hier eines meiner absoluten fave alben
MINDFUNK - PEOPLE WHO FELT FROM THE SKY
ist mitte der neunziger erschienen, und hat leider wie so ziemlich alle veröffentlichungen (wie die alben MINDFUNK und DROPPED)dieser band kaum beachtung bekommen.
MINDFUNK hören sich auf dieser scheibe wie eine extrem heroinverseuchte version von alice in chains und soundgarden an, sind aber dem sludge näher alls dem grunge........
grossartiger sänger, grossartiges songwriting !!!!

Mindfunk was an interesting and innovative American alternative hard rock band that emerged in the late 80's. They released three albums, the last one in 1995, before disbanding. Their albums remain amongst the best kept secrets in hard rock, with sounds ranging from funk to grunge and preceding the whole stoner-rock underground movement.


http://www.student.nada.kth.se/~d94-mry ... dfunk.html

PEOPLE WHO FELL FROM THE SKY (Music For Nations - CDMFN182)
Rift Valley Fever
Superchief [sound]
Seasick
Deep End
People Who Fell From The Sky [sound]
Weird Water
Aluna
1000 Times
Kill The Messenger
Acrobats Falling [sound]
Patrick Dubar - vocals
Louis Svitek - guitar
Frank Ciampi - bass
Shawn Johnson - drums

produced by Mindfunk and Van Christie; recorded at Warzone1 Recorders

The History Of MINDFUNK
The band formed in the late 80's or early 90's in New Jersey and featured musicians from some other pretty-well-known bands. Guitarist Louis Svitek had played in Chemical Waste with Jason Coppola and together with original bass-player John Monte in M.O.D. on their first album Gross Misconduct. Original drummer Reed St. Mark did in fact play with the (in)famous proto-black-metal band Celtic Frost on the EP:s Emperor's Return and Tragic Serenades as well as the albums To Mega Therion and Into The Pandemonium. Pat Dubar had sung with the straight-edge hardcore band Uniform Choice during the 80's.

The band signed to the Sony/Epic-label and released their self-titled debut-album in 1991. From the beginning they were actually called Mind Fuck, but Sony wouldn't let them release an album under such an offensive name. Hence the name Mind Funk, which seemed appropriate to a certain extent because of the funk-influence on the first album. Funk was not the only influence though, not even that dominating. There were very dark elements in there which were later developed on the 2:nd album.

Jason Everman (June '93):
"We're just a rock band. Labels like 'independent' or 'grunge' are just some kind of fashion-statements. But if it helps someone way out in the mid-west to understand what we're about, then it's fine with me."

The first album got a varying amount of acclaim, and was #3 on Kerrang's list of that year's best albums. Well enough to grant their first video for Big House Burning some airplay on MTV's Headbangers' Ball. The fan-base was developing, as the time seemed right for their music. Bands like Extreme, Faith No More and the Red Hot Chili Peppers had already had great success at that time, and one could suppose that with the funk-influence as a common denominator Mind Funk would also get their fair share. Unfortunately the major success did not actually happen, but the band carried on releasing another video, this time for Sister Blue which gained marginal airplay.

The band toured for a while and made an appearance at the 1992 Roskilde Festival in Denmark. By then original guitar-player Jason Coppola and drummer Reed St. Mark had been replaced by Jason Everman (formerly with Nirvana and Soundgarden) and Shawn Johnson respectively, and the band had already started to work on their follow-up. The reason for the split was probably mostly due to musical differencies, the band stated in an interview that they looked for people with a looser style to fit their new musical direction. It was also during this period that the band changed their name once again, however this change was not as big. The changed from Mind Funk to Mindfunk, from two words to one. The reason for this is not known to me.

A big push-back was when Sony dropped them as they were just getting ready to record, most probably due to lack of sales. The band was disappointed but not to the degree that one would expect.

Shawn Johnson (June '93):
"We were never that shaken by the fact that we were dropped. We knew we were good enough to continue anyway, it was probably just a good thing the way things happened. Now we're working with people who believe in us, that was not the case earlier on."

They managed to get a new deal, this time with Megaforce. They channeled their frustrations into the music and gave their new album the appropriate title, Dropped. The mood was a lot darker this time around and the funk-influences present on the predecessor were almost completely gone. The band chose to work with Terry Date as the producer, known for his work with for example Soundgarden, and this seemed to fit the new direction of the music. Slower, darker, heavier but still very Mindfunk-ish. The album was released in May 1993, a video for Goddess was released and the band immedeately embarked on a European tour together with Nudeswirl. The video got some airplay, but it seemed like a rather unwise decision to go out on a headlining tour that soon after the release of the album. Not that many people knew about the band at that point and the attendance of the shows left much to be desired.

They did some outdoor festival-dates, for example the big Dynamo-festival in the Netherlands where they faced their largest audience. After that a long time passed, then MTV reported that original bass-player John Monte had quit the band. Rumours said that Jason Everman would handle the bass-duties from now on. (He played bass with Soundgarden on the Louder Than Love-tour) He instead left Mindfunk in september '94 to join the Army 2nd Ranger Battalion and the Special Forces. His sergeant told us "he's currently trekking in Tibet and will be attending the Vancouver film school". The band was then a four-piece with original members Patrick and Louis, together with drummer Shawn who played on Dropped, and temporary bassist Frank Ciampi who did previously play with the bands Generation Waste and High Tension Wire. Spike Xavier, from Mind Over Four and The Humble Gods, also played bass for a period of time.

Spike Xavier (sometime '98 or '99):
"I did one tour as bassist in Mind Funk and Jason and I become pretty good friends. I saw them first in Copenhagen, Denmark, never expecting I would end up playing bass for the band for a tour. When we toured, Jason and I were the only two guys who didn't smoke dope. It's very irritating to be in a locked van if you don't smoke. We just drove the equipment truck and ended up driving that thing through hell and high water."

Mindfunk then recorded and released their third album, People Who Fell From The Sky, without much support from their label. They didn't even have a contract in the US, hence the availability problems of the album. The music is even darker than on Dropped and reminiscent of early Black Sabbath mood-wise, preceding much of the stoner-rock movement that soon became trendy.

And then there was the split-up, and from now on the picture gets even blurrier. There were talk about Pat, Shawn and Spike Xavier jamming after that, but Mindfunk was definitely no more. Pat is reported to have married, and reformed Uniform Choice, if only temporarily. Previous bassist John Monte played with the band Cheap Wine Graffitti, former drummer Reed St. Mark is reported to be a personal trainer at the Palisadium Health Spa in Cliffside Park, NJ, and Louis has been involved with Ministry since that, toured and played on their albums Filth Pig and Dark Side Of The Spoon, as well as with The Revolting Cocks. Pat and Spike are, as far as I know, currently in a band called Corporate Avenger.

hey kooler tip torsten Mindfunk sind mir zwar nicht gänzlich unbekannt aber befasst habe ich mich damit auch nicht wirklich.......aber ich war gerade auf deren hp und ich muß sagen mindfunk gefallen mir sehr gut und klingen auch richtig schön fett stoned
muß ich mal guggn ob ich davon was musiktechnisch bekomme auf der hp gibts leider nur sampler

Isch bin ne alde HC jung und hab alle Unity und Uniform Choice Platten zu Hause, kann irgendwie mit Mindfunk nix anfangen und fand den Gesang von Dubar in den Hardcore Bands auch besser

ist halt ne ganz andere schiene die dubar da fährt ... i

Ja, aber Kacke

Wenn die Entwicklung wie bei Stahl gewesen wär dann wär ich hellauf begeistert. Die alten Scream Sachen sind eine Bombe aber als ich das erste Mal Goatsnake hören durfte bin ich fast rückwärts vom Hocker gefallen.
Dagegen dieser tuntige Alternativrock von Dubar geht gar nicht. Die erste CD hatte ich mir damals direkt zugelegt, aber da hätt ich ja direkt zu Pearl Jam greifen können. Überhaupt keine Eier das

ok... über das erste album kann man echt streiten ..... hat noch ne menge L.A. schlagseite ........ aber auf der "people who felt...." schöpft dubar massiv sein können aus !!!! begnadeter sänger !!!!

Das tut er aber auch schon auf den späteren UC und Unity Sachen. Grad auf der Unity Blood Days LP bleibt dir an einigen Stellen der Rotz weg, wenn Pat auf einmal ca. 20-30 Sekunden völlig klar einen einzigen Ton hält. Wo der bloss die Luft hernimmt hab ich mich da immer gefragt.

egal ob mindfunk oder uniform choice..etc... dubar ist einer der leider unterbewertesten sänger in der szene....

Ist nicht schon ein Mitglied der Band tot ??

Naja, war aber irgendwie abzusehen in welche richtung das mit ihm läuft wenn man die letzte UNIFORM CHOICE hört & einige songs der UNITY 7".
Finde er hat mit MINDFUNK recht gut die kurve bekommen, dafür, dass die band eher kommerziell ausgelegt war. die "dropped" ist jedenfalls seit jahren ein dauerbrenner bei mir in der cd mühle.