Opiate for the Masses | |
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Origin | Phoenix, Arizona, USA |
Genres | Alternative metal, [1] gothic metal, [1] industrial metal [1] |
Years active | 1999–2009 |
Labels | Warcon Enterprises Century Media |
Past members | Ron Underwood - vocals Dustin Lyon - Guitars Elias Mallin - Drums Ryan Head - Bass Seven Antonopoulos - drums Anna K. - bass Andy Gerald - Guitars Jim Kaufman - keyboards/guitar |
Opiate for the Masses was an American rock band from Los Angeles, California in 1999.
Opiate for the Masses was founded in 1999 by singer Ron Underwood, drummer Elias Mallin, guitarist/keyboardist Jim Kaufman, and guitarist Dustin Lyon. [2] The group's name is an alteration of Karl Marx's famous aphorism, "Religion is the opium of the people". [3] Opiate for the Masses self-released a demo album entitled New Machines and the Wasted Life in 2000. In 2005, the band signed with Warcon Enterprises and issued the album The Spore. [4] By this time the group had added Seven Antonopoulos on drums and Anna K. (of Drain STH) on bass. [2] The group played the Taste of Chaos tour and opened for Static-X, Avenged Sevenfold, My Chemical Romance, and Disturbed on tour. [5] In 2008, the group signed with Century Media and released the album Manifesto. [6] [7] The group followed the release of Manifesto by touring with Filter. [8] In 2009, the group disbanded.
In 2010, original Opiate for the Masses members Ron Underwood, Elias Mallin, Dustin Lyon, Ryan Head, and guitarist Andy Gerold played a reunion show to a sold-out crowd in Tempe, Arizona.
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Warcon Enterprises was a New York City based independent record label focusing on mostly post-hardcore, started by Bob Chiappardi of Concrete Marketing and Kevin Lyman, the founder of Warped Tour, in 2004. Warcon was a sponsor of the Rockstar Taste of Chaos tour. Warcon was distributed through Alternative Distribution Alliance and Fontana Distribution, and operated as the distributor of UK label Demolition Records in the United States starting in August 2006. Warcon signed contracts with artists which included integration of merchandise and marketing along with distribution of albums. Among its signatories were Helmet and My American Heart. It also released the soundtrack to the film Saw III.
The Spore is Opiate for the Masses's second full-length album, released on April 26, 2005, by Jim Kaufman's own Voodoo Records. The CD is sold with a Warcon DVD including videos from Opiate for the Masses, Eighteen Visions, Queens of the Stone Age, Drowning Pool, El Pus, Stutterfly and Bleed The Dream. There is also a collection of movie trailers, concert clips, video game teasers and a five-track demo by Shadows Fall.
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Elias Mallin is an American musician, who played drums for metal/post-hardcore band Opiate for the Masses from 1999 until 2005, a band which he had formed with fellow students of the New School for the Arts and Academics. He was one of the founding members of My Darling Murder, a metal band formed with friends Andy Gerold and Tim Kelleher.
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Ron "Thunderwood" Underwood is a musician and director from Phoenix, Arizona. He was the lead vocalist for Los Angeles-based bands 9ELECTRIC and Opiate For The Masses.