Stimulator is an

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

band based in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. It was founded in 2002 by singer/songwriter Susan Hyatt (formerly of Pillbox) and guitarist Geoff Tyson (formerly of T-Ride and Snake River Conspiracy). The band's songs have been featured in the

Miramax Miramax, LLC, formerly known as Miramax Films, is an American independent film and television production and distribution company owned by beIN Media Group and Paramount Global. Based in Los Angeles, California, it was founded on December 19, ...

film ''Ella Enchanted'',

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

's '' The Real World'' and episodes of the

E! Network E! Entertainment Television is an American basic cable television network. It is owned by the NBCUniversal Media Group division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. The channel focuses primarily on pop culture, celebrity based reality shows and movies. ...

's ''50 Hottest Hollywood Hookups''. Stimulator has toured the United States supporting

Duran Duran Duran Duran () are an English pop rock band formed in Birmingham in 1978 by singer Stephen Duffy, keyboardist Nick Rhodes and guitarist/bassist John Taylor (bass guitarist), John Taylor. After several early changes, the band's line-up settled ...

The Go-Go's The Go-Go's are an American all-female Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1978. Except for short periods when other musicians joined briefly, the band has had a relatively stable lineup consisting of Charlotte Caffey on lead guitar ...

, and were featured performers on the Van's Warped Tour.Stimulator – Punk Globe
/ref> From 2010 to 2011, the band's cover of

Olivia Newton-John Dame Olivia Newton-John (26 September 1948 – 8 August 2022) was a British and Australian singer and actress. With over 100 million records sold, Newton-John was one of the List of best-selling music artists#100 million to 119 million record ...

's "Magic" was featured in

Macy's Macy's is an American department store chain founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. The first store was located in Manhattan on Sixth Avenue between 13th and 14th Streets, south of the present-day flagship store at Herald Square on West 34 ...

nationwide television and radio "Find Your Magic" commercials.Macy's Magic Song – Spin Rides, Reality Shows…& Other Stuff
/ref>

History

In 2002, Hyatt and Tyson founded the band in Los Angeles. Joined by drummer Chad Stewart (

Faster Pussycat Faster Pussycat is an American rock band from Los Angeles, formed in 1985 by vocalist Taime Downe, guitarists Greg Steele and Brent Muscat and bassist Kelly Nickels. The group has since gone through numerous lineup changes leaving Downe as ...

Gilby Clarke Gilbert J. Clarke (born August 17, 1962) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter and record producer. He is known for having a three-year tenure as the rhythm guitarist of Guns N' Roses, replacing Izzy Stradlin in 1991 during the Use Your ...

, Motochrist, LA Guns) and bassist Sean Tichenor (formerly of King Black Acid and James Angell), Stimulator's early electronic sound, with its emphasis on 1980s-style new wave keyboards, was reminiscent of the band

Garbage Garbage, trash (American English), rubbish (British English), or refuse is waste material that is discarded by humans, usually due to a perceived lack of utility. The term generally does not encompass bodily waste products, purely liquid or ...

.Interview: Stimulator – Melodic Net
/ref> Stimulator's debut album was licensed to the LAB/

Universal Records Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as Universal Music Group or Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, ...

in 2005. The cover art was designed by Duran Duran's John Taylor and designer Patty Palazzo. In 2004, music promoter Kevin Lyman handpicked the band to play the Warped Tour after hearing that their song "On Top of the World" had won Best Rock Song in the 2004 John Lennon Songwriting Contest. In 2004, Stimulator toured in support of Missing Persons and, in 2005, in support of

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. In 2005, Stimulator was the opening act on Duran Duran's ''Astronaut'' tour. In 2006, Stimulator toured as the opening act on

celebrated reunion tour. In 2007, Tyson left the band and the new sound for Stimulator emerged: a mix of classic

disco Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...

easy listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to the 1970s. It is related to middle of the road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit s ...

California melodies, and

Europop Europop (also spelled Euro pop) is a style of pop music that originated in Europe during the mid-to-late 1960s and developed to today's form throughout the late 1970s. Europop topped the charts throughout the 1980s and 1990s, with revivals and ...

. This was the sound for Stimulator's second album, ''Stimulator 2''. In 2010, Tyson and Stimulator reunited when Stimulator's cover of "Magic" became the theme song for Macy's national television and radio commercials. The commercial ran for almost two years. Also in 2010, Stimulator released its third CD, ''Lovelier in Black'', which took a more

dark wave Dark wave, or darkwave, is a music genre that emerged from the new wave and post-punk movement of the late 1970s. Dark wave compositions are largely based on minor key tonality and introspective lyrics and have been perceived as being dark, ro ...

musical direction. For this album, Michael Birnholz (formerly of Phantasm) replaced Tichenor on bass. The band's songs have been licensed to television shows such as NBC's ''Las Vegas'', MTV's ''The Real World'', ABC's ''

Body of Proof ''Body of Proof'' is an American medical drama, medical/crime drama, crime comedy-drama television series that ran on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from March 29, 2011, to May 28, 2013, and starred Dana Delany as medical examiner List of B ...

'', and The Walt Disney Company Film ''Ella Enchanted''. Stimulator's song "Let's Hook Up" was the theme song for E! Entertainment's ''101 Juiciest Hollywood Hook-ups''. The band's songs have also been used in trailers for the television show ''90210''. The band has covered songs such as Rush's "Tom Sawyer" for Canadian release and Olivia Newton-John's "Magic" for special Australian release. Stimulator's

animated Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby image, still images are manipulated to create Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on cel, transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and e ...

live action Live action is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live action with animation to create a live-action animated feature film. Live action is used to define film, video games o ...

video for "Magic" featured a cameo by singer

Cherie Currie Cherie Ann Currie (born November 30, 1959) is an American singer, musician, actress, and artist. Currie was the lead vocalist of the Runaways, a rock band from Los Angeles, in the mid-to-late 1970s. She later became a solo artist. Currie and h ...

from the classic all girl rock group

The Runaways The Runaways were an American rock band who recorded and performed from 1975 to 1979. Formed in 1975 in Los Angeles, the band released four studio albums and one live album during its run. Among their best-known songs are " Cherry Bomb", " Holl ...

.What We're Listening To – MusicPlayers
/ref>

Discography

;Studio albums *''Stimulator'' – (2003) The Orchard Records *''Stimulator Official Debut'' – (2006) The Orchard Records *''Stimulator 2'' – (2009) Dead Famous/MGM Records *''Lovelier in Black'' – (2010) The Orchard Records ;EPs *''78 Stimulator'' – (2003) Org Singles Club, Org Records ;Compilations *''Teenacide Pajama Party'' – (2004) Teenacide Records *''Rockgirl: Discoveries 2005/Cool Women, Cool Times'' – (2005) ;Soundtracks *''Ella Enchanted'' – (2004) Hollywood Records ;Singles *"Magic" – (2004) Lincoln Road/MGM Records *"78 Stimulator" – (2005) The Lab/Universal Records *"Mad World" – (2011) with Syndicate 17, Stimulator Records

References

External links

www.stimulatortheband.com
{{Authority control Musical groups from Los Angeles Indie rock musical groups from California