The Lounge Road

The Lounge Road is an American rock band formed in 1994 in Seattle, Washington. Originally a nu metal band, the band became a pop rap band in recent albums. Alongside with some nu metal bands, the band does not include profanity in their lyrics.

History

1994-1999: Early years and Pinaccle

Richard Spiel and best friend Lance Dodge grew up in Seattle, Washington as children and performed as a duo named Outburst in 1988. In 1993, after listening to Nirvana's third album In Utero, Spiel felt that he would form a band with Dodge. At the same time, Dodge began listening to hip hop by listening albums by Run-D.M.C.

2003-2006: Out of Rap and tour extensions

On September 11, 2003, "3 Sides" by Drake Lynch and The Lounge Road was released. It was the lead single for Lynch's album 3 Sides and the band's album Out of Rap. It became a number two hit in the CN Music Chart.

2007-2012: Jump, Dismantled and moving to alternative rock

On May 19, 2007, after the end of the Volleyball tour, Spiel felt that the band was going more experimental for the next album. He said on an interview with The Music Channel:

On our next album, it would contain more singing and less rapping. We're working on [an album] with Apparel Records. We starting to change our style to a Deftones-esque style. Our next album would be called Jump like a Hurricane. It is a really fun album.

Musical style and influences

Several critics have labelled the rock band as pop rap, pop rock, post-punk, alternative rock, rap rock, comedy hip hop, rap metal, rapcore, nu metal and horrorcore. The first two albums were a mixture of rap metal and horrorcore, alongside with the next two albums had a mixture of nu metal and rapcore. However, in Out of Rap, the style had changed to a more commercial comedy hip hop and pop rap. This continued in Volleyball but in Jump, the songs from the album contained more vocals than rapping with an atmospheric alternative rock and rap rock sound plus in Dismantled, the style became more experimental with the post-punk/pop rock style.

The band has cited Van Halen, "Weird Al" Yankovic, Nirvana, Bon Jovi, R.E.M., The Beatles, Run-D.M.C. and U2 as their influences. 

Side projects

During the band's career, several members have done side projects as well. Frontman Richard Spiel founded a hard rock project called Wasted in 2002. However, despite releasing four demos, four extended plays, four mini-albums, four live albums and several singles, the debut album's release date has been postponed to 2013. Rapper Richard Dodge formed a rap rock supergroup called Lounge Dozen in 2004, alongside with D12 member Kuniva, Beastie Boys member Ad-Rock and Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst. Unfortunately, the supergroup broke up in 2005.

Discography

• Pinaccle (1996)
• No Silence (1999)
• Yes, He's Innocent (2000)
• The Hard Way (2002)
• Out of Rap (2004)
• Volleyball (2006)
• Jump (2007)
• Dismantled (2009)
• Untitled (2012)
• The Lounge Road (2013)

Extended plays

• TLR EP (1998)
• Outashock (2001)

Compilation albums

• Pinaccle Remixed (1997)
• Years' Worth of Remixes (2003)
• Years' Worth of Hits (2005)
• The Best of The Lounge Road (2010)

Live albums

• Appleberry (2008)
• Appleberry II (2011)

Singles

Band members

• Richard Spiel (born Richard Dale Spiel in March 25, 1972) – lead vocals, bagpipes, saxophones
• Lance Dodge (born Laurence Dylan Dodge in July 10, 1972) – rapping, vocals, keytar
• Dylan Hodges (born Dylan Jack Hodges in May 24, 1973) – lead guitar, background vocals, trumpet
• Earl Dee Watkins (born Earl Daniel Watkins in August 20, 1973) – rhythm guitar, slide guitar, trombone
• Antonio Rodriguez (born Antonio Carlos Rodrigues in January 1, 1974) – bass, lap steel guitar, acoustic guitar
• Drew van Winkle (born Andrew Stewart van Wankel in February 14, 1974) – drums, percussion, drum machine
• Patrick Reid (born Patrick Dean Reid in April 12, 1975) – keyboards, synthesiser, piano
• DJ Sternbaum (born James Andrew Sternbaum in May 23, 1975) – turntables, baritone guitar, sampler