Psyopus

Psyopus
Also known as	Stranglefuck
Origin	Rochester, New York, United States
Genres	Avant-garde metal, mathcore
Years active	2002–present (Currently on hiatus)
Labels	Metal Blade Black Market Activities
Website	www.myspace.com/psyopus Official MySpace
Members
Christopher Arp Jason Bauers Brian Woodruff Brian Kelly
Past members
Greg Herman Adam Frappolli Fred Decoste Lee Fisher Corey Barnes Jon Cole Harrison Christie Michael Horn Matt Dalberth Brent Glover

Psyopus (sometimes written as PsyOpus) is a mathcore band from Rochester, New York. Formed in 2002, the band is noted for the unorthodox and extremely technical guitar techniques of Christopher Arp, often referred to as "Arpmandude". In order to receive endorsement deals from various guitar and amp companies, Arp had to send a live video of himself playing in order to prove that he could actually play as fast as he does. Arp considers Psyopus to be a very technically proficient band: "I understand people not understanding us so by default the music comes across as noise but, the music makes sense to us all too much and every 16th note was scrutinized." Regarding learning to play guitar, Arp says: "I learned to play guitar in my bedroom. I got my first guitar in eighth grade. I bought Metallica tablature books, Megadeth books, guitar magazines, didn’t do homework and just played guitar all night."

The band released their 2nd album Our Puzzling Encounters Considered in February 2007. The techniques Arp uses have made it even more difficult to receive any endorsement. Arp himself said, "Mesa Boogie has not done very much to sponsor me because I do too much of this," as he raised his guitar by the whammy bar shaking it up and down. The band released their third studio album Odd Senses, on February 17, 2009.

Members

Current members

• Brian Woodruff - vocals (2008–present)
• Christopher Arp - guitar (2002–present)
• Jason Bauers - drums, percussion (2007–present)

Former members

• Fred DeCoste - bass (2002–2007) (Valpurga, Withered Earth)
• Adam Frappolli - lead vocals (2002–2007)
• Greg Herman - drums, percussion (2002–2004) (Valpurga, Inertia, Kalibas, Low Ton, North American Wildlife)
• Lee Fisher - drums, percussion (2004–2005) (Commit Suicide, Overlord Exterminator)
• Corey Barnes - drums, percussion (2005–2006) (Paria)
• Jon Cole - drums, percussion (2006–2007) (Pillory, See You Next Tuesday)
• Harrison Christy - lead vocals (2007–2008) (The Jefferson Plane Crash)
• Michael Horn - bass (2007–2009) (The Osedax, Mod Flanders Conspiracy)
• Travis Morgan - bass (2009 touring)(Atheist)
• Brian Kelly - bass (2009 touring)
• Brent Glover - bass (2009 touring)(Bellicist, Reciprocal)

Discography

• 2004: Ideas of Reference (Black Market Activities)
• 2007: Our Puzzling Encounters Considered (Metal Blade)
• 2009: Odd Senses (Metal Blade)

External links

• Psyopus on Myspace
• Psyopus article March 2009
• Interview with Arp of Psyopus
• Way Too Loud interview
• hardcoresounds.net interview