Alien Ant Farm

The band was formed in 1996 in Riverside, California.[2] The original lineup consisted of Dryden Mitchell (vocals), Terry Corso (guitars), Mike Cosgrove (drums) and Tye Zamora (bass). Their name comes from an idea original guitarist Terry Corso had about aliens and the Earth: "it was just my daydream about our planet being seeded by entities from other dimensions."[3][4]

In 1996 they recorded a demo tape entitled the $100 EP containing five songs,[5] and in 1998 they recorded a second demo tape Love Songs, featuring four songs.[6]

In 1999, Alien Ant Farm released their debut album, titled Greatest Hits that featured a first version of "Smooth Criminal".[7] It went on to win Best Independent Album in the L.A. Music Awards that year.[8]

In 2000, after forging a friendship with the band Papa Roach, Alien Ant Farm signed with DreamWorks SKG for their second studio album, Anthology.[9][10] They proceeded to tour with Papa Roach to support the album.[11]

Alien Ant Farm in 2001

In 2001, their cover of Michael Jackson's song, "Smooth Criminal", was a No. 1 single in Australia and New Zealand, a No. 3 single in the UK, and No. 1 on the US Modern Rock charts. The music video features numerous homages to Michael Jackson and his videos. 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 appeared on the soundtrack of the first season of WWE Tough Enough and in the film 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.[12]

In May 2002, the band was involved in a bus accident while touring in Spain.[13] 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.[14][2]

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.[15] 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, and the album was much less successful than their platinum selling début.

In October 2003, guitarist Terry Corso split with the band citing "irreconcilable differences".[16] Victor Camacho (a long time friend of the band and guitar player) immediately joined the band and completed the remainder of the Truant tour until the band returned home. Joe Hill was named the new guitarist in 2005 (formerly in Spiderworks).

In 2004, the band recorded the song "Dark in Here" for The Punisher video game. The band was forced to wait for Geffen to allow them to record another album (after Universal Music bought DreamWorks and assigned the band to its Geffen Records label).

In 2005, the band recorded with producer Jim Wirt (who recorded their independent, debut release Greatest Hits) and planned to release the album during that summer.[17] However, Geffen shelved the album and subsequently denied the band the rights to release it themselves.[18] The band hit the road and made bootleg copies of the album material available to all of their fans.[18][19] This unofficial release was dubbed 3rd Draft by fans.

Four video games have featured the band's songs. Their song "Wish" was in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3,[20] while the song "Courage" also featured in Shaun Palmer's Pro Snowboarder[21] and ATV Offroad Fury 2.[22] The song "These Days" was featured in Madden NFL 2004 and the song "S.S Recognize" were featured in NHL 2004.[23]

In late 2005, Geffen finally agreed to let the band release the album on another Universal label, Universal Music Enterprises (its catalog division).[18] On May 30, 2006 the new album, Up in the Attic, was released digitally on iTunes and sold at various retailers. The Best Buy Edition included a bonus track, "Repeat Defender". The first single was "Forgive and Forget", the one added track to 3rd Draft.

In April 2006, bassist Tye Zamora left the band and decided to go to college.[24] The short amount of live shows thereafter featured Alex Barreto on bass. On June 29, 2006, the band performed on G4's Attack of the Show, and on July 18, 2006, Up In The Attic was released worldwide, along with BUSted: The Definitive DVD. Included on the DVD were music videos for "Forgive and Forget", "Around the Block", and "She's Only Evil". Notably, the three videos feature only Dryden Mitchell and Mike Cosgrove.

The band released "Around the Block", the second single from Up in the Attic, on the iTunes Store in 2007.[25]

On February 11, 2008, the band posted a statement on their website stating Terry Corso and Tye Zamora had rejoined the band. It was also revealed that the band had "unofficially broken up" in 2007 due to the fact that 2006's Up in the Attic was their least successful album.

Around this time, vocalist Dryden Mitchell formed a new band, Send the Sages. Guitarist Terry Corso and drummer Michael Cosgrove worked on a side project titled Ghost In The Flesh, bassist Tye Zamora worked with the band eEnik. Alien Ant Farm toured sporadically, and released a new live album, Alien Ant Farm: Live In Germany.

In 2009, they played the Sonisphere Festival in Knebworth, UK on August 1.[26] They had also performed "Smooth Criminal" at the 2009 Vans' Warped Tour in memory of Michael Jackson, who had recently died.[27]

On February 9, 2010, Alien Ant Farm posted on their official website that the original line up (Dryden Mitchell, Terry Corso, Tye Zamora and Mike Cosgrove) was back together for the first time since 2003.[28] On February 27, 2010, the Alien Ant Farm official website released the band's first "webizode" titled Bassmasters.[29]

Alien Ant Farm playing in 2015.

The band's "ANTicipation" 2011 Tour took place across the continental U.S. from July to October 2011.[30] They also took part in the "Michael Forever Tribute Concert" which took place on October 8, 2011 in Cardiff, Wales.[31] Alien Ant Farm started writing new material and in July 2012 started recording their fifth album, Always and Forever, at Groovemaster Studios in Chicago in July 2012.[32][33] In March 2013 they set up a crowdfund, using PledgeMusic, to finance the album's release.[34] The first single from Always and Forever, "Let 'Em Know", was released in May 2013.[35] Also in the summer of 2013, Alien Ant Farm participated in "The Big Night Out Tour", opening for Hoobastank and Fuel.[36]

Founding member and bassist Tye Zamora left Alien Ant Farm in March 2014 and was replaced by Tim Peugh.[37] At the same time Michael Anaya joined as a touring member of the band, providing backing vocals, percussion, and keyboards.[38] Another single, Homage, was released in September 2014, followed a month later by E.P. Phone Home.[39] The album Always and Forever was released on February 24, 2015.[40]

On March 31, 2016, Alien Ant Farm announced on their official Facebook page that they were writing material for a new album.[41]

On May 17, 2016, the band took part in the Make America Rock Again super tour throughout the summer and fall 2016.[42] In addition, they announced a headlining tour where they intend to perform the album Anthology in its entirety.[43][44] In 2018 they toured as part of the "Gen-X Tour", alongside Buckcherry, P.O.D., and Lit.[45]

On May 8, 2020, the new single "Everything she wants" was released digitally on streaming services. It is a cover of the song by Wham!.[46]