Alien Ant Farm

Did You Know?

• In 2013, the band was featured in an NME article titled "28 Nu-Metal Era Bands You Probably Forgot All About".
• Their third album, TruANT, was produced by brothers Robert and Dean DeLeo of Stone Temple Pilots.

History

The band formed in 1996 in Riverside, California, with the original lineup of Dryden Mitchell (vocals), Terry Corso (guitars), Mike Cosgrove (drums), and Tye Zamora (bass). The name came from Corso's daydream about Earth being seeded by entities from other dimensions. Each member had been in prior bands: Corso and Cosgrove in Brother Vibe, Zamora in The Color Red, and Mitchell in Dragonphlie. Initially, the band considered themselves to be cheating on their other bands and intended to wear masks while performing. In 1996 they recorded a demo tape titled the $100 EP with five songs, and in 1998 a second demo, Love Songs, with four songs. Their debut album, Greatest Hits, was released independently in 1999 and won Best Independent Album at the L.A. Music Awards that year. In 2000, after forging a friendship with Papa Roach, they signed with DreamWorks SKG for their second album, ANThology, and toured with Papa Roach to support it. In 2001, their cover of "Smooth Criminal" became a No. 1 single in Australia and on the US Modern Rock charts, No. 3 in the UK, and No. 4 in New Zealand. The music video paid homage to Michael Jackson; guitarist Corso said in an MTV interview that they wanted to tastefully apply elements from Jackson's videos in their own way. The song appeared on the soundtrack of the first season of WWE Tough Enough and in American Pie 2. Their next single "Movies" was a Top 5 hit in the UK and a Top 20 hit in New Zealand. In spring 2002, the band contributed "Bug Bytes" to the first Spider-Man soundtrack. In May 2002, while touring in Spain, the band was involved in a bus accident that killed the driver, 26-year-old Christopher Holland, and left lead singer Mitchell with a fractured C2 vertebra.