M.O.D.

Biography

(AISE: Redirected from Mindfunk)

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M.O.D. (1986-1997, 2001-2008, 2012-2015, 2015-present): a Metalcore band from New York, New York, USA.

ollowing on with his work in Stormtroopers Of Death (S.O.D.), Billy Milano (vocals; ex-Mastery/ex-Stormtroopers Of Death) formed his own M.O.D. (Method Of Destruction) with Tim McMurtrie (guitar), John Monte (bass) and Tim Mallare (drums). The groove oriented Hardcore on their debut U.S.A. for M.O.D. (1987) went virtually unnoticed due to the controversy over the lyrics being deemed as fascist and racist. In a famous open letter to the press, Milano defended his position by stating that most of the lyrics were actually written by Anthrax's Scott Ian and were originally used as part of the S.O.D. set. Further to this, he explained that to convey the emotions of the subjects discussed in the music he had to write them from the bigot's point of view. Although the controversy eventually went away, the album was tarred. The second album, Surfin' M.O.D. (1988), with Louis J. Svitek replacing McMurtrie, allowed Milano's sense of humor to show and demonstrated that they were moving in a more heavy metal/hardcore metal direction.

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The next effort, Gross Misconduct (1989), tackled more serious subjects once more. The tour proved equally unhealthy for their career with Ballone breaking his arm. Unfortunately Milano would have to leave the band shortly after due to personal matters. He not only left the band but also left the music industry. Svitek and Monte, for their parts, would go on to form Mindfuck (then re-named to Mindfunk by order of the record company). Needless to say there was serious morale problems in the band and they split soon after the tour.

Mindfunk featured the membership of Louis J. Suitek and John Monte recruiting Pat Dunbar(vocals), Jason Coppola (guitar), Reed St. Mark (ex-Celtic Frost; drums) to release their self-titled debut in 1991 on the wave of the thrash metal/funk movement on the 'Epic' label before Jason Everman (ex-Nirvana) replaced both Coppola and St. Mark to release Dropped (1993) and People Who Fell From The Sky (1995) featuring Frank Ciampi on bass. The band never really got it off the ground and split thereafter.

Milano appeared to not the type to quit so quickly, however, and after the S.O.D. reunion M.O.D. was revived in 1992. He got together a new group of musicians including himself now taking on bass (like he used to back in his days with Psychos) with Tim McMurtie (guitar/vocals) and Dave Chavarri (drums). The resulting Rhythm of Fear (1992) sounded so solid it was like they had never broke up. The line-up, however, proved not to be as solid, with several changes occurring resulting in Devolution (1994), featuring Milano and Chavarri returning with Bob Moscheti on bass and Tommy Klimchuck on lead guitar. After the release of their Loved By Thousands, Hated By Millions (1995) "best of..." album they moved on, now sounding more like Biohazard and Sick of It All, for the release of Dictated Aggression (1996), an issue of little concern for the revised three-man line-up of just Milano, Chavarri and Joe Young (guitar) as they were still recognized as playing solid hardcore metal, a style continued on The Rebel You Love To Hate (2003) with Billy Milano (vocals) with his new buddies Joe Affe (guitar) and Danny Burkhardt (drums).

Well, that line-up didn't last for Milano recruited Scott Sargeant (guitars), Christopher Dawson (bass) and Derek Lopez (drums) for the release of Red, White and Screwed (2007).

When M.O.D. returned in 2017, Milano had recruited Ben Drinkin (guitars), Jason Kottwitz (guitars), Tim Casterline (bass) and Felix Griffin (drums; ex-D.R.I.) to release Busted, Broke & American and their first live effort Rock Hotel, The Ritz, 1987 that same year.

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