Southern California's Alien Ant Farm employ a freewheeling blend of nu-metal, post-grunge, and punk-pop that landed them mainstream success when their quirky, souped-up rendition of Michael Jackson's "Smooth Criminal" topped the Billboard Alternative Songs charts in 2001. The band continued to maintain a steady radio presence throughout the aughts, delivering a string of efforts like Anthology, truANT, and Up in the Attic, that owed more to alt-metal outliers than the work of many of their peers did. Side projects, personnel issues, and major-label chicanery prompted a long studio hiatus that ended with 2015's Always and Forever. Fans endured another long wait before the group served up their sixth long-player, 2024's Mantras. Alien Ant Farm was formed in Riverside, California, in 1996 by singer/songwriter Dryden Mitchell, guitarist Terry Corso, bassist Tye Zamora, and drummer Mike Cosgrove. All were bored with their day jobs and sought something else to break them from corporate norms. Music allowed them to express themselves freely, and a friendship was born. They independently released their debut album, the cheekily-titled Greatest Hits, toward the end of the '90s, and before long, enough noise surrounded the band – they won the award for Best Independent Album at the 1999 L.A. Music Awards – that Papa Roach's Dreamworks imprint New Noize offered the group a deal. Two years later, they made their major-label introduction with ANThology. The LP's lead single, "Smooth Criminal," was a funky metallic mix of Michael Jackson's original song and appeared in the hit film American Pie 2. The track hit number one on the modern rock charts, and the album eventually went platinum. A year later, between tours of Europe, the band was back in the studio recording new music. "Bug Bites" appeared in director Sam Raimi's massively successful Spiderman in May 2002. While traveling in Spain to a gig in Portugal that same month, the group's bus collided with a truck, killing their driver. The band and crew members suffered various injuries as well, most seriously Mitchell, who fractured his C2 vertebra. Thankfully, he came out of surgery able to walk, though he suffered some nerve damage and a slight loss of motion. Committed to getting back to work and pushing the incident aside, Alien Ant Farm hit the studio to record their follow-up record. truANT was issued in May 2003, as Dreamworks was dissolving as a label. As a result, the album barely made a splash on the U.S. charts, though the single "These Days" managed to crack the Top 30. Guitarist Corso exited the group and was replaced by Joe Hill, while Zamora left for college after recording the band's fourth effort. The resulting Up In the Attic appeared in July 2006 via New Door Records, as hardcore vet Alex Barreto (Chain of Strength, Inside Out) entered on bass. Up in the Attic didn't perform well, and the group entered a period of uncertainty. Bassist Tye Zamora departed to attend college--Alex Barreto replaced him--but he came back along with Terry Corso in 2008. However, progress was not linear for AAF: various side projects took a front seat until they started to play shows in 2009 (the same year as their first live album, Alien Ant Farm: Live in Germany). The original lineup reunited in 2010 and played regular shows over the next three years. As they started recording a new album, Zamora left once again. Tim Peugh replaced him, and with the new bassist aboard, they set out to record a new album, Always and Forever, which appeared in 2015. The ensuing years saw the band continue to tour and put out the occasional single, most notably a muscular cover of Wham!'s "Everything She Wants" in 2020. The song appeared on the group's U.K.-charting sixth studio long-player Mantras in 2024. ~ MacKenzie Wilson, Rovi

Make America Rock Again Festival 2016

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