Agoraphobic Nosebleed (abbreviated as ANb) is an American
grindcore
Grindcore is an extreme fusion genre of heavy metal and hardcore punk that originated in the mid-1980s, drawing inspiration from abrasive-sounding musical styles, such as thrashcore, crust punk, hardcore punk, extreme metal, and industrial. ...
band formed in 1994 in
Springfield, Massachusetts, United States. Its line-up has changed often over the years, with guitarist and drum programmer
Scott Hull being the only continuous member. The current line-up includes vocalist Jay Randall, and Richard Johnson of
Enemy Soil and Drugs of Faith, along with John Jarvis of Pig Destroyer and Fulgora on bass guitar. Agoraphobic Nosebleed is one of the most well-known drum-machine grindcore bands, and has influenced many drum-machine grindcore bands.
Biography
The band is known for the brevity of its songs. The album ''
Altered States of America
''Altered States of America'' is a 100-song 3" mini CD and the third studio album released by grindcore band Agoraphobic Nosebleed. The album's songs cover a variety of topics, with many referring to violence and drug use. Several songs consist ...
'' features 100 songs (including one hidden) in just under 22 minutes, with many songs of 5 seconds or less, and the longest song being only 1:45.
Agoraphobic Nosebleed is also known for rarely playing live. The band played at the 2003
New England Metal and Hardcore Festival
The New England Metal and Hardcore Festival was an annual festival held in Worcester, Massachusetts, United States. It was a weekend-long concert of heavy metal and hardcore punk bands along with a merchandising and promotional area for record l ...
. As the band's appearance was unscheduled,
Pig Destroyer cut its set short so Agoraphobic Nosebleed could play two songs and an intro. Twelve years later, the band finally played their first full live set at the 2015 edition of the
Maryland Deathfest
Maryland Deathfest (often abbreviated to MDF) is an annual American extreme metal festival founded in 2003 by Ryan Taylor and Evan Harting. The festival is held in Baltimore, Maryland during Memorial Day weekend, and it features many bands from ...
. Their second full live set was played on November 15, 2015, at the Housecore Horror Festival Part III in San Antonio, TX. In keeping with the band's aesthetic, no live drummer has been used at the performances.
In 2006,
Hydra Head Records
Hydra Head Records was an independent record label that specializes in extreme metal music, founded in New Mexico by Aaron Turner (the frontman of Isis) in 1993. It had another imprint, Hydra Head Noise Industries, which specialized in experiment ...
reissued Agoraphobic Nosebleed's 6" ''
PCP Torpedo'' as a double disc set entitled ''
PCP Torpedo/ANbRx''. The first disc consists of the 10-song, 6-minute original EP. The second disc is over an hour's worth of remixes of songs from ''PCP Torpedo'' by
breakcore
Breakcore is a style and microgenre of electronic dance music that emerged from jungle, hardcore, and drum and bass in the mid-to-late 1990s. It is characterized by very complex and intricate breakbeats and a wide palette of sampling source ...
and
noise music artists such as Xanopticon,
James Plotkin
James Plotkin is an American guitarist and producer known for his role in bands such as Khanate and OLD but with an extensive catalogue outside these bands. He has played guitar for Phantomsmasher and Scorn and continues to remix tracks for band ...
,
Merzbow
is a Japanese noise project started in 1979 by , best known for a style of harsh, confrontational noise. Since 1980, Akita has released over 400 recordings and has collaborated with various artists.
The name Merzbow comes from the German dada ...
, and
Justin Broadrick
Justin Karl Michael Broadrick (born 15 August 1969) is an English musician, singer and songwriter. He is best known as the lead singer and a founding member of the band Godflesh, one of the first bands to combine elements of extreme metal and ...
.
In 2009, the band released the album ''
Agorapocalypse'' on Relapse, available as a CD, LP, and
longbox
A longbox is a form of exterior paperboard packaging for musical compact discs in widespread use in the 1980s and early 1990s in North America.
Background
When compact discs first began to appear in the retail stores, the longbox packaging s ...
CD. The split 7-inch with Crom was released a month later. In 2010, the band released a split 7-inch with The Endless Blockade for Relapse Records and a split 5" with
A.N.S. for Tankcrimes Records. A split CD/LP with Despise You was released on Relapse in 2011. The December 2011 issue of ''
Decibel Magazine
''Decibel'' is a monthly heavy metal magazine published by the Philadelphia-based Red Flag Media since October 2004. Its sections include Upfront, Features, Reviews, Guest Columns and the Decibel Hall of Fame. The magazine's tag-line is currentl ...
'' included a
flexi disc
The flexi disc (also known as a phonosheet, Sonosheet or Soundsheet, a trademark) is a phonograph record made of a thin, flexible vinyl sheet with a molded-in spiral stylus groove, and is designed to be playable on a normal phonograph turntabl ...
titled ''Make a Joyful Noise'', and the December 2012 issue included a flexi disc containing the song "Merry Chrystmeth".
Agoraphobic Nosebleed is recording four EPs, each written in the preferred style of a specific member. Kat Katz's EP, ''
Arc'', was released in 2016. Randall is currently working on ''Drum Machine Gun 2'', as well as doing a collaborative 7-inch with Wadge and a collaborative 12-inch with Black Mayonnaise.
On October 24, 2018, Kat Katz announced her departure from Agoraphobic Nosebleed due to "being bullied by dudes", with the band confirming it on their own Facebook page citing differences in band interactions.
Personnel
Current members
*
Scott Hull (
Pig Destroyer, ex-
Anal Cunt
Anal Cunt, also known as AxCx and A.C., was an American grindcore band that formed in Newton, Massachusetts, in 1988. From its inception, the band underwent a number of line-up changes and never had a bass player. The band, known for its flippa ...
, ex-Japanese Torture Comedy Hour) β
guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...
,
drum programming
Programming is a form of music production and performance using electronic devices and computer software, such as sequencers and workstations or hardware synthesizers, sampler and sequencers, to generate sounds of musical instruments. These m ...
*Jay Randall (ex-
Isis
Isis (; ''Δse''; ; Meroitic language, Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician language, Phoenician: π€π€, romanized: ΚΎs) was a major ancient Egyptian deities, goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughou ...
, Japanese Torture Comedy Hour, Seal Team 666) β
vocals
Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or witho ...
, electronics
*Richard Johnson (Enemy Soil, Drugs of Faith, Jesus of Nazareth) β vocals, formerly
bass guitar
The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and s ...
*John Jarvis (ex-Pig Destroyer, Scour, Fulgora) β
bass guitar
The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and s ...
Former members
*Joe β vocals (1995β1996)
*Dom β vocals (1995β1996)
*Aaron Ulcer β vocals (1997)
*Sean Wipfli β vocals (1997)
*J.R. Hayes β vocals (1999)
*Carl Schultz β vocals (2002β2007)
*Katherine Katz β vocals (2007β2018)
Discography
Studio albums
*''
Honky Reduction'' (1998)
*''
Frozen Corpse Stuffed with Dope'' (2002)
*''
Altered States of America
''Altered States of America'' is a 100-song 3" mini CD and the third studio album released by grindcore band Agoraphobic Nosebleed. The album's songs cover a variety of topics, with many referring to violence and drug use. Several songs consist ...
'' (2003)
*''
Agorapocalypse'' (2009)
Other releases
*''30 Song Demo'' cassette (1995)
*''Agoraphobic Nosebleed'' 7-inch (1996) (Bovine Records)
*Split with Cattlepress LP (1997)
*Split with
Enemy Soil 7-inch (1997)
*Split with Laceration 7-inch (1997)
*''Agoraphobic Nosebleed'' 7-inch (1997) (Clean Plate Records)
*''
PCP Torpedo'' 6" (1998)
*Split with Gob 7-inch (1998)
*''The Glue That Binds Us'' 7-inch (2006)
*''
The Poacher Diaries
''The Poacher Diaries'' is a split album released by the bands Agoraphobic Nosebleed and Converge in 1999. It was remastered by Scott Hull in 2006 and re-released by Relapse Records.
In 2022, the Converge songs were reissued as a standalone ...
'' split with
Converge CD/LP (1999)
*Split with BenΓΌmb 7-inch (2001)
*Split with
Halo
Halo, halos or haloes usually refer to:
* Halo (optical phenomenon)
* Halo (religious iconography), a ring of light around the image of a head
HALO, halo, halos or haloes may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Video games
* Halo (franchise), ...
7-inch (2002)
*''
Bestial Machinery (Discography Volume 1)'' 2xCD (2005)
*''
PCP Torpedo/ANbRx'' 2xCD (2006)
*Split with Kill the Client 7-inch (2007)
*''
A Clockwork Sodom'' 7-inch (2007)
*''Domestic Powerviolence'' split with Apartment 213 CD/LP (2007)
*Split with Total Fucking Destruction 7-inch (2007)
*''
Altered States of America
''Altered States of America'' is a 100-song 3" mini CD and the third studio album released by grindcore band Agoraphobic Nosebleed. The album's songs cover a variety of topics, with many referring to violence and drug use. Several songs consist ...
/ANbRx II'' 2xCD (2008)
*Split with Insect Warfare 5"/mini-CD (2008)
*Split with Crom 7-inch (2009)
*Split with Endless Blockade 7-inch (2009)
*Split with A.N.S. 5" (2010)
*''
And on and On...'' split with Despise You CD/LP (2011)
*''Make a Joyful Noise'' flexi disc (2011)
*"Merry Chrystmeth" flexi disc (2012)
*''
Arc'' (2016)
Upcoming releases
*Split collaboration with Wadge
*3 EPs, each featuring a specific member
References
External links
Official Artist Page on Relapse
{{DEFAULTSORT:Agoraphobic Nosebleed
American grindcore musical groups
Musical groups from Massachusetts
Heavy metal musical groups from Massachusetts
Musical groups established in 1994
Relapse Records artists
1994 establishments in Massachusetts