Mankind Is Obsolete
Encyclopedia
“Mankind Is Obsolete,” also known as “MKIO,” is a female-fronted industrial rock band, based in Los Angeles, California.
's synthpop band, Pseudocipher, while Natasha Cox and Gordon Bash were members of the group "Lotus Reign".
Later, Siren and Cox met at the Musicians Institute
in Los Angeles and recognized that they had similar tastes in music after seeing each other wearing the same Sisters of Mercy
t-shirts. The two played in a jazz band together and in 2002 Cox also joined Pseudocipher.
By the fall of 2002, Cox and Siren had formed Mankind is Obsolete. With Cox on keyboards and Siren on drums, they began recording what would become their first EP, Metamorph, without a singer before Natasha stepped up to the role of lead vocalist. Some of the recording was done at the school's facilities, some in Siren's apartment using ProTools, and some in Cox's apartment bedroom. By February 2003, a live band had been assembled adding Jamie Roy on bass, Mark Nurre on guitars and Nathan Trowbridge on keyboards and running the light show. Additional recording and mixing was done by Steven Seibold of Hate Dept.
and Pigface
, and Metamorph was released in August 2003.
The songs of Metamorph range from "haunting" and "brooding" for much of the album to the faster paced, more heavily electronic and more danceable 'Icarus'. The band toured throughout the west coast and southwest following this album and by late 2004, Roy had left the band.
having in our daily lives. It is about seeing the negativity as it is and
finding the power within to move past it."
Following the 2005 tours which included an East Coast foray to Goth Stock, Trowbridge left the band. Brian DiDomenico was brought on as the new keyboardist in late 2005, just in time to appear in the video for 'Still Right Here', released in February 2006. That year saw a full, nine week, US/Canada tour supporting Rise. The tour was characterized by performances of such physical intensity that on one occasion Natasha threw out her back on stage and needed emergency room attention following the show. This incarnation of the band saw the creative load spread across the band with all band members contributing to writing new songs 'Awake' (composed for photographer J. Corsentino) and 'Picking at the Scab', both of which would eventually appear on Trapped Inside.
and Jim Wood producing at RadioStar Studios in Weed, Califorina. Landes had previously worked with Massy as part of Collide. He assumed Nurre's guitar duties and they searched for a new bassist for what was shaping up to be a darker album. Joe D'Ambra joined as the new bassist for the Trapped Inside sessions and tour. This album was to involve more extensive contributions from all the band members than previous outings. The album was recorded in July and August 2007 and released that September.
While some reviewers found the album to be their best work to date, with a very different sound than Rise, others found it entertaining and satisfying, but neither surprising nor progressing much beyond their previous efforts. A more typical reviewer found the album both a mature and experimental work that is "very rich" and "very organic", alternating between lush and hypnotic and aggressive and pounding.
After Trapped Inside 's September release, MKIO embarked on a year long U.S. tour. While prospects of supporting the album with a tour that long contributed to Nurre's and Bash's decisions to leave the band, Bash was able to return in March 2008 when D'Ambra decided to leave. D'Ambra parted amicably after eight months with the band, including six months of heavy touring. A few months later, near the end of the tour, DiDomenico also parted ways with the band. As the tour wound down in August, they played the Warped Tour
.
in its European appearances surrounding the 2007 Wave-Gotik-Treffen and Siren continues to drum for them live. Cox contributed to the Ikonoklast album The Dawn in 2007. After the Trapped Inside tour, Landes and Siren joined Kidneythieves
as part of their live band. In 2009 Siren became the drummer of Psyclon Nine
for the recording of We the Fallen
and its associated tour. Siren occasionally drums for his former Pseudocipher bandmate, Christopher Anton's solo project, and also drums with System Syn. Bash is also part of the jazz band "Magnolia Memoir" as well as heads his own eponymous band. Bash, Cox, and Landes debuted the indie/alternative band "Alice" in early 2010. Following their tour with Android Lust
in 2010, Landes began playing guitars with that band. As of 2011, Cox and Siren have appeared as part of the live band for Adam Moore's indie industrial band, Inure and Cox joined Siren for System Syn's appearance at the 2011 Kinetik Festival
.
Formation and Metamorph (2001-2004)
By 2001, Jon Siren had joined Christopher AntonChristopher Anton
Christopher Anton , is an American singer and songwriter. Anton is known for being the vocalist of the Synthpop band Information Society, as well as the synth rock band Pseudocipher. Recently, in 2010 Christopher Anton has gained popularity as a solo artist in the dance genre with the release of...
's synthpop band, Pseudocipher, while Natasha Cox and Gordon Bash were members of the group "Lotus Reign".
Later, Siren and Cox met at the Musicians Institute
Musicians Institute
Musicians Institute is a privately owned for-profit music vocational school located in Hollywood, California. Although not a regionally accredited school, the school offers a variety of unaccredited Bachelor Degree, Associate Degree and Certificate programs in fields including contemporary music...
in Los Angeles and recognized that they had similar tastes in music after seeing each other wearing the same Sisters of Mercy
The Sisters of Mercy
The Sisters of Mercy are an English rock band that formed in 1980. After achieving early underground fame in UK, the band had their commercial breakthrough in mid-1980s and sustained it until the early 1990s, when they stopped releasing new recorded output in protest against their record company...
t-shirts. The two played in a jazz band together and in 2002 Cox also joined Pseudocipher.
By the fall of 2002, Cox and Siren had formed Mankind is Obsolete. With Cox on keyboards and Siren on drums, they began recording what would become their first EP, Metamorph, without a singer before Natasha stepped up to the role of lead vocalist. Some of the recording was done at the school's facilities, some in Siren's apartment using ProTools, and some in Cox's apartment bedroom. By February 2003, a live band had been assembled adding Jamie Roy on bass, Mark Nurre on guitars and Nathan Trowbridge on keyboards and running the light show. Additional recording and mixing was done by Steven Seibold of Hate Dept.
Hate Dept.
Hate Dept. is a synthesizer-laden post punk band, created in 1991 by Seibold. The group releases albums and performs music in the same vein as Nine Inch Nails, Skinny Puppy and The Prodigy. Seibold is a multi-instrumentalist who manages to write, record and release Hate Dept. albums without the aid...
and Pigface
Pigface
Pigface is an industrial rock supergroup formed in 1990 by Martin Atkins and William Rieflin.-History:Pigface was formed from Ministry's The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste tour, which produced the In Case You Didn't Feel Like Showing Up live album and video. For the tour, Al Jourgensen brought...
, and Metamorph was released in August 2003.
The songs of Metamorph range from "haunting" and "brooding" for much of the album to the faster paced, more heavily electronic and more danceable 'Icarus'. The band toured throughout the west coast and southwest following this album and by late 2004, Roy had left the band.
Rise (2004-2006)
Cox and Siren began working on songs for their first full-length album in 2004 and in early 2005 brought in Bash as the new bassist. Bash also contributed to writing for that album and served as the producer for Rise, with the band recording it in his home studio. For that album, the band tried to capture more of their live feel by combining live acoustic instruments with electronic and programmed ones. The album has been reviewed as realizing a "mature and lucid vision", which Siren describes as being about "rising above a lot of the battles we werehaving in our daily lives. It is about seeing the negativity as it is and
finding the power within to move past it."
Following the 2005 tours which included an East Coast foray to Goth Stock, Trowbridge left the band. Brian DiDomenico was brought on as the new keyboardist in late 2005, just in time to appear in the video for 'Still Right Here', released in February 2006. That year saw a full, nine week, US/Canada tour supporting Rise. The tour was characterized by performances of such physical intensity that on one occasion Natasha threw out her back on stage and needed emergency room attention following the show. This incarnation of the band saw the creative load spread across the band with all band members contributing to writing new songs 'Awake' (composed for photographer J. Corsentino) and 'Picking at the Scab', both of which would eventually appear on Trapped Inside.
Trapped Inside (2006-2008)
In the fall of 2006, Scott Landes of Collide and Babalon joined the band as a second guitarist, initiating the band's brief, six-member incarnation. In the spring of 2007, MKIO lost Nurre and Bash as the band prepared to record their third album with Sylvia MassySylvia Massy
Sylvia Massy is an entrepreneur, record producer, and studio engineer in the United States. Massy is perhaps best recognized for her work on 1993's Undertow, the full-length double platinum-selling debut for Los Angeles rock band Tool.-History:...
and Jim Wood producing at RadioStar Studios in Weed, Califorina. Landes had previously worked with Massy as part of Collide. He assumed Nurre's guitar duties and they searched for a new bassist for what was shaping up to be a darker album. Joe D'Ambra joined as the new bassist for the Trapped Inside sessions and tour. This album was to involve more extensive contributions from all the band members than previous outings. The album was recorded in July and August 2007 and released that September.
While some reviewers found the album to be their best work to date, with a very different sound than Rise, others found it entertaining and satisfying, but neither surprising nor progressing much beyond their previous efforts. A more typical reviewer found the album both a mature and experimental work that is "very rich" and "very organic", alternating between lush and hypnotic and aggressive and pounding.
After Trapped Inside 's September release, MKIO embarked on a year long U.S. tour. While prospects of supporting the album with a tour that long contributed to Nurre's and Bash's decisions to leave the band, Bash was able to return in March 2008 when D'Ambra decided to leave. D'Ambra parted amicably after eight months with the band, including six months of heavy touring. A few months later, near the end of the tour, DiDomenico also parted ways with the band. As the tour wound down in August, they played the Warped Tour
Warped Tour 2008
Warped Tour 2008 was the 2008 installment of the annual Summer Warped Tour music festival. Vans Shoes was again the tour's primary sponsor.-Main stage:*The Academy Is...*Against Me! *All That Remains...
.
Outside endeavors
Following the Rise tours, band members have occasionally performed with other bands. DiDomenico and Siren formed the live band for DismantledDismantled
Dismantled is an electronic music artist from the United States.-History:Dismantled is the product of an experiment that began in late 2000 by Gary Zon, who was attempting to create something similar to Front Line Assembly's sound...
in its European appearances surrounding the 2007 Wave-Gotik-Treffen and Siren continues to drum for them live. Cox contributed to the Ikonoklast album The Dawn in 2007. After the Trapped Inside tour, Landes and Siren joined Kidneythieves
Kidneythieves
Kidneythieves is an American alternative and industrial rock band led by Free Dominguez and Bruce Somers . Also present in the band are Chris Schleyer , Christian Dorris , and Sean Sellers .- History :...
as part of their live band. In 2009 Siren became the drummer of Psyclon Nine
Psyclon Nine
Psyclon Nine is a musical group formed in 2000 in the San Francisco Bay Area. While their early efforts are generally categorized as aggrotech, their more recent material has incorporated a disparate set of musical and aesthetic influences, notably industrial metal. The group took a hiatus at the...
for the recording of We the Fallen
We the Fallen
We the Fallen is the fourth studio album by American industrial metal band Psyclon Nine. The album was released on September 8, 2009 through Metropolis Records. This is the first album released by Psyclon Nine with new members Vlixx and Jon Siren....
and its associated tour. Siren occasionally drums for his former Pseudocipher bandmate, Christopher Anton's solo project, and also drums with System Syn. Bash is also part of the jazz band "Magnolia Memoir" as well as heads his own eponymous band. Bash, Cox, and Landes debuted the indie/alternative band "Alice" in early 2010. Following their tour with Android Lust
Android Lust
Android Lust is the industrial solo project of Shikhee, that combines elements of rock, industrial, gothic and classical styles into a blend of music that she describes as "electronic and dark."-History:...
in 2010, Landes began playing guitars with that band. As of 2011, Cox and Siren have appeared as part of the live band for Adam Moore's indie industrial band, Inure and Cox joined Siren for System Syn's appearance at the 2011 Kinetik Festival
C.O.M.A.
C.O.M.A. was a yearly weekend underground music festival held in Montreal, Canada, from 2004 to 2007 featuring industrial, power electronics, noise and other alternative electronic musicians and DJs. There were both independent and signed bands who were booked to play, as well as many vendors for...
.
Compilation appearances
- Livid Looking Glass Compilation No. 1 (20052005 in music-Events:*During the year 2005, 12 rock music albums scored number 1 in the USA. This was the first time even ten albums have scored number 1 since 1996.-January:...
, Livid Looking Glass) - "She" - Fxxk The Mainstream Vol. 1 Box Set (20072007 in musicThis is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 2007.-January:*January 1 - George Shearing is knighted for services to music in the Queen's New Year Honours List. Evelyn Glennie becomes a Dame...
, Alfa MatrixAlfa MatrixAlfa Matrix is a Belgian record label. Founded in 2001, the label releases various musical styles including aggrotech, dark elektro, synthpop and electronica....
) - "Still Right Here" - Let There Be Life (20082008 in music2008 was a huge year in music history with the emergence of pop superstars Lady Gaga and Katy Perry into the mainstream. Also, this is the year that is widely agreed upon by critics as the start of the fall of hip hop from the mainstream and the rise of Synthpop into the mainstream due to acts such...
, Live Laugh Love) - "In This Ocean" - Pale Blue Dot (2011, Synthellec Music) - "Picking at the Scab (Live Mix by Sylvia Massy)"
Soundtrack appearances
- At Midnight (short)(2008) - "Angel Disease"
- The Virgin Murders (2008) - "She"
- Promise (2009) - "Prayer", "Troubled Dreams", "Fading"
- Super Undead Doctor Roach (short) (2009) - "She", "Lies"
- Amber Lake (2010)
- Ratline (2011) - "Angel Disease", "Passing Through"