The Bands That Are Buddies - collaboration between music groups Alien Ant Farm and Papa Roach - Brief Article

Interview, April, 2001 by Dimitri Ehrlich

THEIR MUSIC PACT--THE FIRST ONE WHO MADE IT WOULD SIGN THE OTHER

MAKING IT NOW: ALIEN ANT FARM

Alien Ant Farm is a charmingly melodic hard rock quartet from Riverside, California, who took their name from a tongue-in-cheek theory that suggests all of Earth's human population was placed here by aliens, who watch us build our cities much like a child playing with an ant farm. The band became the first signing to Papa Roach's new label, New Noize, an imprint of DreamWorks. A few years ago, before Papa Roach became MV staples, the two bands began opening for one another. Papa Roach had a strong following in northern California, whereas Alien Ant Farm's fan base was in the state's south.

"The idea was to steal each other's fans and vice versa," says Dryden Mitchell, Alien Ant Farm's lead singer. "We became friends, which bands don't seem to do much nowadays. Usually, it's more like rival football teams. So it was cool that we clicked with them. Once we developed a friendship, we both said, 'If we make it, we're dragging you with us.'"

Last month, Alien Ant Farm released their major label debut, ANThology, and now the two bands, along with Orgy, have started a national tour entitled Raid the Nation. "We called it Raid the Nation because we're ants and roaches," says Mitchell. That was another cool thing--we didn't even realize we had the insect thing in common until a couple months after we met. We were like, 'Oh shit!'"

MADE IT FIRST: PAPA ROACH

"We'd agreed that whoever got signed first would try to keep in touch and help the other group out, because we really respect each other as musicians," affirms Papa Roach's Coby. "We aren't signing any other bands. I don't want to be known as an A&R guy; I'm a singer for a band. But the Ants are really down-to-earth, they write good songs and have a great work ethic. It's kinda weird with the ant and the cockroach thing; I don't know if it's all coincidence or fate. But we said we were gonna do it and then we made it happen."

Dimitri Ehrlich is Interview's Music Editor at Large.