # Magazine (2007) # Launch Pad (2008) # Tonight (2008) # Only You (2009)

Band members

* Pete Murray – vocals *

– guitars, bass,

programming Program (American English; also Commonwealth English in terms of computer programming and related activities) or programme (Commonwealth English in all other meanings), programmer, or programming may refer to: Business and management * Program m ...

* John Stevens – guitars, bass, programming

References

{{Authority control American industrial metal musical groups American alternative rock groups American alternative metal musical groups Musical groups established in 2006 American musical trios