- Mute Angst Envy (band)
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Mute Angst Envy 
Mute Angst EnvyBackground information Origin San Jose, California, USA Genres Darkwave
Post-punk
Alternative rockYears active 1987–present Labels Epithet Records
21st Circuitry
Kitchen Whore RecordsAssociated acts Luxocrush
Lisa Dewey and the Lotus LifeWebsite http://www.muteangstenvy.com Members Jack Holmes II
Keith St. Thomas
Paul B. Zimmerman
Les ShanrockPast members Jeff Blanding
Lisa Dewey
Clay Kenyon
Andy Traepin
Tom Catalano
Mark PratherMute Angst Envy is a rock band based in the United States of America. The band formed in San Jose, California, in 1987. The band's most consistent lineup includes Jack Holmes II, on guitar, bass, and vocals, Keith St. Thomas on guitar, vocals, and drum programming, Paul Zimmerman on bass, guitar, keyboards, and vocals, and Les Shanrock on drums.
Contents
History
Mute Angst Envy was started by Jack Holmes and Keith St. Thomas in 1987 in San Jose, California. The band began with the community around the Upstart Crow bookshop and coffeehouse in San Jose. The early period of the band also included many lineup changes, especially with drummers.
An excerpt from an unpublished interview:
Jeff Blanding: "in 1987 and 1988 we recorded several tapes. I had been studying with Chris Salmassy for several years in the early 80s to learn recording and production techniques. I think those early recordings were our best produced work. We recorded with Chris Salmassy in 1989 and while i think the end result was good, i still like our earlier self-produced tapes better. It's always better when you do it yourself. We played a lot of great shows back then with bands like The Jazz Men, Autumn Cathedral and whatever the mod bands of the time were."
In 1989, the band (without a regular drummer at the time) recorded the Trust EP at Sherwood Forrest Sound, with engineer/producer Chris Salmassy. This EP contained lush keyboards and a drum machine, adding an atmospheric element to the songs. Three years later, Trust was pressed as a vinyl EP and distributed by Epithet Records from Palo Alto, California. The song "Creep" was played in rotation on KITS (105.3FM) [1][2] in San Francisco, as well as on college stations across the U.S.[3]
Mute Angst Envy split with Epithet Records in 1992 and joined with 21st Circuitry, a San Francisco, California label. The label specialized in Industrial music, which was a bit different than Mute Angst Envy's more melodic and guitar-based sound. Mute Angst Envy recorded the Archetype EP at this time, using real drums, very little keyboard, and a more punk-oriented engineer, Bart Thurber of the House of Faith studio. 21st Circuitry released the Archetype/Trust CD in 1992, which comprised the Trust EP with the previously unreleased Archetype EP.
The band continued to play shows during this period, with drummer Les Shanrock finally adding a stable percussionist. Mute Angst Envy headlined many shows in the Bay Area, and also supported touring bands, playing with groups like Xymox and the Wolfgang Press.
In 1993, Keith St. Thomas left the band to pursue his other project, Luxocrush. Jack, Paul and Les continued to perform and record, although no new material was released to the public during this time.
Mute Angst Envy went on hiatus in 1995. Keith continued to play with his Luxocrush project, and Paul joined him in the later 90's. In 2001, Paul and Keith joined Lisa Dewey and the Lotus Life and continue to play in that group.[4]
As Keith and Paul continued to play, the idea of reforming Mute Angst Envy began to brew. In 2004, the band reunited to record South 11th Street. Some songs on the record were recorded in the 90's, including the material that was recorded during the period when Mute Angst Envy was a three-piece. The album was released on Kitchen Whore Records.[5]
In 2007, Mute Angst Envy's song "Siege" was used as the opening song for Todd Downing's film Ordinary Angels.[6]
With the original Archetype/Trust CD out of print and unavailable in digital media, Mute Angst Envy decided to remaster the songs and release them as Archetype in 2008.
Band members
- Jack Holmes II – vocals, bass, guitar
- Keith St. Thomas – vocals, bass, guitar, programming
- Paul Zimmerman – vocals, bass, guitar, keyboards (1989–present)
- Les Shanrock – drums (1991–present)
Former members
- Jeff Blanding - keyboards, vocals, songwriting (1987–1989)
- Tom Catalano - drums (1987)
- Mark Prather - drums (1987–1988)
- Andy Traepin - drums (1989)
- Clay Kenyon - drums (1990)
- Lisa Dewey - drums (2004 for Toyko Dark Castle SF)
Discography
- 1990: Trust EP
- 1992: Archetype/Trust
- 2005: South 11th Street
- 2008: Archetype (remastered)
References
External links
Categories:- Musical groups established in 1987
- Darkwave musical groups
- Musical groups from San Jose, California
- Gothic rock groups
- Alternative rock groups from California
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