Idiot Pilot is an

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

duo from

Bellingham, Washington Bellingham ( ) is the county seat of Whatcom County, Washington, Whatcom County in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. It lies south of the Canada–United States border, U.S.–Canada border, between Vancouver, British Columbia, ...

, consisting of Michael Harris and Daniel Anderson.

History

After their previous band, pop-punk outfit Azero Cherry, broke up, high schoolers Michael Harris and Daniel Anderson decided to go it alone and started Idiot Pilot. Their debut album, '' Strange We Should Meet Here'' was originally self-released, before they were signed and remastered by

Reprise In music, a reprise ( , ; from the verb 'to resume') is the repetition or reiteration of the opening material later in a composition as occurs in the recapitulation of sonata form, though—originally in the 18th century—was simply any re ...

. The band has collaborated with Chino Moreno of

Deftones Deftones is an American alternative metal band formed in Sacramento, California in 1988. They were formed by frontman Chino Moreno, lead guitarist Stephen Carpenter and drummer Abe Cunningham, with bassist Chi Cheng and keyboardist and tu ...

for their '' B-Sides & Rarities'' album. They have previously toured in the UK, but have also done stints in the US. These have been with acts such as Team Sleep, +44, The Seal Cub Clubbing Club,

The Smashing Pumpkins The Smashing Pumpkins (also simply known as Smashing Pumpkins) are an American alternative rock band formed in Chicago in 1988 by frontman and guitarist Billy Corgan, guitarist James Iha, bassist D'arcy Wretzky and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin. The ...

, and

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. They released their second album, ''

Wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the grey wolf or gray wolf, is a canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, including the dog and dingo, though gr ...

'', on October 2, 2007, which was co-produced by

Mark Hoppus Mark Allan Hoppus (born March 15, 1972) is an American musician and record producer. He is the co-lead vocalist, co-founder, and bassist for the rock band Blink-182 and the only member to appear on every album. Hoppus became interested in ska ...

of +44 and

Blink-182 Blink-182 is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Poway, California, in 1992. Its current and best-known line-up consists of bassist and vocalist Mark Hoppus, guitarist and vocalist Tom DeLonge, and drummer Travis Barker. Though its so ...

, and Ross Robinson ( Glassjaw,

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, The Blood Brothers). The album features drumming by Chris Pennie of

Coheed and Cambria Coheed and Cambria is an American progressive rock band from Nyack, New York, formed in 1995. It consists of Claudio Sanchez (vocals, guitars, keyboards), Travis Stever (guitars, vocals), Josh Eppard (drums, keyboards, backing vocals), and Za ...

(formerly of the Dillinger Escape Plan) and

Travis Barker Travis Landon Barker (born November 14, 1975) is an American musician, songwriter, and music producer who is the drummer for the rock band Blink-182. He has collaborated with hip hop artists, is a member of the rap rock group Transplants ...

of +44 and

. It includes the song "Retina and the Sky", which is on the ''

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soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

. They also filmed a video for Retina and the Sky with director Adam Egypt Mortimer. From 2007 they have also included live drummer Ryan Soukkala to their live show as well as Michael playing guitar in addition to singing. In mid-2007, the duo appeared on the new album of Colorado post-hardcore band Drop Dead, Gorgeous, '' Worse Than a Fairy Tale''. The collaboration was arranged by Ross Robinson, who produced the album. In 2008, Idiot Pilot toured the United States on the Taste of Chaos tour alongside

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and Atreyu. In March 2009, Idiot Pilot chose to leav
Reprise Records
following the label's merger with parent company Warner Bros., due to poor promotion of their second album, ''

''. Since this time, Harris has toured and recorded with

Cold Cold is the presence of low temperature, especially in the atmosphere. In common usage, cold is often a subjectivity, subjective perception. A lower bound to temperature is absolute zero, defined as 0.00K on the Kelvin scale, an absolute t ...

vocalist Scooter Ward's side project The Killer and The Star, playing bass, and more recently toured with Cold as a second guitarist. In March 2010, Idiot Pilot released a new song, "The Tail of a Jet Black Swan", through their official website as a pay-what-you-want download. It is unknown as to whether the single will be included on their upcoming third album or not. In January 2011, Idiot Pilot announced an indefinite hiatus, writing on their website: "After months of recording, working and pouring our hearts into more Idiot Pilot material, we have decided to take a moment to ourselves.

Weeks later, it was announced that a compilation of unreleased material spanning the group's career would be in the works and ready for a release later in the year. In February 2019 the band officially ended their hiatus with the announcement via their official website of their third studio album, ''Blue Blood'', which the band self-released on March 12, 2019.

Members

* Michael Harris – vocals, guitar, drums * Daniel Anderson – guitar, bass, programming, keyboards, vocals ;Touring members * Ryan Soukkala – drums (2007–2009) * Chris Newton – drums (2010) * Dimiter Yordanov – bass (2010)

Discography

*'' Strange We Should Meet Here'' (2004) *''

'' (2007) *''Blue Blood'' (2019)

References

{{Authority control Electronic music duos American post-hardcore musical groups Musical groups established in 2003 Musical groups disestablished in 2011 Musical groups reestablished in 2019 Musical groups from Washington (state)