Grotus, stylized as G̈r̈oẗus̈, was an
industrial rock
Industrial rock is a fusion genre that fuses industrial music and rock music. It initially originated in the 1970s, and drew influence from early experimental and industrial acts such as Throbbing Gristle, Einstürzende Neubauten and Chrom ...
band from San Francisco, active from 1989 to 1996. Their unique sound incorporated sampled
ethnic instruments, two drummers, and two bassists, and featured angry but humorous lyrics.
Biography
The group started in 1989, when Adam Tanner and John Carson, burned out from failed rock bands, decided to make music for films, and bought 2
Akai
Akai (, ) is a Japanese brand & former electronics manufacturer, established as Akai Electric Company Ltd in Tokyo in 1929. It was best known outside Japan for its tape recorders during the 1960s and 1970s. The company became bankrupt in 2000 ...
S-950 samplers. Having technical difficulties, they asked their friend Lars Fox to help figure out how to use them, and Fox asserted himself as their singer. Their first songs came quickly, and the trio headed to Dancing Dog Studio in
Emeryville, to record with
David Bryson (soon to be a member of
Counting Crows
Counting Crows is an American rock band from the San Francisco Bay Area, California. Formed in 1991, the band consists of rhythm guitarist David Bryson, drummer Jim Bogios, vocalist Adam Duritz, keyboardist Charlie Gillingham, David Immergl� ...
). A visit to radio station
KUSF's local music show yielded an invitation to perform at a showcase within a few weeks of starting.
They developed a large dedicated following in San Francisco over the next two years, playing with their friends in
Consolidated often, and opening for touring industrial bands, including
Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails, commonly abbreviated as NIN (stylized as NIИ), is an American industrial rock band formed in Cleveland, Ohio in 1988. Its members are the singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Trent Reznor and his frequent col ...
. New local record label Spirit Music Industries asked them to put out a recording, resulting in ''
Brown
Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing and painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors Orange (colour), orange and black.
In the ...
'', introducing the group's ethnic industrial stylings. Next, the group added drummer Bruce Boyd (formerly of
Pagan Babies) to the mix, resulting in a more organic punk feel. The new line up released ''
Luddite
The Luddites were members of a 19th-century movement of English textile workers who opposed the use of certain types of automated machinery due to concerns relating to worker pay and output quality. They often destroyed the machines in organ ...
'' on Spirit, much more a live band now, as opposed to Brown's more classic industrial sequenced machine grooves.
Faith No More
Faith No More is an American Rock music, rock band from San Francisco, California, formed in 1979. Before September 1983, the band performed under the names Sharp Young Men and later Faith No Man. Bassist Billy Gould, keyboardist/rhythm guitarist ...
and
Mr. Bungle
Mr. Bungle is an American experimental rock band formed in Eureka, California, in 1985. The band is known for its eclecticism, cycling through several musical genres, often within the course of a single song, including heavy metal, avant-garde ...
singer
Mike Patton
Michael Allan Patton (born January 27, 1968) is an American singer, songwriter, producer, and voice actor, best known as the lead vocalist of the rock bands Faith No More and Mr. Bungle. He has also fronted and/or played with Tomahawk, The ...
championed the band, asking them to open for his band Mr. Bungle, joining them for the band's first US tour, in 1992. This led to
Alternative Tentacles
Alternative Tentacles is an independent record label established in 1979 by Dead Kennedys vocalist Jello Biafra and guitarist East Bay Ray in San Francisco, California, with the intention to release the Dead Kennedys' self-produced single " C ...
'
Jello Biafra
Eric Reed Boucher (born June 17, 1958), known professionally as Jello Biafra, is an American singer, spoken word artist and political activist. He is the former lead singer and songwriter for the San Francisco punk rock band Dead Kennedys.
Init ...
asking the band to join their roster, which they did, releasing what many fans feel to be their best work, ''
Slow Motion Apocalypse'', in 1993.
G̈r̈oẗus̈ toured relentlessly from 1993 to 1996, stopping only to record, essentially living in their van or rehearsal space. Many major labels were signing alternative bands in the early
post-Nirvana era and were soon sought out. They eventually signed with London Records. London released the more
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...
oriented ''
Mass
Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...
'' in 1996, with a remix EP ("Handjob") being released as a touring device in 1995 (for a tour with
Korn
Korn (stylized as KoЯn) is an American nu metal band from Bakersfield, California, originally formed in 1993 by James Shaffer, James "Munky" Shaffer, Reginald Arvizu, Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu and David Silveria, who were members of the band ...
, on their first headlining tour).
London was primarily interested in the atypical (for G̈r̈oẗus̈) song "Hand to Mouth", but when it failed to catch on as a single, the label dropped the band two months later after ''Mass release. After seven years of activity, the band decided to call it quits and disbanded. Lars Fox has since produced many releases and continues to do so.
Fox has become a specialized recording engineer "track surgeon" working on artists ranging from
Nick Cave
Nicholas Edward Cave (born 22 September 1957) is an Australian musician, writer, and actor who fronts the rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Known for his baritone voice, Cave's music is characterised by emotional intensity, a wide variety ...
to
Ashlee Simpson
Ashley Nicolle Ross-Næss ( Simpson; born October 3, 1984), also known as Ashlee Simpson, is an American singer, songwriter, actress and television personality. The younger sister of singer and actress Jessica Simpson, she began her career as ...
. He is best known for co-producing
Everclear's last four albums. Tanner, a
bluegrass enthusiast, tours around the U.S. and Europe playing mandolin, fiddle and guitar in various groups. Boyd moved to the Utah desert, and is metal director and D.J. at
KZMU, in
Moab, Utah
Moab () is the largest city in and the county seat of Grand County in eastern Utah in the western United States, known for its dramatic scenery. The population was 5,366 at the 2020 census. Moab attracts many tourists annually, mostly visitor ...
. Carson lives in
Portland, Oregon
Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...
, and works as an electronic technician for a musical instrument manufacturer. His band
TV616 disbanded in August 2006. Their last show was in Sabalas, Portland.
Musical style
Projected videos, synchronized with the music, were an important part of the band from the beginning, influencing and being influenced by other Bay Area bands including
Neurosis
Neurosis (: neuroses) is a term mainly used today by followers of Freudian thinking to describe mental disorders caused by past anxiety, often that has been repressed. In recent history, the term has been used to refer to anxiety-related con ...
and
Consolidated. Their shows included large projected videos sequenced with the songs. They could almost qualify as
performance art
Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...
, with lyrics channeling any number of issues involved in the subjects of the videos. Many of the songs had a level of
social commentary
Social commentary is the act of using rhetorical means to provide commentary on social, cultural, political, or economic issues in a society. This is often done with the idea of implementing or promoting change by informing the general populace ab ...
and in particular dealt with anger at
environmental collapse. The group's sound can be summarized as industrial, experimental and alternative rock (
later
Later may refer to:
* Future
The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the futur ...
) with elements of
ethnic music
Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...
via sampling and to a lesser extent,
metal
A metal () is a material that, when polished or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, electricity and thermal conductivity, heat relatively well. These properties are all associated wit ...
.
Members
* Lars Fox – vocals, percussion, sampler (1989–1996)
* Adam Tanner – guitar, keyboards, 6-string bass guitar, sampler (1989–1996)
* John Carson – bass guitar, keyboards, sampler (1989–1996)
* Bruce Boyd – drums, turntables (1992–1996)
Discography
Studio albums
*''
Brown
Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing and painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors Orange (colour), orange and black.
In the ...
'' (1991)
*''
Slow Motion Apocalypse'' (1993)
*''
Mass
Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...
'' (1996)
EPs
*''Brown Club Product'' (1992)
*''
Luddite
The Luddites were members of a 19th-century movement of English textile workers who opposed the use of certain types of automated machinery due to concerns relating to worker pay and output quality. They often destroyed the machines in organ ...
'' (1992)
*''Handjob'' (1995)
Remixes
* ''
The Opiate of the Masses'' (1994) -
Remix
A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...
/
Extended Play
An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...
Singles
*"Edward Abbey" (1991)
*"Mother of Pearl" (1991)
*"Hand to Mouth" (1995)
Live recordings
* ''Live in France'' (1994)
References
External links
Trouser Press overview of Grotus
{{Authority control
References
Alternative Tentacles artists
London Records artists
Musical groups from San Francisco