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The Gauntlet: Mushroomhead |
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In the Spring of 1993 seven musicians from Cleveland, OH came together to form a side project called Mushroomhead. The intentions of this project were to create an eclectic blend of music combined with a vaudevillian stage show. From the band?s first concert in October of 1993 it was obvious that this was far more than a side project. Over the course of the next year the band continued to play for increasingly growing crowds as they pieced together the fragments that would become their first album. In early 1995 the band completed recording and in June of that year independently released the self-titled album "Mushroomhead". The band?s album was embraced by concert-goers and began receiving critical acclaim from local press. Mushroomhead's following continued to grow as they began selling out most of Cleveland?s venues and opening for Marilyn Manson, Type O Negative, Down, Anthrax, The Misfits and Gwar. In September of 1996 "Superbuick", Mushroomhead?s second album was released. The band then headed to St. Louis to play the Midwest Regional music conference in June of 1997 and in September of that year released a remix CD/CD-Rom as well as a 12" vinyl version of the remix. As the band moved into 1998 they were now selling out clubs consistently, including venues as large as the Cleveland Agora (capacity of 2,200). In November of that same year the band also played a showcase at the CMJ conference in New York City. In 1999 the band continued writing material for their next album and played the NXNE music conference in Toronto, Canada. In October of 1999, the band?s third album entitled "M3" was released at a sold out Agora where all 1,000 of the CD's they were able to get in time for the show had sold out. Mushroomhead has also headlined the 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2000 Cleveland World Series of Metal, having national bands such as Drain STH, Crowbar, Overkill, Six Feet Under, Pissing Razors, Nile, and many others open up for them. On May 13, 2000 Mushroomhead headlined the Blossom Music Center?s season opener in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. This show was sponsored by House of Blues Concert Series, Coors Light, Southwest Airlines, Pepsi, The Cleveland Free Times, and commercial radio station WMMS (100.7 FM). Although the band did not sell out the Blossom Music Center, they did manage to draw an impressive 7,000 fans to this venue. Shortly, Eclipse Records will release a 3 song sampler CD featuring songs from the forth-coming national release entitled "X X". "X X" will be in stores everywhere in Spring, 2001. On Labor September 4 of 2000, Mushroomhead's music and segments of their live shows were aired on national television on a Fox Sports show known as "Blue Torch".
This is just the beginning... Cleveland?s best kept secret is out.
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