The band released four studio albums: Strictly Diesel (1998), The Height of Callousness (2000), Self-Destructive Pattern (2003), and Anger Denial Acceptance (2012).

Before Spineshank formed in 1996, bassist and vocalist Jonny Santos, guitarists Marlo Gonzalez and Tim Mankowski, and drummer Tommy Decker were members of a band called Basic Enigma.

[1][2] According to Decker, they learned "everything not to do" in Basic Enigma, and were heavily inspired by Pantera, Slayer, and White Zombie at the time.

Upon hearing Fear Factory's Demanufacture, the band took a new approach, writing songs and recording them before actually playing them.

[4] Eventually, Fear Factory guitarist Dino Cazares heard one of their demos and gave them a chance to open a show for Fear Factory and Coal Chamber at a concert held in Los Angeles with other notable bands such as Snot, Soulfly, Sepultura, and Danzig.

As a result of these shows, Spineshank piqued the interest of the A&R director of Roadrunner Records, Kevin Estrada.

Spineshank went on to sign a seven-album deal with Roadrunner, guaranteeing $30,000 for their first album plus an extra $10,000 for subsequent records with the label.

The band was featured at Ozzfest 2001, and toured with such artists as Disturbed, Hed PE, Orgy and Mudvayne in support of the album's release.

[3][9][10] Santos later spoke about leaving Spineshank in a 2006 interview, stating: "I think that moment in time we weren't getting along the greatest.

On July 7, 2006, Espinoza posted an update on the band's message board, and stated that they were still in the process of writing material.

Drummer Tommy Decker said of the reunion, "First of all, you don't have to worry about us abandoning our sound; there will be plenty of electronics/loops/synths on this record.

In January 2025, Spineshank announced a reunion specifically for the September festival Louder Than Life.

[24] Jonny Santos has cited Robb Flynn, James Hetfield, and Tom Araya as his "biggest heroes", but was inspired to start playing guitar by Randy Rhoads, and Eddie Van Halen.

Slash also had a big influence on Santos as a kid, stating "That's why most of my playing is all in pretty much, like, pentatonic patterns.