Videodrone

Biography

Videodrone vocalist Ty Elam bagged groceries by day, then jammed in friends' parents' living rooms by night. In Bakersfield, California, a David Lynch-esque oil town, there was no place to play except country-western clubs, gay bars and high schools. So Elam would get together carloads of friends and drive on into LA. In 1990 Videodrone was known as Cradle of Thorns, stylizing their synthetic aggro-electric sound that was influenced as much by sub-B horror-movie soundtracks as the technoshriek arrangements hurtled out by their pals in Korn, their Central Valley homeboys. Getting talked into Korn's own label was a happy convenience for the band. Yet long before signing with Korn's Reprise/Elementree label, Cradle of Thorns signed in 1990 with respected indie label Triple-X, home of of Social Distortion, Jane's Addiction, and others. Well-known on the thriving Huntington Beach club scene, Cradle of Thorns released a short series of back-of-the-van one-off albums with Triple-X, including Remember It Day, Feed Us and Download This over a span of four years. Eventually at the urging of bassplayer Mavis, who liked Korn's Elementree Reprise subsidiary, bassist Fieldy Arvizu agreed to produce a new COT record in 1998. With Korn acting as A&R reps with Elementree, Cradle of Thorns had one essential change to make. The boys changed to the name 'Videodrone' styled after the David Cronenberg film Videodrome, to celebrate their new label. They wanted a new name to go with their new feel -- futuristic, but still decidedly "80's." The well received new Videodrone CD featured Limp Bizkit's Fred Durst and Korn's Jonathan Davis on vocals. Their CD arrived on the heels of sold-out concerts with Korn and Rob Zombie. ~ Becky Byrkit, All Music Guide