‘We’re used to setbacks’

The song became a worldwide hit and was quickly followed by “Movies”. Featuring a quirky music video, in which the band dress up as movie characters including Ghostbusters and Oompa Loompas, their second single also enjoyed extensive airplay on television and radio.

These successes helped Alien Ant Farm’s major-label debut album, ANThology, to go platinum in the USA and brush the top 10 of the charts.

This bubble was soon to burst, however, in tragic circumstances. While touring Europe in 2002, the band’s tour bus collided with another vehicle. The driver was killed in the crash and lead singer Dryden Mitchell suffered a fractured C2 vertebra – the same injury that paralysed actor Christopher Reeve.

After Dryden’s painful recuperation, Alien Ant Farm recorded their next album, TruANT. However, its 2003 release coincided with the dissolution of the band’s record company, DreamWorks. With barely any backing, the album flopped and guitarist Terry Corso exited shortly afterwards.

After battling on bravely, the group called it a day in 2005 and went in their separate directions. Since then, bassist Tye Zamora has gone to film school in Boston, drummer Mike is a producer and Dryden has done other musical projects.

But in February, after a three-year hiatus, Alien Ant Farm announced their return. Now the band are on their way to Dubai to headline Back 2 School on Friday 17^th October.

City Times rang Dryden at his home in Huntington Beach, California, interrupting his attempts to pack in the process.

So what prompted the decision to reform the original line-up?

We decided it would be good to relive the good old days. Our manager said we still get offers to play. It’s cool to bring it back and be on the same page. We wanted to bring back the camaraderie and just started hanging out again. We’ve been showing each other fresh material from our new bands. It’s almost like trading baseball cards. We’re like brothers. We love each other and then we have periods where we absolutely hate each other. It’s like the grass is always greener – when we’re not together I miss hating to be around those guys.

Are you planning on writing any new material or is this reunion purely nostalgia?

When we played a festival in New Jersey the crowd reaction was great. Afterwards I said to the guys that it wasn’t too far fetched to start writing some new songs. We don’t really know what we’re going to do next but I would be down for getting some new material together.

Why did the band decide to part ways in 2005?

It was alcohol (is that okay?) and egos and being on a bus all the time together. Being in Alien Ant Farm had lost its lustre. I had my health issues and Terry had left. I wasn’t feeling like that hungry 20-year-old any more who just wanted to get in a van and go on the road.

And how is your health these days since the crash?

The more activity I do, the better off I am. It’s when I’m sitting still that it gets painful. I surf a lot, where you constantly pummelled by waves. And I’m a golf addict, I used to hate people that golfed but now I’m one of them. I shot 11 over par the other day and I was pretty happy about that. I’m going to play at the Montgomerie when I get to Dubai.

What have been the highlights of being in Alien Ant Farm?

We’ve done so many cool things. Sometimes it’s the small things you remember, like receiving a phone call when we were in Germany saying our album had gone platinum. I also developed a friendship with [Metallica frontman] James Hetfield when we played some shows together. He said he liked my vocals and I thought ‘I’m supposed to be saying that to you’. He also took my parents out for a meal – it was surreal knowing my mother was eating dinner with a metal god (is this okay?). I still speak with him every few months.

How have you been paying the bills in the last three years?

I’ve done some songs with 311 and we had a few original songs on movie soundtracks (American Pie 2 and Spiderman 2), which paid really well. We were pretty smart with our money – We saw bands that actually thought they were rich, but we knew they weren’t. I bought a home before I bought a car. I’ve got a great vintage studio in it, which is a piece of heaven.

Do you ever feel that fate has sometimes conspired against Alien Ant Farm?

We’re used to setbacks. We were bummed out that we weren’t told when our record company crumbled. TruANT could have had a real chance, it would have been good to sit on it for a while to find out. Sometimes I feel really lucky. I haven’t really worked since 1999 and I don’t have to get up in the morning and go to an office. But sometimes I feel unlucky too – it’s easy to make big resolutions after something like the crash, but I still get annoyed at the small things in life.

adam@khaleejtimes.com