Mean Red Spiders

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Mean Red Spiders is an avant-pop alternative rock band formed in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in September 1993. ^[1] Their music is largely guitar-based, and is influenced by pop art and particularly recorded music. Sonic stages shows were lit with projected layers of screen images with liquid light techniquies. Their music makes extensive use of distortion, digital keyboard loops, recorded voice samples, and effects pedals, creating a repeatable orchestrated wall of sound with vocals.

1 Career
2 Band members
3 Discography
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Career

Co-founding member David Humphreys (guitar/vocals), originally from Flemingdon Park , played his last show July 13, 2001, quitting the band wanting to finish his conceptual art pieces involving psychosis and the film schedules and movie posters from Toronto's oldest arthouse repertory cinema, the Revue Cinema^[2] ,where he worked for over a decade. He threatened to resign his job at the Revue if he did not become the "head manager" at a scheduled meeting with the owner^[3] on September 11, 2001, and was forced to resign his jobs in November 2001. Also, in September 2001, Humphreys was evicted from his Beaconsfield Ave. home, and went to live in Scarborough with his mother and sister. He then received psychiatric and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy treatment for schizophrenia for the first time at the CAMH, and attended the Redirection Through Education program at George Brown College. Humphreys currently lives near Casa Loma, and formed a band called Terrible Workers[1], whose first cd release is a psychedelic acousmatic tape music interpretation of schizophrenia.

Following David's departure, Rob Boak (of Interstellar) joined, contributing three songs to Still Life Fast Moving and touring with the band in 2002. Boak left the band early in 2003 and Dave Rodgers (of Neck/Christiana) joined. Mean Red Spiders continue to record and release material, while indulging themselves in Ghostlight, a free-form improvisational collective featuring members of Mean Red Spiders, along with Marco Landini, Brodie West (before his departure for Amsterdam to play with Han Bennink and The Ex), Eric Abboud, James Anderson and Scott Cameron, all friends from Toronto's musical community.

[edit] Band members

At the time of the release of their January 2003 album, Still Life Fast Moving, Mean Red Spiders personnel were:

Adam Rosen - drums (of 122 Greige)
Rob Boak - guitar
Minesh Mandoda - keyboards, guitars, loops (of Parts Unknown)
Lisa Nighswander - bass guitar and lead vocalist
Greg Chambers - guitar

Other musicians that have been in MRS include:

Don Goldrick - Drums (named the band)
Nick Andrews - Bass/vocals (of Ottawa's Restless Virgins)
Paul Boddum - Drums (of Neck/Christiana)
Martin (vocals on El Diabolo's Devo cover Mongoloid)
Serge (original lead vocalist)
Leanne Davies - Drums (of Amor de Cosmos/Mason Hornet)
Jim Bravo - Drums (of Jim Bravo & the Beetoven Frieze)

[edit] Discography

Places You Call Home - May 1998 - Teenage USA
Starsandsons - May 2000 - Teenage USA
Still Life, Fast Moving - March 2003 - Clairecords

Dave Newfeld produced Places You Call Home^[4] with Mean Red Spiders from 1997-1998 in the basement of his then shared Forest Hill home, and produced Stars and Sons from 1999-2000 at his Stars and Sons studio located in Chinatown Toronto. Jeff McMurrich recorded and co-produced Still Life Fast Moving in his old studio at Dupont & Spadina and in the band's Pod Studio. Al Forte (of Groundcover) recorded the bass and drum tracks for Places You Call Home in 1996.