Acumen Nation | |
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 Acumen Nation performing in 2014 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Acumen |
| Origin | Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Genres | Industrial metal, industrial rock |
| Years active | 1988–2014 |
| Past members | Jason Novak, Ethan Novak, Jamie Duffy, Gregory Lopez |
Acumen Nation is an American industrial rock/metal band from Chicago, Illinois.
Formed in 1988 [1] as Acumen by Jason Novak and Ethan Novak, the band released several cassette demos before self-releasing the CD demo Transmissions from Eville in 1994. Along with bassist Greg Lopez, they put the record out themselves under the name Robot Records. During shows for this period, the band added Jamie Duffy as a guitarist/engineer, and shortly afterwards the four-piece band was noticed by independent industrial label Fifth Colvmn Records, who signed the band and reissued Transmissions from Eville worldwide.
The band subsequently embarked on national tours with The Clay People and 16 Volt, before heading back to Chicago Trax Studios to record their follow-up, entitled Territory=Universe , with a denser multi-layered sound than the previous record. Acumen was invited to join another national tour with industrial rock pioneers Chemlab, as well as shorter stints supporting industrial rock veterans KMFDM and Monster Voodoo Machine.
Although the peak of the Industrial rock scene in Chicago had passed by the time Acumen emerged as a national act, Acumen were able to establish themselves on the circuit through continuous touring and work on a number of different projects. The Iron Lung Corp. was a band composed of Acumen and The Clay People from Albany, New York. Their first record Big Shiny Spears (1996) featured covers of Nitzer Ebb's hits "Join in the Chant" and "Murderous".
In 1997, the band were forced to change their name due to a legal dispute with a preexisting progressive rock band also called Acumen. The band split their project into two halves—the drum and bass influenced DJ? Acucrack, and the more traditional rock format of Acumen Nation. Tours for both projects followed. In 1998, Greg Lopez left the band to pursue other interests, and was replaced by Eric Alvarez. The four recorded 2000's Strike 4. Alvarez left the band before the record was released and was replaced by Eliot Engelman.
In 2000, Jason Novak and Jamie Duffy launched their own record label, CrackNation Records, through which all future Acumen-related material would be released. In 2005, the label released Cyanotic's debut album, Transhuman.
The end of 2001 saw the release of Live Farewell 2001, which was to signal a hiatus for the band, as the recording was the final performance featuring Ethan Novak, who left to form the band Cordy. He was replaced in the lineup by Dan Brill.
Eliot Engelman left following the release of Anticore in 2006 and the subsequent tour with Front Line Assembly in mid-2007, although the band maintained for some time that he had not left, before they finally admitted it. Ethan Novak returned to play guitar during the "PsychoTransHumanoid" 2007 and 2008 tours of the east and west coasts with Cyanotic, promoting the simultaneous release of Acumen Nation's Psycho the Rapist , DJ? Acucrack's Humanoids from the Deep , and Cyanotic's Transhuman 2.0.
On June 21, 2012, Acumen Nation guitarist Jamie Duffy died due to an overdose of sleeping pills, which was made public via his personal Twitter account early that morning. The tweet "this is how the end begins..." [2] along with a link to a photo of a plate with three white bottles of sleeping pills and a plate full of the bright blue pills themselves. [3] The photo was later removed, but the tweet remained. [4]
On July 6, 2012, a memorial concert was announced entitled "Cold Waves: The Jamie Duffy Memorial Concert", to be held at Chicago's Bottom Lounge on September 7, 2012. Artists appearing at the event included Paul Barker, Chris Connelly, Jared Louche, Martin Atkins, Steven Seibold, Jim Marcus, Jason Novak, and Eric Powell, performing tracks by Revco/Revolting Cocks, Chemlab, 16volt, Acumen Nation, Damage Manual, Hate Dept, The Clay People, and Go Fight!/Die Warzau. Additional artists to perform were Czar, Cyanotic, i:Scintilla, and The Final Cut, with DJ sets by Zoltar, host of the satellite radio show Subterranean and a former Q101 Chicago and WXRT Chicago radio host.
The concert also noted that Duffy had worked at many Chicago venues including The House of Blues, The Cubby Bear, The Abbey Pub and The Cabaret Metro/Metro Chicago as stage manager and sound engineer, provided engineering and technical support at Chicago Trax recording studios, and had contributed to releases on many different larger and independent record labels including 21st Circuitry, Bit Riot Records, BMG/RCA/D-Tribe Records, Cargo Music/Re-constriction Records, Conscience Records, Cracknation Records, Crash Music Inc., E-Magine Records, Failure To Communicate Records/FTC Records, Fifth Colvmn Records, Glitch Mode Recordings, Underground, Inc., Island/Def Jam Records, Katharsis Records, Metropolis Records, MOGworld Records, Tinman Records, TVT Records, Warner Bros. Records, Wax Trax! Records, WTII Records and Zoth Ommog Records, working with artists such as 16Volt, Acumen Nation, Armageddon Dildos, Chemlab, Chris Connelly, Cyanotic, Dean Garcia, DJ? Acucrack, Hypefactor, Iron Lung Corp, Lard, Method Man (featuring Mary J. Blige), Ministry, Monster Voodoo Machine, Pigface, Sister Machine Gun, Sister Soleil, Toni Halliday and The Wake. [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]
Revolting Cocks, also known as RevCo, are an American-Belgian industrial rock band, and sometimes supergroup, that began as a musical side project for Richard23 of Front 242, Luc van Acker, and Al Jourgensen of Ministry.
Sister Machine Gun is an American industrial rock band originally based in Chicago, Illinois.
Chemlab is an American industrial rock band formed in Washington D.C. in 1989 by Dylan Thomas More, Joe Frank, and Jared Louche. Influenced by the pioneers of the industrial genre, such as Throbbing Gristle, Chemlab mixed experimental sounds with rock and metal within an electronic framework. They released their first EP 10 Ton Pressure (1990), parted ways with Frank and moved to New York City, their base for the duration of their career. Chemlab released their debut album Burn Out at the Hydrogen Bar in 1993 and toured with acts such as White Zombie, KMFDM, Nine Inch Nails, 16volt, and GWAR.
Pigface is an American industrial rock supergroup formed in 1990 by Martin Atkins and William Rieflin.
DJ? Acucrack is an electronic music duo based in Chicago, Illinois. DJ? Acucrack was formed by Jason Novak and Jamie Duffy as an Acumen Nation drum n' bass side project. The duo initially created the side project to "kill time" between releases for Acumen Nation, but their releases as Acucrack were so well received that the side project ended up taking precedence. Their first two releases — Nation State and Mutants of Sound — appeared on the CMJ RPM year end charts for 1998.
WTII Records is an independent record label created in 2001 by former Wax Trax! Records employee Bart Pfanenstiel, and David Schock.
Burn Out at the Hydrogen Bar is the debut studio album of industrial rock band Chemlab, released on March 22, 1993, by Fifth Colvmn and Metal Blade Records. It represents the band's only studio release via the label Metal Blade and was reissued by Invisible Records on November 30, 1999. Each "suture" is an instrumental piece splitting the main tracks apart. The track "Suicide Jag" was featured in the game Saints Row: The Third. The album was produced by Jeff "Critter" Newell and has been considered by critics to be a defining moment within the coldwave genre. In 2018 Chemlab embarked on a tour featuring Dead on TV and GoFight members Daniel Evans, Vince McAley, and Mike Love backing Louche to celebrate the twenty fifth anniversary of the Burn Out at the Hydrogen Bar. On June 18, 2021, a remaster of the album was released.
Transmissions from Eville (1994) is the first album by Acumen Nation. The original version was released under the name Acumen on Robot Records in 1994. The record was later re-released, in a significantly altered form, by Fifth Colvmn Records on February 14, 1995, then re-released again by Conscience Records on May 12, 1998.
The Clay People is an American rock band based in Albany, New York. Singer Daniel Neet has been the only constant member throughout the band's history, providing lyrics and a frontman persona. Guitarist Brian McGarvey and drummer Dan Dinsmore joined in '94 and '96 respectively. These three formed the core unit that would include an ever-changing lineup of musicians, as its style evolved from American coldwave to post-grunge rock and metal.
10 Ton Pressure is the debut EP of the industrial rock band Chemlab, released in 1990 by Fifth Colvmn Records. The duo of Dylan Thomas Moore and Joe Frank on synthesizers later teamed up with Jared Hendrickson to create this EP. It was financed by Zalman Fishman, a nightclub owner who founded the now defunct Fifth Colvmn Records. Zalman became involved when he was introduced to Joe Frank through a mutual friend.
Territory=Universe is the second album by Acumen Nation. It was originally released on Fifth Colvmn Records in 1996. A version with additional tracks was released on Conscience Records on May 5, 1998.
Oxidizer is the third and final studio album by Chemlab, released on January 27, 2004, by Underground Inc.
Fifth Colvmn Records was a record label based in Washington, DC. The label was founded in 1990 by Zalman Fishman, owner of the nightclub FIFTH COLVMN, located in Washington D.C.
Dessau were an American industrial rock band based out of Nashville, Tennessee. The band was founded by John Elliott, who worked with a revolving cast of musicians to create Dessau's music. The bnd released two studio albums, 1989's Exercise in Tension by Carlyle Records and 1995's Dessau by Mausoleum.
Cyanotic is a Chicago-based industrial rock collective fronted by Sean Payne that formed in 2002 and released its first full-length album in 2005. Cyanotic is known for its genre-blending work, which fuses traditional industrial beats and vocals with drum n bass, sampling and heavy metal to create a hard, aggressive sound. The band's lyrics contain many tongue-in-cheek references to transhumanism.
Underground, Inc. was a Chicago-based subsidiary of Invisible Records, consisting of a collective of independent labels, producing various studio albums by Invisible Records artists, side projects and compilations with the same focus on being artist driven as its parent label. Music ranged from indie, goth, electro, punk, and industrial.
H3llb3nt were an electro-industrial supergroup formed in 1995. The original line-up band consisted of Bryan Barton, Charles Levi, Jared Louche, Jordan Nogood and Eric Powell. They released three full length albums: 0.01 (1996), Helium (1998), Hardcore Vanilla (2001)
Iron Lung Corp were an American electro-industrial group based in Chicago and originally formed by Jamie Duffy, Alex Eller, Gregory A. Lopez, Brian McGarvey, Daniel Neet, Will Nivens, Ethan Novak and Jason Novak. They released three full length albums: Big Shiny Spears (1997), Ditch the Attitude, Pally (2002), Body Snatchers (2013).
Magnetic Field Remixes is a compilation album by Chemlab, released on October 11, 1994 by Fifth Colvmn and Metal Blade Records. It served as a way for the band to reissue their 1990 debut EP 10 Ton Pressure with an expanded track listing and the then unreleased song "21st Century".
Frenzied Computer Resonance is a various artists compilation album released in 1994 by Fifth Colvmn Records. The collection comprises tracks by Acumen, Chemlab, haloblack and Perceptual Outer Dimensions, which were released on their albums Transmissions from Eville (1994), Burn Out at the Hydrogen Bar (1993), Tension Filter (1994) and The Journey to Planet POD (1994).
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