ALIEN ANT FARM
The SoCal alt-metal foursome Alien Ant Farm formed in 1996 with the raging 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 freely express themselves, and a friendship was born. They independently released their quirky debut, Greatest Hits, toward the end of the ’90s and soon enough noise surrounded the band. It won the award for Best Independent Album at the 1999 L.A. Music Awards and Alien Ant Farm found themselves striking a deal with Papa Roach’s New Noize, which is partners with DreamWorks.
CKY
Once upon a time, CKY burned it all down, with a raucous, anarchic, hard rock sound soaked in the skate-punk culture that birthed them and a hard-partying lifestyle onstage and off that decimated relationships and reputations in its wake. Now, CKY rises from the ashes of the aftermath with The Phoenix, a bold mission statement that hoists the flag high for big, raw, authentic, earth shaking rock n’ roll, liberated from useless pretense.