Amen (American band)

History

Amen first came together in Los Angeles in 1994, following the breakup of Casey Chaos’s earlier band, Disorderly Conduct. The group’s name was taken from the title of Disorderly Conduct’s 1986 album. Their debut record, Slave, was almost entirely the work of Chaos alone, who wrote and performed most of it; Greg Barrybauer added guitars and keyboards on a handful of tracks. The album was recorded at Sandbox & Marquee West and mixed at Convent Studio in Los Angeles, with only 2,000 copies pressed. That limited release brought Chaos to the attention of producer Ross Robinson, and together they landed a deal with Roadrunner Records.

For Amen’s major-label debut, the self-titled Amen, Chaos built a full band around him. He brought in drummer Shannon Larkin, bassist John Fahnestock (also called Tumor), and guitarists Paul Fig and Sonny Mayo. The album came out on September 21, 1999, but the lineup fell apart by the end of the year due to poor support, which cut their tour short and forced them to cancel an entire European run. That same year, the EP Coma America was released in the UK. In December 1999, Kerrang! magazine named it Single of the Week and declared it “without a doubt the Album of the Decade.”

In 2000, Amen signed with Virgin Records and kept the same lineup for their next album. They recorded it in May at Sound City in Los Angeles. We Have Come for Your Parents hit stores on October 31, 2000, its title a nod to The Dead Boys’ album We Have Come for Your Children. The record found quick success in the UK, reaching number 77 on the charts in November 2000. Two singles also charted there: “Too Hard to Be Free” peaked at number 72, and “The Waiting 18” reached number 61. Before the album dropped, “The Price of Reality” came out as a single, accompanied by a promotional video that matched the album’s distinctive art style. In 2002, that video appeared on Streetwise DVDs sold at FYE and was named Metal Hammer magazine’s Video of the Year.