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Alien Ant Farm is an American rock band that formed in the southern California city of Riverside in 1995. Their name comes from an idea guitarist Terry Corso had about aliens and the earth--"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."[citation needed]
History
In the late 1990s, Alien Ant Farm released their underground debut album, titled Greatest Hits. It went on to win Best Independent Album in the L.A. Music Awards.
In 2000, after forging a friendship with the alternative rock band Papa Roach, Alien Ant Farm signed with DreamWorks SKG for their first studio album, ANThology.
In 2001, their cover of the Michael Jackson song, "Smooth Criminal", was a #1 single in Australia and New Zealand, a #3 single in the UK, and #1 on the US Modern Rock charts. The music video features numerous homages to Michael Jackson and his videos, with help from Bobby Edner who was the kid who danced in the video. The song was featured on the soundtrack of the first season of WWE Tough Enough and in the movie American Pie 2. Their following single "Movies" was a Top 5 hit in the UK and a Top 20 hit in New Zealand. The band began touring in promotion of these two singles and their album, which later went platinum.
In spring of 2002, the band contributed "Bug Bytes" to the first Spider-Man soundtrack.
In May 2002, the band was involved in a bus accident while touring in Spain. The driver, 26-year-old Christopher Holland, was killed, and lead singer Dryden Mitchell suffered a fractured C2 vertebra.
Alien Ant Farm soon returned to the studio to work on their next album, truANT, which was released in 2003 and produced by Stone Temple Pilots' Robert and Dean DeLeo. The video for "These Days", the first single from the album, was filmed on top of a nearby building during the Red Carpet at the 2003 BET Awards. "Glow" was a mainstream radio success, achieving long lasting Top 20 success in New Zealand. Two months after this album was released, however, their record label closed its doors.
In early 2003, Alien Ant Farm crashed the 3rd annual BET Awards and performed "These Days" and were later dismissed by local authorities. The band was released with no charges although were warned that any incidents exact or alike will be charged as a crime.
In October 2003, guitarist Terry Corso split with the band citing "irreconcilable differences". Soon after, he joined Powerman 5000 for a time.
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 in Spiderworks).
In 2004, the band recorded the song "Dark in Here" for the The Punisher video game. Unfortunately, the band was forced to wait for Geffen to allow them to record another album (after Universal Music bought DreamWorks and assigned the band to its Geffen Records label).
In 2005, the band recorded with producer Jim Wirt (who recorded their independent, debut release Greatest Hits) and planned to release the album during that summer. However, Geffen shelved the album and subsequently denied the band the rights to release it themselves. The band hit the road and made bootleg copies of the album material available to all of their fans. This unofficial release was dubbed 3rd Draft by fans.
Their song "Wish" was in the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 video game. Their song "Courage" also featured on the Shaun Palmers Pro Snowboarder and the ATV Offroad Fury 2 video games.
In 2004, the band's song "These Days" was featured on the Madden 2004 video game.
In late 2005, Geffen finally agreed to let the band release the album on another Universal label, Universal Music Enterprises (its catalogue division). On May 4, 2006, information began showing up on music store websites and release calendars about an upcoming release from the band. The band also released information about a DVD that same day. On May 30, 2006 the new album, Up in the Attic, was released digitally on iTunes. The first single was "Forgive and Forget", the one added track to 3rd Draft.
In April 2006, bassist Tye Zamora left the band and decided to go to college. He was replaced by Alex Barreto (formerly of hardcore bands Chain of Strength, Hardstance, and Inside Out). On June 29, 2006, the band performed on G4's Attack of the Show, and on July 18, 2006, Up In The Attic was released worldwide, along with BUSted: The Definitive DVD. Included on the DVD were music videos for "Forgive and Forget", "Around the Block", and "She's Only Evil". Notably, the three videos feature only Dryden Mitchell and Mike Cosgrove.
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.
The band released "Around the Block", the second single from Up in the Attic, on the iTunes Store in 2007.
On February 11, 2008, the band posted a statement on their website saying all the original members of the band are back together. It was also revealed that the band had "unofficially broken up" in 2007 due to the fact that 2006's Up in the Attic was their least successful album.
It appeared that they had broken up again since the vocalist Dryden Mitchell has joined/formed the band Send the Sages, but on May 29, 2009 A.A.F.'s official website announced a show for June 17, 2009 in Kansas City, MO
They were recently announced to play Sonisphere Festival in Knebworth, UK on Saturday 1st August[3]. They had also performed Smooth Criminal at the 2009 Vans' Warped Tour in memory of the now late Michael Jackson, in which AAF had also posted several entries on their site concerning his death.
The band's MySpace profile was redone 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.
Music videos
A.A.F. is known for its quirky videos, such as the Michael Jackson tributes in "Smooth Criminal", the film homages (Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, Edward Scissorhands, The Karate Kid, Ghostbusters) in the primary version of "Movies", and the personified appliances in "Glow". They also crashed the BET Awards, a Gay Pride parade, and a scheduled performance by Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera for their music video of "These Days". They were then shut down by local authorities.
Band members
Current members
- Dryden Mitchell – lead vocals, rhythm guitar, acoustic guitar (1995–present)
- Terry Corso – lead guitar, backing vocals (1995–2003, 2008–present)
- Tye Zamora – bass, piano, kalimba, backing vocals (1995–2006, 2008–present)
- Mike Cosgrove – drums, percussion (1995–present)
Former members
- Joe Hill – lead guitar, backing vocals (2005–2008)
- Alex Barreto – bass, backing vocals (2006–2008)
Session musicians
Discography
Albums
Singles
| Year |
Title |
Chart peaks[4][5][6] |
Album |
| US |
US Mod. |
US Main. |
UK |
NZ |
| 2001 |
"Smooth Criminal" |
23 |
1 |
8 |
3 |
4 |
ANThology |
| 2002 |
"Movies" |
— |
18 |
38 |
5 |
35 |
| "Attitude" |
— |
— |
— |
66 |
— |
| 2003 |
"These Days" |
— |
29 |
38 |
— |
— |
truANT |
| "Glow" |
— |
— |
— |
— |
5 |
| 2006 |
"Forgive and Forget" |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
Up in the Attic |
| 2007 |
"Around the Block" |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
| a "—" denotes a single did not chart |
Soundtracks
Unreleased Songs
- TransiANT
- Toto
- Echo Park
- Fuck Your Friends
- Mas Sur
- Starside Pride
- Belong
- Why Is Life Like This
References
External links
