Iowa's metal scene in the late 90s

[demoncore1031]

The Iowa metal scene of the late 90s is very special to me. I still listen to all these bands over a decade later. There was a unity amongst the bands, who all agreed (from what I understand) that if one band makes it, they will do what they can to help the other bands make it. Slipknot was that band that made it, and they turned their back on their hometown scene. They had a rivalry with an Ames band called 35" Mudder, who are one of my favorite bands of all time. Some of the other bands that were amazing but didn't make it are Smakdab, Index Case, Painface (awesome band formed by former Slipknot vocalist Anders Colsefni), On A Pale Horse (another Colsefni fronted band), Marcato, Krete, Grubby Ernie, Facecage, Mr. Plow, Feathers Are Beautiful and a bunch of others. There was a band from Clarion called the Disco Chickens, who were good friends of mine that had a ton of good songs, but never got out of the Clarion area and therefore were never heard of. Chad Calek of 35" Mudder made a documentary called A Clown Short of Destiny, which was all about the Iowa scene back then and how Slipknot turned their back on it once they made it. So my question to you metalheads is this... What is your take on the Iowa scene from the late 90s? What were your favorite bands? What Iowa bands are you into nowadays? Thanks in advance

 

[DumbFan]

I'm into The Envy Corps right now. I am no expert on these guys and haven't done any research on them at all, but I believe the started in Ames. I like their music a LOT. Some people don't. Maybe not heavy enough for you they are probably more "indie."

 

[mustangcy]

I'm surprised you didn't mention Dead Front. They were by far the rock/metal band to come out of Iowa. I couldn't stand Slipknot or Mudder. Some of the others you mentioned were pretty awful as well...don't mean to be negative but I thought the whole scence was about as overrated as it could be. Slipknot only made it because Ross Robinson seemed to like them and he decided to work with them. That's the sole reason...it's not like Slipknot went out and toured and became big on their own. They kind of won the lottery by having one of metals biggest producers take a liking to them.

 

[Gunnerclone]

If 35" mudder want to direct their anger at anyone it should be at the moronic fans that would listen to a35" or Slipknot album on the way to the nickel back or creed concert.

 

[nj829]

Forgot all about 35" Mudder. Great band back in the day. 107.5 was huge in changing the DSM music scene and giving the local guys airplay. Sad to see how radio has changed in just a few short years.

 

[ketchupnmustard]

Soul Sick (Devil with Cheese), Odium, Wreckage of the Modern City were all bands that I would go see anytime they played. North of Grand is probably my favorite local band right now.

 

[fatkid1974]

I bounced in a metal bar in the Quad Cities in the early 2000's. The only band that I thought had a chance to get signed was a bunch of 17 year olds that would come up from Kansas City called "Trip Hazard". Very talented. Another group I heard a lot was "The Pimps" and they were from Rockford, IL. I still follow them today. None of the Iowa groups from over there were good enough to go national.

 

[jdoggivjc]

I distinctly remember in the fall of 1999 a sign in the College of Design cafe asking "Is Iowa the Seattle of Hardcore Music?" Fortunately, even design students gave a resounding "NO".

 

[Omaha Cy]

Back in the late 90's/early 2000's when I had a metal music distribution service(online and out of a tat shop), I was looking to start a label. I really felt that the scene in Des Moines, and overall interest in metal music in central Iowa was pretty good at that time...but the bands were really nothing special. It was nothing I hadn't heard before. Eventually the scene started to wear thin though.

I enjoyed going out to see bands like Deadfront, Facecage, and probably my favorite live which was Dirt Nap, but nobody I ever felt was going to go onto the next level. Perhaps Slipknot could have gotten a few locals on tour with them, but unless someone wrote something dramatically better, what happens in Iowa was going to stay in Iowa.

As for Slipknot not "endorsing" or supporting the metal scene in Iowa....I also put some of the blame on the kids in Des Moines, or else lack of good promotion. I went to quite a few local shows and the turnout was horrible. A band has to make their own way sometimes, but they also need the means by which to do from the ground up.

When I think of all the great metal explosions in certain cities around the nation...it just feels like the "right people" happened to be in the right place at the right time. Bay area thrash in the 80's, NOLA metal in the 2000's, and Florida's Death metal scene in the 90's. They all had extremely talented musicians, a great deal of vision to completely put their own spin on things, and a lot bigger population base to draw from.

 

[CYCLNST8]

I'm into The Envy Corps right now. I am no expert on these guys and haven't done any research on them at all, but I believe the started in Ames. I like their music a LOT. Some people don't. Maybe not heavy enough for you they are probably more "indie."

Envy Corps is fantastic. I saw one of their first shows @ the M-Shop back when Luke Poole was still playing with "The Rock" on-campus Christian organization. Not quite late 90s, but I was also very fond of Poison Control Center. Two bands from the current Iowa scene that folks need to look into are "KICK" from Panora/Des Moines & "HELFORSTOUT" from Cedar Rapids.

 

[CYCLNST8]

Gonna give props to Horseshoe Spatulas as well.

 

[isufbcurt]

I don't understand how you can say Slipknot turned their back on Des Moines. They have to go play where the fans are going to buy a lot of tickets and that isn't in Des Moines. Plus Corey and the other guys have made numerous appearances at various concerts around the area. For example Corey almost always shows up to Lazerfest (in 2011 he assembled some local guys and performed there, 2012 Stone Sour performed and other years he is usually there hanging out and watching).

 

[Stewo]

I don't understand how you can say Slipknot turned their back on Des Moines. They have to go play where the fans are going to buy a lot of tickets and that isn't in Des Moines. Plus Corey and the other guys have made numerous appearances at various concerts around the area. For example Corey almost always shows up to Lazerfest (in 2011 he assembled some local guys and performed there, 2012 Stone Sour performed and other years he is usually there hanging out and watching).

Kinda what I was thinking. Many of the guys still live here, too. I was big into Slipknot (of course), Index Case, and 35" Mudder. I was in high school in the late 90's-early 2000's, and that was when I attended the bulk of my concerts. It was an amazing time for rock/metal bands in Iowa. I saw so many great acts without having to leave Des Moines. I probably saw Index Case 5 or times because they opened up at so many of the local concerts.

 

[mapnerd]

I really disagree that Slipknot turned their backs on Des Moines. Maybe the guy from 35" Mudder is a whiny *****? Just a guess - I have no facts to back that up. When Corey buys a house in the Hollywood Hills, then maybe I'll agree. But he's stayed in God's country at least.

 

[isufbcurt]

I will add that I know Corey is personally working with a girl from Johnston who is a singer/songwriter to get her career launched. I believe she actually wrote a song that was played at Obama's first inauguration ceremony.

 

[CapnCy]

Forgot all about 35" Mudder. Great band back in the day. 107.5 was huge in changing the DSM music scene and giving the local guys airplay. Sad to see how radio has changed in just a few short years.

My cousin was one of the front men in Mudder....I loved going to see them play at People's!

They were VERY close to breaking out to the bigger scene...but life took many of them in different directions.

I still remember when my then 85 year old grandma and my older aunts were at my folks' house and were talking about my cousins band...they'd never heard it and I put my CD in.

 

[theyork]

anybody remember bocca saint? to my knowledge they only had one ep. still have it and it is still solid. totally forgot about deadfront. sadly i lost that cd.

 

[Gnomeborg]

I don't understand how you can say Slipknot turned their back on Des Moines. They have to go play where the fans are going to buy a lot of tickets and that isn't in Des Moines. Plus Corey and the other guys have made numerous appearances at various concerts around the area. For example Corey almost always shows up to Lazerfest (in 2011 he assembled some local guys and performed there, 2012 Stone Sour performed and other years he is usually there hanging out and watching).

A lot of it has to do with a fake benefit concert that Slipknot put on and then took all of the money from to pay for the demo that got them signed, three songs of which were lifted straight from the demo to put on their first album on Roadrunner, without the engineers and producers of those songs getting any credit.

Also, most of Slipknot was put together out of the corpses of other great bands in the area. Corpses that were only corpses because Shawn stole their members to put together Slipknot. Stone Sour predates Slipknot by 3 years.

Additionally, a lot of the animosity towards them comes from the infamous VH1 interview they gave in 2001, when Index Case, Mr. Plow, 38th Parallel, and 35' Mudder were all still trying to make it out of the holding patterns they were in on their label deals, when Corey and Shawn made statements about how there's absolutely nothing in Iowa but Slipknot. Their descriptions of the Iowa Music Scene (which Rolling Stone at one point called the next Seattle) were insulting, not just to the scene they came out of, but the people of the state.

One of the major things that kept Des Moines from becoming the next Seattle was Slipknot. Whenever a band from Seattle made it big (look at like Sonic Youth), they would drag as many of the other bands from the scene with them as they could. Seattle bands always had other Seattle bands open for them. Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, the list goes on, where they were first exposed to the record industry because a band from Seattle took the time to give them a chance. Slipknot, being the first band to make it big out of Iowa, rather than helping the other bands in the scene, they wouldn't even acknowledge there was a scene. They still don't bother to bring bands from the area along with them. There's bands in Central Iowa right now that could hit big if people just got a chance to hear them. Slipknot could be using their (incredible) clout to be helping the local scene, and Corey is the only one who seems to actually try.

Slipknot, love their music or hate it, killed the chance that Des Moines had of producing a huge number of bands.

 

[Gnomeborg]

My cousin was one of the front men in Mudder....I loved going to see them play at People's!

They were VERY close to breaking out to the bigger scene...but life took many of them in different directions.

I still remember when my then 85 year old grandma and my older aunts were at my folks' house and were talking about my cousins band...they'd never heard it and I put my CD in.

I still play Mudder's When Doves Cry on my iTunes, and am always happy when it cycles up.

 

[Gunnerclone]

A lot of it has to do with a fake benefit concert that Slipknot put on and then took all of the money from to pay for the demo that got them signed, three songs of which were lifted straight from the demo to put on their first album on Roadrunner, without the engineers and producers of those songs getting any credit.

Also, most of Slipknot was put together out of the corpses of other great bands in the area. Corpses that were only corpses because Shawn stole their members to put together Slipknot. Stone Sour predates Slipknot by 3 years.

Additionally, a lot of the animosity towards them comes from the infamous VH1 interview they gave in 2001, when Index Case, Mr. Plow, 38th Parallel, and 35' Mudder were all still trying to make it out of the holding patterns they were in on their label deals, when Corey and Shawn made statements about how there's absolutely nothing in Iowa but Slipknot. Their descriptions of the Iowa Music Scene (which Rolling Stone at one point called the next Seattle) were insulting, not just to the scene they came out of, but the people of the state.

One of the major things that kept Des Moines from becoming the next Seattle was Slipknot. Whenever a band from Seattle made it big (look at like Sonic Youth), they would drag as many of the other bands from the scene with them as they could. Seattle bands always had other Seattle bands open for them. Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, the list goes on, where they were first exposed to the record industry because a band from Seattle took the time to give them a chance. Slipknot, being the first band to make it big out of Iowa, rather than helping the other bands in the scene, they wouldn't even acknowledge there was a scene. They still don't bother to bring bands from the area along with them. There's bands in Central Iowa right now that could hit big if people just got a chance to hear them. Slipknot could be using their (incredible) clout to be helping the local scene, and Corey is the only one who seems to actually try.

Slipknot, love their music or hate it, killed the chance that Des Moines had of producing a huge number of bands.

Ah yes, Sonic Youth, that iconic symbol of Seattle that made it so big. LOLZ