Alien Ant Farm biography
Alien Ant Farm is an American alternative rock band that formed in Riverside, California, in 1995. Their name comes from an idea original 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." The band has sold over 5 million units worldwide, and has 4 studio albums, and 8 music videos.
History
Alien Ant Farm was formed in 1996 in Riverside, CA. At first, it was an "All-Star Band" made up of the best members from local garage-bands. The compiled band included Dryden Mitchell (Vocalist), Terry Corso (Guitarist), Tye Zamora (Bassist), and Mike Cosgrove (Drummer). They played their first show on Mitchell's 20th Birthday & released their $100 EP that year. In 1998 they released their Love Songs EP.
In 1999, 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 that year.
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 Michael Jackson's 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 tributing homages to Michael Jackson and his videos, but has been considered by many as a parody to his work. Terry Corso, the band's guitarist, addressed this in an MTV interview on the set of the music video, saying, "We want to pay homage to Michael Jackson, but on our level. Obviously we're not that glitzy, so we just want to tastefully take the stuff that's cool in his videos and apply it in our own dirty little backyard way."
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. While the whole band suffered minor injuries, 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. This hindered the album's popularity over time, but truANT as a whole was a commercial failure in the first place. Looked over by many critics, and lowly rated by those who paid attention to it, Alien Ant Farm's second album did not carry the same commercial power as their first; sprouting only a few hit singles (Formerly Mentioned).
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