The name comes from now ex-guitarist Terry Corso who said "I was daydreaming at my dull desk job with my feet up, and I thought to myself, 'Wouldn't it be cool if the human species were placed on earth and cultivated by alien intelligence?' Maybe the aliens added us to an atmosphere that was suitable for us, and they've been watching us develop and colonize, kind of like what a kid does with an ant farm."
Although they began in 1995, fame wasn't achieved until 1999 when after many years of playing in pubs and clubs they released there debut album, humorously titled, Greatest Hits. which was released independently on there own record label.
Some of the more notable songs on the album include "Movies", "Doll Roll", and "Universe".
There was also a song on the album called "Slick Thief" which will later go on to big things.
The album went on to win Best Independent Album at the L.A Music Awards of 1999.
A year later, the band signed, along with Papa Roach, a record deal with DreamWorks SKG and produced there first studio album, "Anthology".Several songs including "Movies" and "Universe" were brought on this album from there first independent album, Greatest Hits.
Due to this and the fact they had record label support the album was a huge success.
As mentioned previously with "Slick Thief", this song went on to number 1 in multiple country's and was re-released under the name "Smooth Criminal" which was a remake of a classic Michael Jackson song. This album went on to sell over 1,000,000 copies in the U.S alone and brought popularity to the band.
During 2002, whilst touring Spain there was an horrific bus crash in which the driver was killed and the lead singer, Dryden Mitchell was paralyzed in a "Christofer Reeve" like injury.
The band had hired two drivers, each who did 10 hour shifts whilst the band was touring in Spain. the first driver did his 10 hours, then the second driver. Chris, took over in Madrid.
As the double-decker tour bus passed through Caceres, Spain, Mitchell picked up a guitar and started fiddling around near the steps to the upper level. David Zajic, a friend from the Czech Republic who worked as the band's head of security, played video games. Corso and Zamora were in their bunks.
"You can't really see out a window or see anything coming; you're kind of just in a dark box," said Corso, who had dozed off, phone in hand, after leaving a message for his girlfriend back home. Zamora was chatting on his own cell phone with his fiancee.
For reasons still unknown to this day, the bus slammed into the back of a truck.
As stated, the driver, Chris, perished in the crash. The lead singer Dryden Mitchell suffered severe back and neck injuries.
"The pain was so strong, I was scared. I just didn't want them to touch me," Mitchell said. "I knew it was just a mess with 10 people trying to crawl over me 'cause I'm in the space that they're trying to get out of. It was just not fun."
Ambulance workers arrived, but few of them spoke English. They lifted Mitchell up and strapped him onto a board. He was rushed to a hospital, where he was misdiagnosed, before he was eventually sent to London for surgery.
"The doctor said I could have been paralyzed by the way I was treated [in Spain]," said Mitchell, still in disbelief. "[The way they] pulled [me] up and whatnot, because my bone was resting on the spinal cord, which isn't good. And as a result I have nerve damage from my chest up, [which] just feels like a bad sunburn all the time."
In London doctors put a halo brace on the singer that left two small circular scars on his forehead.
Because of this brace, Mitchell found it next to impossible to sleep and is quoted as saying "I think the word 'insomnia,' people use it loosely," he said. "I had no idea what it was until now."
Over the next few months Alien Ant Farm gradually started recording together. A new, unreleased song "Spain In The Neck" wad created to pay homage to the crash earlier that year however was never released, only as a B-side.
In early 2003 with the help of Stone Temple Pilots, Alien Ant Farm released there second studio album, Truant. With this album release came a very contraversial move by the band, weeks after the Truant album was released the band recorded the video for "These Days" live on a rooftop overlooking the 2003 BET (Black Entertainment) awards, which lead to them being arrested, however released without charge.
Weeks after the release of this album, there record label closed the doors.
In October of 2003, the guitarist Terry Corso split from the band sighting "inreconsilable differences" as a reason. He went on to join Powerman 5000.
Victor Camacho (a long time friend of the band and guitar player) immediately joined the band and completed the remainder of the Truant tour until the band returned home. Joe Hill was named the new guitarist in 2005 (formerly of Spiderworks)
In 2004, the band recorded "Dark In Here" which was featured on "The Punisher" video game sound track, however because the bands owner, Geffen, held the rights to the bands releases (due to the closure of there previous record label) this song was not released as a single.
In 2005, the band recorded with the producer, Jim Wirt (Who worked on the debut release, Greatest Hits) and planned to release an album to the public however once again, they were denied by Geffen who still owned the rights to the bands music.
The band defied Geffen and hit the road for the purpose of making bootleg copies of this 'non-released- album, which was dubbed by fans as "3rd Draft"
In late 2005 Geffen finally gave rights to the band for them to release the album and to pay respect to the fans, they named it 3rd Draft.
In April of 2006 bassist, Tye Zamora decided to leave the band to follow his dream of going to college, he was quickly replaced with Alex Baretto
In July of 2006, the band released "Up In The Attic" and along with it came a dvd, BUSted: The Definitive DVD on which three music videos were included, "Forgive & Forget", "Around The Block" and "She's Only Evil" of which only the two original band members were featured.
Since the July 2006 release of Up in the Attic, very little has happened. Their website remained unchanged from November 2006 until April 2007 when an update promoting the Alien Ant Fans website, created by a long time Polish fan, Bartek, was added.
In february of 2008, the band announced the return of Tye Zamora and Terry Corso who had previously left the band. In the same month the band announced that they had "unnoficially broken up" in 2007 due to the unpopular "Up In The Attic" album of 2006.
It seemed the band had broken up again due to the fact the lead singer, Dryden Mitchell formed the band Send The Sages. Guitarist Terry Corso and drummer Mike Cosgrove also have been putting in time with there own band.
However in mid 2009 the band, on the official website, announced a few shows around the U.S including one which was at Vans Warped Tour to pay homage to Michael Jacksons "Smooth Criminal" which put Alien Ant Farm on the map.
The band's MySpace profile was redesigned with a new layout, featuring a blog posting that featured the June 27th show in HD, and an announcement that new material was being worked on. As of then, three new songs have been put on their setlist for concerts. It is believed that these songs will be on the upcoming album.
On February 9th, 2010, Alien Ant Farm posted on their official website that the original line up (Dryden Mitchell, Terry Corso, Tye Zamora and Mike Cosgrove) is back together for the first time since 2003. They have also hinted a new album is being worked on and scheduling a tour.
Along with Papa Roach, the band recently signed with 10th Street Entertainment and are working on there new album, several songs have been played at live shows and leaked to YouTube.One of the things Alien Ant Farm are famous for are quirky videos including the Michael Jackson tributes in "Smooth Criminal", Movie references (Willy Wonka, Edward Scissorhands, Ghostbusters) in the song "Movies" Crashing the BET awards for "These Days"
The current members are;
Dryden Mitchell - Lead Singer/Rhythym Guitar/Accoustic Guitar (1995 - Present)
Terry Corso - Lead Guitar/Backing Vocals (1995 - 2003, 2008 - Present)
Tye Zamora - Bass/Piano (1995 - 2006, 2008 - Present)
Mike Cosgrove - Drums (1995 - Present)
Cheers
Joseph Rigby
0407 782 058
Great info and article.
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