Interview: Dryden Mitchell of Alien Ant Farm
Interview by Sheldon Ang
The year was 2001.
Unbeknownst to the four musicians, the band’s holy grail was released by their music label. Within hours, the airwaves were jammed with the MJ cover, as similar requests were made by club revellers across the world. The track ultimately became the anthem of the new generation, thanks to the hooks and lyrics written by one of the greatest artists of all time, overlaid by the bone-crunching dexterity and sonic rebelliousness of a rock band that was purely Californian-made.
With the ballsy and playful track on display, Alien Ant Farm were thrust onto the world stage through Smooth Criminal, a song that became “bigger than the actual band”.
Lead vocalist Dryden Mitchell speaks with Sheldon Ang Media about the upcoming 2025 tour in Australia, the latest album mAntras, the heydays of the early 2000, regrets, and of course Smooth Criminal – the mega cover of Michael Jackson’s single from the 1987 Bad album, and their final connection to the King of Pop.
Sheldon: Are you in California?
Dryden: Yep. I’m hanging out at home. Just took my dogs up the hill, so I’m just hanging out.
Sheldon: Thank you so much for joining us. I know I’m early by two years but let me be the first to say it – congratulations on the 30th anniversary of Alien Ant Farm.
Dryden: Ha ha ha that’s awesome.
Sheldon: And it must be awesome for the band, or any band to have survived three decades.
Dryden: Yeah, it has been a crazy little ride, our personal adventure. And we’ve had some crazy fortunes and a few misfortunes along the way. All summing up what Alien Ant Farm is. It has been good.
More than Smooth Criminal
Sheldon: Alien Ant Farm are not just about Smooth Criminal. The band have produced six albums over 30 years with the latest one released in February. The band started as a nu-metal. Do you feel Alien Ant Farm have evolved musically through different genres, like alternative metal?
Dryden: I guess I’m not even really certain what nu metal is. I feel like, even back when it was coined and we were dubbed nu metal, we were always dabbling in different styles. I felt like the stepbrother to nu metal. I didn’t know if we were included in the club. I’d like to think we’ve evolved. I feel like we were evolved. Even on that first record, we were just trying new things and learning how to stand out, and that’s what it’s about. This new record – the production is great. We took a lot of time to make sure that we got it right for our liking.
You know, if other people join in and they dig it, we appreciate it. But, it was for us something to do. How do you pass the time, but to create music and try and make it sound as best as you can, and try and write it the best you can – that’s all we can do.
mAntras – the latest album
Sheldon: So the new record mAntras – to me it has that stadium, arena feel to it.
Dryden: Hah, I wish (that we play in arenas and stadiums).
Sheldon: I’m not sure who said it – it could be you or someone – the new album might not be for the fainthearted, but it might be for the heartbroken. Do you agree?
Dryden: Yeah, I would say. I mean, it’s just always kind of like scratching at the surface. I feel like it’s an ode to me. I guess it’s a love letter to myself, and if people can join in. And again, a lot of music isn’t supposed to necessarily have every lyric taken literally. You know, these are little quips that I just find fascinating or self-improvement that I want to express to myself. If I can get anyone to join in on my ridiculousness and the way I phrase things, the way I say things, then I’m pleased to do it. I find that sometimes, I don’t even know what a lyric really means completely. And then years later, I see something hits me and I think, wow, that actually applies to me now. Not even when I wrote it did it apply to me. It’s almost like, I will want this thing to come true in some weird way.
Sheldon: So it’s like a manifestation. Do you feel like that?
Dryden: Its got to be, right. I mean, it seems to work.
Sheldon: And the song Last DAntz in the mAntras album – is that a metaphor for a farewell song? Can’t be right?
Dryden – No. well, I guess it is just making a splash musically. It even says like, I just be another ghost on the radio. My idea of maybe long being dead and hearing this Smooth Criminal cover in 20 years – well I’m going to live longer than that. But anyways, you know, there was some little nod to a relationship versus being like this ghost on the radio seems like such a harsh thing, even hearing again, I wouldn’t say I’m on the level of songwriter, craftsmanship as a Tom petty, but something weird happens once the artist is gone. It feels like a little dimension of that person…even the music changes, so I don’t know.
Sheldon: And before mAntras – there was a ten-year hiatus. Was it a deliberate break or was the band saying, “You know what, we’ve had enough.”
Dryden: It’s a little bit of both. It’s like a marriage. In the early days of our Farm, we just traveled so much together and shared again, like successes and some a few tragedies and broken necks and bus crashes and all the things. And when you throw alcohol on top of that stuff, I feel like we did need a little break from each other. It’s almost like a marriage and a brotherhood combined. And, we all know – brotherhoods and marriages never work out, so we had to figure it out, maybe a little bit solo here and there.
Smooth Criminal
Sheldon: Let’s talk about Smooth Criminal which is undoubtedly the most famous song of the Alien Ant Farm anthology – not pun intended. The original by Michael Jackson was massive, and it’s really brave for any band to take on a Michael Jackson song. With the combination of the incredible hooks by Michael Jackson and the brashness from Alien Ant Farm, did the band know that it was going to be a massive hit before it was released?
Dryden: No, I mean, yes the hope is that every song you do has some reaction and some form of success…doesn’t necessarily have to be massive. But I knew that like just hearing it through the speakers in that studio and everything sounds glorious when you’re in a great studio. But the tempo just felt right. And I had a feeling that it was going to do something. I couldn’t say that I knew it was going to be a massive hit, but I knew it was going to get some attention, just because it was done well musically. Anyone can cover a song and you know, it’s there to be learned and done. But it felt different. It felt a little more special. And I felt like it was going to receive some attention. So I can’t say I knew it, but it felt that way.
Sheldon: So did Michael Jackson have any artistic input into the cover?
Dryden: We did it and we sent it to him and I’m surprised he even responded back. And he really liked the song. Even when we were making the video, we didn’t want to offend him in any way. We didn’t want him to think we were making fun of him in any way. There’s a little boy in the video where he’s wearing a mask, and Michael Jackson wore the mask because of his failed surgeries. So we didn’t want to piss him off. So we sent him the the video. Then he wanted us to reshoot that video with the little boy without the mask. So we did that. We sent it back to him. Then he said, “You know what? I like it better with the mask.” I almost felt like he was messing with us, but it was awesome just the fact that he was consciously thinking about our band. It seems kind of weird and strange to me, but there we were.
Sheldon: You know what’s weird? Strange that I’m talking to someone who has “spoken” with Michael Jackson in an artistic capacity. It feels this one degree of separation between me and Michael Jackson is so surreal.
Dryden: Yeah, we never met. So I wish maybe we would have one time. We got invited to a tribute show for Michael Jackson in Wales with the likes of Smokey Robinson. We were the only rock band. There are so many R&B artists and stuff. It was cool to be that sore thumb or the black sheep of that crowd. We were the only rock band doing it. He had already passed at that point. But, that was a cool honour just meeting his mom and dad and his family. That was crazy.
Regrets
Sheldon: Were there regrets over the fact that Smooth Criminal was released early into the band’s career? I know Movies was out prior, but should the band have released Smooth Criminal a bit later?
Dryden: I do, yes, because our label had released Smooth Criminal without us even knowing. The idea that it came as quickly as it did, but my thoughts on it were I felt the song was going to eclipse the band. It was going to be bigger than the actual band – and by almost every way it was. You can’t complain about something good that’s happening in real time.
You know what I mean? At my young age, I felt like I kinda still found a way to complain about it, at least for a little while. But yeah, I had envisioned our band maybe doing – somewhat of a successful first album, a slightly better successful second record, and then maybe the third album, not just a song, but the third record would be our time to shine or whatever. That’s the way I saw bands that I loved growing up, maybe kind of climb that ladder of success. So when it happened all quick and then with a song that’s not even your own, I couldn’t help but feel like a little bit of worry there. But again, what’s to worry about when good things are going on in your life.
Sheldon: I mean, 30 years later, you’re still making music, traveling the world. And I think it has been a good journey.
Dryden: Trying, yes.
The heydays
Sheldon: So apparently, you were so massive back in the early 2000 that you rejected James Hetfield’s (lead vocalist of Metallica) invitation to a dinner. Is that true?
Dryden: Not quite, well part of the story is correct. We had kind of come in contact, we did some shows in Germany with Metallica. I gave him our CD, and I left my phone number in there.
Anyways, he had contacted me years later, and, we started to have a little bit of a connection. He invited me to dinner, and I told him that I couldn’t go because I was visiting my parents in Vancouver, and I didn’t want to leave my parents. So he called me back, and he said, no one’s ever really, like, turned me down, he said, I respect you for turning me down for over your parents, choosing your parents over me. And he asked, Would you like to come to dinner and bring your parents? And so that’s what we ended up doing. So I was pretty cool moment.
Sheldon: That’s a good boy. So, how was it like back in the early 2000s for Alien Ant Farm? I mean, when you look back, it must be so surreal.
Dryden: Yeah, it’s weird. It’s almost like part of that chaos…maybe if you stopped and thought about it, you’d get nervous or maybe not even be able to do it in a weird way. I’ve always been a little bit of a shy person, but when you have everything going at one time, in this little bit of tornado that’s created when an emerging young band starts and actually has a hit, it’s good that the busy’ness was going because you didn’t really have time to think about it. I didn’t know if this was achievable. I definitely have fond memories of just being in that moment, and capitalising on it and just meeting so many new people. And just the fact that there was a bit of excitement for that band in the early years and…we’ve managed to contain a few fans along the way. It has been great.
Sheldon: When I spoke to the guitarist of the band Europe, he said that he was unable to leave the stadium even after one hour after the concert finished. Did you that sort of, crowd as well?
Dryden: Well, it just depends, show to show. We are so accessible as a band. We were usually hanging out with fans. Half the fans are friends that we already have frequented their city and we know them personally. It’s definitely a vibe of camaraderie and feels like a community. We’re probably not as big of a band as Europe, obviously. So we keep it simple and tight, and we have our friends mixed with our fans and, it’s it’s a good time.
The Australian Tour of 2025
Sheldon: Finally, you’re coming to Australia in February of next year. What can we expect from the show?
Dryden: We just try and sprinkle in a few new songs, maybe 4 or 5 new songs out of 15 or 20. We’re excited for new music, but I know that people want that nostalgia. They want to hear the record that they loved growing up, or that meant something to them at their high school years or whatever age that might have been. We are a live band, we are energetic and we are just trying to bring an evening and create a memorable moment for people. Nothing crazy other than just trying to recreate these songs as best we can.
Sheldon: Have you been to Australia, particularly Perth?
Dryden: One time we did Big Day Out, and I think this will be the first Perth experience.
Sheldon: Hey, mate when you’re around,I’m happy to take you out for drinks, man.
Dryden: Well, please, if you happen to come to the show, please come say hello and give me a high five and we’ll have a chat in person.
Sheldon: I would definitely would love to. And it was an honor to chat with you. So thank you so much and have a good day.
Dryden: Awesome. Thank you bro. Thank you. See you buddy, I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you man.
Alien Ant Farm will be touring in Australia in February of 2025. Tickets are available from The Phoenix AU
The full interview – Video
About the Writer/Photographer: Perth based Sheldon Ang Media (est. May 2022) are a source of news and features on live entertainment. SAM have been accredited to almost 100 of the hottest acts including Taylor Swift (ERAS Tour in Sydney), KNOTFEST (Melbourne), Coldplay (Perth), KISS, P!NK, Fridayz Live, Robbie Williams and Rod Stewart with reviews shared by the likes of UB40, Delta Goodrem, The Wiggles and Toni Childs on social media. The founder has interviewed rockers Suzi Quatro, Ace Frehley (KISS), John Steel (The Animals), Frank Ferrer (Guns N Roses), Phil X (Bon Jovi), Andrew Farris (INXS) plus over 45 artists. He’s also a contributor on Triple M Albany as a music journalist.
