Motograter

Motograter
Origin	San Antonio Texas/ Santa Barbara, California
Genres	Nu metal, alternative metal
Years active	1995–2005, 2006 2008–2011
Labels	Elektra Records
Associated acts	Five Finger Death Punch, Ghost Machine
Past members
See: Former members

Motograter was an American Nu-Metal band formed in 1995. They are best known for their homemade instrument the "motograter" - designed with industrial cable and guitar pieces that creates a very deep bass sound. The band is also known for painting themselves in a tribal style body paint for concerts.

History

Formation, Hugh Chardon and Indy (1995-2001)

Motograter was founded in San Antonio, Texas in 1995 by Bruce "Grater" Butler playing the Motograter, Joey "Smur" Krzywonski on percussion, Chris "Crispy" Binns on drums, and Zak "The Waz" Ward on vocals. In 2000 during the recording of their first album, Indy, they added Eric Gonzales who handled electronics and samples. In 2001 they added guitarist Neil , Godfrey.

Motograter (2002-2005)

2002 saw the departure of Godfrey, Gonzales, and Zak. They found a new guitarist in Matt "Nuke" Nunes, and a new vocalist in Ivan "Ghost" Moody. In 2003 they released their first major label album entitled Motograter. It was the first Album to feature real guitars instead of samples. Before the album was even released, they added second guitarist JR, and Zak re-joined the band handling electronics/samples and also providing back-up vocals, making the band a 7-piece.

That summer, Nuke left the band and they remained a 6-piece for a little while but eventually replaced Nuke with Ty Fury. In the summer of 2004 Ty Fury would be replaced with Aaron aka "A-Bomb", and the band announced that they had begun work on a new album. Later on, Zak would leave the band again. The band chose not to replace him. In the fall of 2004, the band toured without Bruce and Smur, leaving drummer Crispy as the only constant original member. In place of using the Motograter, they were accompanied by bassist Jonny Nailz. It was emphasized that this line-up was only for this tour but it was unclear whether or not Smur and Bruce had left for good or not.

Hiatus and breakup (2005-2006)

In 2005 Motograter announced their hiatus to give time for side projects. However, the band played a one time re-union show in 2006 at the Delicious Rox Festival in which Ivan made it perfectly clear to fans and band members alike that he was finished with Motograter. Crispy and Ivan were joined by JR, and both Bruce and Nuke had returned rounding out the rest of the lineup. After this show it was unclear what the rest of the members would choose to do.

The New Breed (2008-2011)

In 2009, it was announced that the band was "back" with a "new breed" line-up based out of Santa Barbara, California. This lineup also included a bass player, playing alongside the motograter. The lineup was announced as Angel on vocals, Nuke on guitar, Tyler Hole on guitar, Mylon Guy on bass, Twitch on drums, and Bruce on the motograter. The lineup played one show in Las Vegas, NV under the name "Out Of Curiosity" to test the new material on a live unbiased crowd before deciding to adopt the Motograter name. The set did not feature the Motograter. Before any touring commenced Bruce left and was replaced with Mark Nosler, leaving Motograter with no original/consistent members. The "New Breed" sound is more in the direction of extreme metal and away from the tribal/aggro-rock of the original Motograter. The band's demos did include electronics, however do not feature percussion which was an integral part of the original Motograter sound

2009 proved to be a challenge for the band playing for less than 100 people most nights of the Halo’s and Horn’s tour (Jul, 25th – Oct, 9th).The tour also featured Orange County metal group Darksun. The tour was cut short Sept. 28th shunning cities such as Seattle, Denver and Tempe. The band released a statement saying a band member’s sickness was to blame for the cancelled shows. Many fans were also disappointed that the band contained no original members and were advertising Nuke as being an original member when he was not.

The second 2009 tour known as The Damned Holiday Tour took place from Nov, 5th – Dec, 20th. Motograter’s venture alone on this tour was questionable due to the lack of draw during the previous tour as well as the passed opportunity to have Straight Line Stitch join for the trek. Nonetheless the tour appeared to have been a success and a step in the right direction for the new line up as attendance numbers had tripled in most cities. The band made public on stage announcements of an upcoming album and anticipation grew.

Motograter took 2010 off other than two California dates in Modesto and Sacramento. It seemed as if they were hard at work on the new album. Songs leaked here and there to support these rumors but were quickly taken down by the band. On Sept. 6th 2010 the band upload a comical studio preview and it looked as though an album was defiantly underway. However, the band has since been heard saying the sessions were trashed and they would be starting again at a later date.

2011 marked the beginning of a new year and a new look for the band when they released a slue of new high quality photos from a shoot in downtown Los Angeles. It was obvious that the time off fueled the band as they announced a huge summer tour dubbed The Honoring Of The Sun Tour (Apr. 29th – Jul 9th). Once again the band headed out alone on this tour but was accompanied by various regional bands along the way. The tour took a sudden change in course where instead of continuing south to Texas the band re-routed to Michigan to play the fourth annual Rockapalooza along side such national acts as Mushroomhead, Crossfade and Pop Evil. Along the way at Nukes request Motograter abandoned long time equipment tech Daniel Ice on the side of the road with no-money, no-phone, and no way home.

The second leg of the tour (Jul, 25th – Aug, 28th) saw the addition of a 7th member KC Kaos. The tour featured two festivals (Buzzfest and The Carnival Of Chaos) where Motograter proved to be one of the bigger draws. Both festivals were soaked from the days rain but the bands played on. C.O.C. however had many national names involved who pulled out at the last minute Saturday Aug. 20th leaving Motograter as the headliner if they stayed. The festival was teetering on the possible cancelation of the days events when Angel and Mark announced over the P.A that the band would play through the mud and rain if the fans were willing to stick it out. Facing a possible mud riot if they cancelled, the festival allowed Motograter to play.

Shortly after their return home Motograter announced that they would be joining Mushroomhead in the fall of 2011. The tour was called The Slaughterhouse Roadshow and featured Psychostick, Blue Felix, Ventana and Tenefly Viper. One week before the first day of the tour Motograter posted on their Facebook page that they had broke up and would not be doing the tour. Many rumors have been circling on the reasons for the disbanding however it is widely believed that drugs and physical violence towards members in the band are to blame.

The band apparently has removed Nuke from all admin privileges on their Facebook but he has released a statement on his personal page saying that ”In regards to recent events involving former members of my band, I would like to say that those members are of no consequence to the ultimate outcome of Motograter and the music produced under that name...Unfortunately, those former members decided to step out of the project at a crucial time and sabotage their careers and an inevitably successful tour, but the music will continue and Motograter will morph into something bigger and better, as we have always proven to do. Much love to our loyal fans and keep an ear open for what is next.” A new line up is reportedly in the works but at the moment the future of Motograter is uncertain. Angel has stated that “Nuke decided he was going to fire members for no reason. My fellow band members and I had enough of his controlling ways and quit in support of our brothers”. Needless to say it is obvious that there is bad blood between Nuke and the members who left.

On Tuesday Oct, 11th Angel posted a link on his personal Facebook page to a Kickstarter.com page that is funding a new project. The project apparently involves all of the members who left the band. The link quickly spread and in the first day they raised more than $750, but funding stalled at just over $3000, and the page was taken down. Angel has since shared the address to his PayPal account so that people could donate without time constraints. Furthermore the new project is said to be recording in December with Ahrue Luster of Ill Nino.

Former Members

• Michael "Angel" Woodruff – vocals (2007–2011)
• Matt "Nuke" Nunes – guitars (2002–2003, 2006, 2007–2011)
• Tyler Hole – guitars (2008–2011)
• Mark Nosler – motograter (2009–2011)
• Jeremy "Twitch" Scheller – drums (2008–2011)
• Mylon Guy – bass (2008–2011)
• Chris "Crispy" Binns – drums (1995–2005, 2006)
• Bruce "Grater" Butler – motograter (1995–2005, 2006, 2009)
• Ivan "Ghost" Moody – vocals (2002–2005, 2006)
• JR – guitars (2003–2005, 2006)
• Joey "Smur" Krzywonski – percussion (1995–2005)
• Ty Fury – guitars (2003–2004)
• Neil Godfrey – guitars (2001–2002)
• Eric Gonzales – electronics/samples (2000–2002)
• Jonny Nailz - Bass (2004)
• Aaron "A-Bomb" – guitars (2004–2005)
• Zak "The Waz" Ward – vocals (1995–2002) electronics/samples (2003–2004)
• KC "Kaos" Cahill - Backing vocals-electronics/samples (2011)

Discography

Studio albums

• Motograter (2003)

Extended plays

• Hugh Chardon (1998)
• Indy (2000)
• Pre-Release (2009)

Singles

Year	Title	Peak chart positions	Album
		US Main. [1]
2003	"Suffocate"	23	Motograter
	"Down"	29
2004	"No Name"	—

References

1. ^ "Motograter – Billboard Singles". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/motograter-p558284/charts-awards/billboard-singles. Retrieved November 21, 2010. 

External links

• Official website
• Motograter on Myspace
• Motograter at Allmusic