Mindrot

Back in the summer of 1989, four gloomy souls got together to create a sound that forever change the face of the Southern California underground music scene. For a year straight the members of Mindrot holed themselves up in a studio in Westmnister, CA and honed their musical craft. Then in the June of 1990 they played their first ever show in a living room in Huntington Beach, CA with local crust-masters Glycine Max. The rest as they say was history.

Mindrot combined the heaviness of doom-metal, the gloominess of goth, and the political awareness of punk to create something at the time which was not being done. Their fanbase was a wide variety of characters and Mindrot was known to play multiple genre shows. One weekend you could find Mindrot opening for Bolt Thrower and the very next playing along side crust-gods Nausea (NYC) and fitting in nicely at both shows.

Through the years Mindrot went through many a line-up changes. The first major line-up change came late 1989 when Barry decided to leave which led the band to acquiring Al Higdon who at the time was playing drums for Glycine Max. With his addition the band found itself moving into a heavier territory yet to be explored by the band members. Al played on the legendary 1990 Demo as well as both 7"s (Endeavor / Apocalypse split). During this time the band acquired a second guitarist, Matt (Mauz) Parrillo. Whose added volume and guitar playing made Mindrot one of the heaviest sonically Socal bands at the time. Al's last show with the band was the 1991 show with Bolt Thrower and Believer.

This is when Evan Kilbourne came into the picutre. Evan, a long time friend and school mate with Dan Kaufman, was set to be the original drummer for Mindrot but an unfortunate accident prevented that from happening. Evan brought in his amazing drumming style which allowed Mindrot to explore a more textured musical writing style, while still keeping the music heavy as possible. The band began to move into a more atmospheric area of music and began experimenting with multiple guitar tracks while recording.

Shortly before the recording of Dawning, Mauz decided to leave the band to persue other musical interests. And thus the search was on for a good replacement for Mauz, which would not be easy. The band tried out numerous guitar players and decided to ask John Flood to join. John was a long time friend of the band and Matt Fisher and John were in a band previous to Mindrot. This would be the longest and more prolific line-up.

The last show that Mindrot ever played and a little attended show at Club Mesa in Costa Mesa, CA with, at the time, SST recording artist Oxbow. No one not even the band knew it would be the last show ever for Mindrot. But alas, all good things must come to an end.

Mindrot never got the chance to tour which may have caused a lot of the frustration and the ultimate demise of the band. There are no plans for any reunions shows. The members feel it's a chapter that is best left closed. Why ruin something that has so many great memories for everyone involved and anyone who was fortunate enough to seem them live.

~MINDROT RIP 1989-1998~