Whatever Happened To...#3: Apartment 26

 Apartment 26 was a memorable nu-metal band. I remember seeing them live in concert at the old Del-Win Ballroom in St. Joseph, MN back in 2004 when they opened for Sevendust. I liked the band's energy but didn't realize at the time that they wouldn't be around for very much longer.

The group was formed by bass guitarist Louis Cruden, guitarist Jon Greasley, keyboardist Andy Huckvale and Geezer Butler's son Terence on lead vocals in 1998. They took their band name from the 1977 David Lynch film Eraserhead. They developed a demo that year, which eventually made its way to Gravity Kills programmer/keyboardist Doug Firley. He offered to produce Apartment 26's debut EP Within.

Apartment 26 joined the 1999 Ozzfest lineup shortly after adding drummer Kevin Temple to their ensemble. They embarked on tours with Sevendust, Staind, Powerman 5000 and other well-established artists and were signed to Hollywood Records that year. Their debut full-length album Hallucinating was released in May 2000.

Singles "Backwards" and "Basic Breakdown" were released from the record and were featured on the 2000 Playstation game Gekido: Urban Fighters. The band was in the 2000 Ozzfest lineup and promoted Hallucinating by touring with Disturbed. Temple left Apartment 26 in late 2000 and was replaced by Jeremy Colson a few months later.

Apartment 26 signed with Atlantic Records in the spring of 2002, not long after Colson left the group. Brad Booker took his place in July of that year and the band started working on songs for their second album. Music for the Massive debuted in February 2004. Album tracks "Give Me More" and "88" were released from their sophomore effort, which wasn't promoted as much as it probably could have been. Atlantic dropped Apartment 26 in May 2004 and the band announced their breakup a few months later. 

It's a shame that this group was only around for a few years because they definitely had some potential. I remember watching the crowd actively engage in their performance, mainly when they played the riff from a well-known Black Sabbath song in honor of their frontman's lineage. I still have a promotional CD that included "Give Me More" somewhere in my collection.

Well, article #3 in this series is in the books! Next up is Atomship. Please feel free to provide feedback or let me know about any artists you'd like to see covered. Until then, have a great weekend, and don't forget to be kind to one another.