On The Farm

Insects have invaded our airwaves. An example? The massive success of Papa Roach has won them their own sub-label — New Noise — through Dream Works, and the new imprint’s first band is Papa Roach’s old-time friends, Alien Ant Farm. Insects are invading our town, too — no, not the bugs on your pizza slice — as Alien Ant Farm plans to test their sound out in Chico before hopping on a nationwide tour with Papa Roach in March.
Alien Ant Farm began making music together in 1995 in Los Angeles, with Dryden Mitchell on vocals, Terry Corso on guitar, Mike Cosgrove on drums and Tye Zamora on bass. The power foursome began to infiltrate the So Cal music scene, and made an impact on their strong, loyal fan base and broadened their local fame by embarking on tour after tour. Alien Ant Farm’s past tours have reached from Sokolov, Czech Republic to Chateau Lareault, France to Anaheim and Vallejo, California.
Their first full-length album, Greatest Hits, was named the best independent rock album of the year at the LA Music Awards. Now, thanks to good pals Papa Roach, they were given a try at a major label this past year and produced ANThology.
Vocalist Mitchell took a minute during their extensive tour of California to speak to us about the new album, live shows and how to write a song.

How did recording the new album go and what was it like to work with recent producing legend Jay Baumgardner?
It was pretty good. The situation flowed pretty nicely. We went in there trying each other out at first, we just did two songs with him. We weren't sure where we were going to go, but the two songs worked out well. One of them
being our single that we are pushing now, "Movies," so we decided to continue the positive.

Was his past work (Papa Roach, Orgy, Coal Chamber) intimidating or reassuring?
I don't think it was either, we were pretty much concerned with what was going to happen with us. I don't want to sound cocky, but it wasn't intimidating, that's for sure, and it was a little reassuring that he has so
much under his belt.

How do you feel about the outcome of the album?
We're all really happy. James Murray, our engineer, was a great asset to the whole process. We're all pleased with the outcome. I just think that the album has a few different sounds to it, without sounding schizophrenic. I think I'm
more proud that we pulled off that sense of flowing without having to do one certain genre of music and at the same time, not having it sound like, "Oh, this is our ska song and this is our heavy song." It just worked out really well.

Is that how you would describe your music?
I would just say, it's like a new romance metal, ‘New Ro Metal’ or something. I mean, that's like the lamest thing I could think, but it's totally good. It's rock ‘n’ roll again. There are really no effects going on, nothing’s being hidden. If I sound lame, it's because I sound lame, not because of some goofy effect.

With this idea of music you are creating, how do you feel about the state of music today?
I think there is always going to be good stuff and bad stuff, it's just depends. It's all a continuance. It's hard to put down music when it's selling millions. People putting down the popular music would say, "Oh, they suck" to whatever band is successful, and is out there entertaining people. I think the state of music has always been the same. It's just supposed to be a good time and I think it gets analyzed just a little too much.

As a band, who are your influences?
I would say, we're all into Bad Brains, Ben Folds Five, Frank Zappa. It goes all over. Tye and Mike, our drummer and bass player, are really into hard core and jazz. They're fiends and I don't ever get it. But, it's good that we have these different influences. It brings a lot to the table when it comes to writing and stuff like that. We don't have to stick to a rock beat and everyone is pretty studied in this band. Everyone has taken it pretty seriously, like a lot of bands should. Like practicing with the band and then we all go home and practice on our own, which I don't think happens with a lot of rock bands, but maybe it does.

Is this small club tour preparing you for your nationwide tour with Papa Roach in March?
I guess it’s preparing us, but we've had our share of tours before. Last year we toured Europe for six weeks. We've done a lot of shows. It's just what we have to do. If this upcoming tour with Papa Roach wasn't coming up, we'd
be doing this forever.

Describe the process you guys go through in writing a song.
There's really no formula. If there was, we'd have three hits getting rotated at the same time. Obviously, bass or guitar comes to the table with a riff. I'll traditionally wait until the song is pretty close to done before I start
to dabble with it. I give my suggestions, like what I think should musically happen, but before I start trying to write anything I'll wait. It's usually pretty mapped out by the time I get it. I'll just do a cheesy ghetto-blaster recording and take it in my car or in my room and just start to scat to it. You feel stupid it at first, but you get used to it. The majority of the lyrics, I do. But, everyone will chime in with their two bits and I'll gladly accept it. I think anyone in this band will gladly accept any suggestion or criticism.

What helps you guys prepare for the dynamics of and feel of your live performances?
The crowd. There's no show without people getting into the music. That would be first and foremost. Just having fun. We don't take ourselves seriously except for the music. But, when it comes to playing it, we should have fun. Half the time I hate it that we are even on a stage. I don't like to be above the crowd. It just seems kind of corny to me when I see bigger-than-life bands, like acting so serious about their art, or whatever, when I love art, but come on, this is rock, you know? Let your hair down or shave it. It's just mostly fun.

How do you feel that your band has influenced Southern California's music scene?
We haven't come on so full force that everybody knows about us yet. I think we've mainly influenced kids. We've influenced kids to play music more than anything. Forget about expensive clothes, a lot of it is to just jam and
work on what you do, if you want to make a career out of it. That is, have a song or two. You've got to know what is going on.

What was the hardest thing about making ANThology?
Honestly, we had so many good songs. I think that figuring out what we wanted on there was the hardest part. Like doing it was easy by any means. I got a real kick in the butt, because it is really hard to make a record. It's
harder than I thought, but the hardest was deciding what we wanted to put on the record. I don't think we chose the worst songs or anything, but it was about, performance-wise, what didn't feel right, and we ditched a couple of (songs).

Who do you find to be your most supportive part of your fan base?
We definitely have some loyalty. When we do the national tour, I think it's going to be a good thing. We're really personable with kids. It's been proven to just work. I've been talking and hear kids say, "Man, it's so cool
that you're out here in the parking lot trying to skateboard with us." I don't even know how to skateboard. It’s just about being personal. Kids say, "We saw this other band and they were too cool or something." That's cool.

Alien Ant Farm and Papa Roach have had a long history. How have they influenced you?
Well, just watching them explode, and it's a joy and a shock. I knew that they had potential and I know that we do too, it's just weird to watch it. I totally knew that it was going to happen, but I remember thinking the first
time that I heard them on a big radio station, thinking, "Oh my god, this is for real now." And then I saw the video and it was crazy. I remember us just fooling around together when we were kids, playing shows to ten people.

How did you guys feel when you found out that you were going to get signed?
It was more of a relief than a huge joy. We'd done various labels, like at the Viper Room or whatever, and had been turned down. "You guys have great songs, but I question the marketability." Like me just wearing jeans and a
T-shirt. Just the stupidest excuses that you could ever imagine. And I remember just being really depressed and then this (getting signed), and don't get me wrong, I was really, really happy, but it was more like justice had been
served. I was like, all right finally. It was more of a relief, like now we can go and start. It wasn't like we crossed some finish line. It was like now we were in the race.

How did you come up with your name?
That was our guitar player Terry, it's just kind of a theory. Honestly, what do you think it means? (SILENCE) Like an alien ant farm is probably like the world. The theory is that maybe aliens came down and created this whole thing
and went away to watch us build our cities and either fuck it up or make it work. Like a little kid having an ant farm. So, I don't know. I don't necessarily believe it or not believe it. But, it's a cool name and a theory to think about.

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