Live in a Dive (Strung Out album)

Strung Out
Strung Out live in 2013. From left to right: Rob Ramos, Chris Aiken, Jason Cruz and Jake Kiley.
Background information
Origin	Simi Valley, California, U.S.
Genres	Punk rock, skate punk, melodic hardcore, post-hardcore, alternative metal
Years active	1989–present
Labels	Fat Wreck Chords
Members	Jason Cruz Jake Kiley Rob Ramos Jordan Burns Chris Aiken
Past members	Jim Cherry Adam Austin Brad Morrison

Strung Out is an American punk rock band from Simi Valley, California, formed in 1989. They are known mainly for their musical style, which fuses aspects of melodic punk rock, progressive rock and heavy metal to form their primary sound. They have released eight studio albums on Fat Wreck Chords as well as one Live album, 2 B-sides collections, a best-of, a box set and appeared on numerous compilations and skate/surf videos. They have played on the Warped Tour and continue to tour internationally.

Despite not achieving 'major' commercial success over the years, several of Strung Out's releases have charted on the Billboard Top 200 and they are widely considered by fans and critics alike as one of the more respected and influential bands of the 90's Punk era. The bands blended Punk/Metal style was a large contributer to the evolution of the Pop-Punk and Metalcore genres throughout the late 90's and early 2000's with many bands/artist's citing them as a key influence. The bands technical abilities have also earned them credit as one of the bands responsible for raising the level of musicianship in Punk Rock throughout the 90's and de-bunking the stereotypes of simplicity associated to Punk Rock Music.

The band formed in 1989 in Simi Valley, California. The original lineup consisted of vocalist Jason Cruz, guitarists Jake Kiley and Rob Ramos, bassist Jim Cherry and drummer Adam Austin. After releasing a self-titled 7" record, they became one of the first bands to be signed to Fat Wreck Chords, the record label owned and operated by Fat Mike of the band NOFX. Austin left the band in 1992 and was replaced by Brad Morrison who also left the band and was replaced on drums by Jordan Burns, formerly of fellow Simi Valley natives Ten Foot Pole. Their first album, Another Day in Paradise, was released in May 1994. Suburban Teenage Wasteland Blues followed in 1996. In 1998 they released The Skinny Years...Before We Got Fat, a compilation album of their pre-Fat Wreck Chords material.