Mind Over Four (occasionally written as Mind Over 4) was an American heavy metal group based out of

Orange County, California Orange County is located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,186,989, making it the third-most-populous county in California, the sixth-most-populous in the United States, a ...

History

Mind Over Four started as a sort of psychedelic

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

band, but eventually began creating their own unique brand of prog/metal. In interviews, they often referred to their music as "experimetal". BNR Metal Pages describes them as "occupy ngthat gray area between metal and uncommercial hard rock, but with a quirkiness in the songwriting that makes them difficult to describe or categorize". During the course of the band, they recorded six albums and brought their electrifying live show to 14 countries and many national US tours. In 1993, singer Spike Xavier was invited to audition as the lead singer of Anthrax after they fired

Joey Belladonna Joey Belladonna (born Joseph Bellardini; October 13, 1960) is an American singer, best known as the vocalist for thrash metal band Anthrax. He is also the vocalist and drummer of the cover band Chief Big Way. Belladonna has six Grammy Award no ...

; however, Anthrax ultimately hired John Bush.Scott Ian and Jon Weiderhorn (2014). ''I'm the Man: The Story of that Guy from Anthrax''. Da Capo Press, p. 177 Mind Over Four dissolved shortly after the release of their 1995 album, ''Empty Hands''. Xavier went on to play bass in his brother's band Humble Gods. He also played bass for the funk/metal band

Mindfunk Mind Funk (spelled Mindfunk on later releases) was an American rock band, containing members of Chemical Waste and several other bands. The band was originally known as "Mind Fuck" but were forced by Epic Records to change their name. They sig ...

, and eventually founded

Corporate Avenger Corporate Avenger was an American nu metal band from Southern California. History The idea for the band Corporate Avenger was born some time between 1995 and 1996 when brothers, Spike and Brad Xavier were on tour in the band Humble Gods. ...

with Mindfunk vocalist

Pat Dubar Patrick R. "Adawee" Dubar is an American singer, primarily with hardcore bands such as Unity and Uniform Choice, initially in the straight edge subgenre. Together with Pat Longrie (Uniform Choice), they ran the hardcore label Wishingwell Reco ...

. Mike Jensen toured with

KMFDM KMFDM (originally Kein Mehrheit Für Die Mitleid, loosely translated by the band as "no pity for the majority") is a multinational industrial band from Hamburg led by Sascha Konietzko, who founded the band in 1984 as a performance art project. ...

as guitar player and later joined the short-lived band Overbreaker. Jensen released solo material under the name of Michael Fordays. Rich Castillo released a mix of solo material ranging from Frank Zappa-influenced comedy to

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

instrumentals. Mark Fullerton worked on the production side of the film industry in Los Angeles for 15 years before moving to Utah. He now plays drums in a

classic rock Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, prima ...

cover band called Mesozoic. In the August 21, 1993 issue of ''

Kerrang! ''Kerrang!'' is a British weekly magazine devoted to rock, punk and heavy metal music, currently published by Wasted Talent (the same company that owns electronic music publication ''Mixmag''). It was first published on 6 June 1981 as a one- ...

'' magazine, a review of Mind Over Four's ''The Goddess'' album read: "At their best, they're untouchable, unbelievable, perhaps the metal discovery of the '90s...utter perfection". On the back cover photo of the Pantera album '' Vulgar Display of Power'', Phil Anselmo can be seen wearing one of the band's T-shirts.

Members

* Spike Xavier – vocals * Mike Jensen – guitars * Mark Fullerton – drums * Rich Castillo – bass

Previous members

* Jeff Koegel – bass * Dave Hamilton – bass * Dean R – drums * "Dan" – drums * Steve Crow – guitar (''Desperate Expression'' – self-released '83) * Lou Gaez – drums (''Desperate Expression'' – self-released '83) * Dan Colburn – bass * Sean Elliott – bass

Discography

* ''Desperate Expression'' (1983) (self-released) * ''Out Here'' (1987) (

Triple X Records Triple X Records was a Los Angeles-based record company started by three former employees of the bankrupt Greenworld Distribution: Dean Naleway, Peter Heur and Charley Brown. The label was known for "a fearlessly eclectic catalogue that broke away ...

) * ''Mind Over Four'' (1989) (Destiny Records) * ''The Goddess'' (1990) ( Caroline) * ''Half Way Down'' (1993) (Restless) * ''Empty Hands'' (1995) (Fierce)

References

External links

Mind Over Four
at the BNR Metal Pages
Mind Over Four
at

Encyclopaedia Metallum Encyclopaedia Metallum: The Metal Archives (commonly known as Metal Archives per the URL or abbreviated as MA) is an online encyclopedia based upon musical artists who predominantly perform heavy metal music along with its various sub-genres. En ...

* Mind Over Fourat

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mind Over Four Heavy metal musical groups from California Musical groups from Orange County, California