| Pitch Black Forecast | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Cleveland, Ohio, USA |
| Genres | Metalcore, Groove metal |
| Years active | 2005-Present |
| Labels | Fractured Transmitter |
| Associated acts | Mushroomhead Strapping Young Lad Fear Factory Dethklok The Alter Boys |
| Members | |
| Jason Popson Gene Hoglan Steve Rauckhorst Robert Reinard Tom Shaffner |
|
| Past members | |
| Craig Martini | |
Pitch Black Forecast is a Groove Metal supergroup formed in 2005 with a lineup consisting of ex-Mushroomhead frontman Jason Popson and ex-Strapping Young Lad drummer Gene Hoglan and Integrity bassist Steve Rauckhorst. Formed in Ohio back in 2005 under the name Absentee. They released their debut record Absentee in 2008 featuring guest contributions from Lamb of God frontman Randy Blythe and The Human Furnace from Ringworm.
Contents |
Gene and Jason met back in 2004 while Jason was selling t-shirts for Meshuggah while they were on tour with Strapping Young Lad. Jason was taking a break from touring with Mushroomhead where he was known as J Mann. He never mentioned that he was Mushroomhead’s frontman and it wasn't until late in the tour that Gene found out. Originally, the group was intended to be similar to Probot with Jason Popson as the vocalist and a revolving door of guitarists and drummers. When Jason was finally ready to record though the only one who was not busy was Gene. In January 2007 Gene flew out to Ohio and he and Jason wrote and recorded Absentee in ten days. Guitarist Rob Reinard was brought in by studio engineer Bill Korecky. Bassist Craig Martini was also brought in who Jason knew from playing with him in the Alter Boys Shortly after finishing recording Absentee Craig Martini left the band under after relocating to Nevada and was replaced by Steve Rauckhorst, who Jason had previously known from Integrity. They played their first show in nearly six months at Peabody's in Cleveland. As of April they are recording their new album at Galahad Studios with Tom Shaffner. It is likely to be released on Fractured Transmitter some time this year. On May 5 Pitch Black Forecast announced Tom Shaffner of Keratoma fame would be their new second guitarist. They also announced that they would soon begin recording guitar and bass at Galahad Studios and that they had already chosen twelve songs to record for the album. Also, when Jason Popson intended the group to be more like a solo project, he recorded a cover of the Melvins song 'Revolve' on the Melvins tribute album, We Reach: The Music of the Melvins, which was released on Jason's record label Fractured Transmitter.