Short Bus (album)

Short Bus is the debut studio album by American rock band Filter, released on April 25, 1995, by Reprise Records.<ref name="RIAA"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Lead singer Richard Patrick said in an interview that Trent Reznor had told him he should make his own record while he went off to work on Nine Inch Nails' 1994 album The Downward Spiral.<ref name="cryptic" />

Short Bus was certified platinum by the RIAA on May 13, 1997.<ref name="RIAA"/>

Background and recording

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Richard Patrick was a touring guitarist for Nine Inch Nails. Patrick and musician Brian Liesegang initially conceived the idea of forming their own band after hiking at the Grand Canyon; Filter was subsequently formed in 1993.<ref name="cryptic" /> The line-up also briefly featured guitarist Stuart Zechman, who departed Filter to join Stabbing Westward.<ref name="zechman" /> Stabbing Westward reportedly used the chorus guitar riff of "Hey Man, Nice Shot" on the title track of their 1994 album, Ungod; Patrick alleges that Zechman was in his presence while writing the riff and subsequently copied it.<ref name="rs-2013-interview" />

Before obtaining a recording contract with Warner Bros. Records, Patrick had demoed some of the Short Bus tracks such as "Under" and "Dose" on his 8-track reel-to-reel recorder. A demo of "Hey Man Nice Shot" was recorded at Reznor's studio; the recordings from this session were later remixed by Ben Grosse.<ref name="altwire-interview" /> Three of the early recordings, including "Hey Man Nice Shot", were featured on 1994 promo EP, Erkenntnistheorie.<ref name="epistemology" />

During the recording sessions, two musicians shared various roles: Patrick acted as the primary songwriter, bassist, and vocalist, while Liesegang mostly worked on the production and programmed the drum machine. The two shared guitar duties.<ref name="cryptic" /> A large portion of the album was recorded at a rented three-story house in Rocky River, Cleveland; the master bedroom was designated as the main studio while the basement and living room were reserved for the drum kit and guitar amps, respectively. The sessions lasted around eight months;<ref name="white-heat" /> a Macintosh Quadra and Studio Vision Pro were used to record some of the tracks.<ref name="spin-computer" /> Half of the album's tracks, including "Gerbil" and "White Like That", were recorded on an 8-track recorder.<ref name="billboard-25ann" /> While Ben Grosse was employed to mix the record to "give girth" to its sound, the band chose to master the record themselves: the mixes were tested on "consumer-level gear" such as car stereo and boombox for reference.<ref name="white-heat" /> According to Patrick, the house was demolished after the band's departure and the property was incorporated into the adjacent nursing home.<ref name="billboard-25ann" />

Composition and lyrics

Described as an industrial rock,<ref name="loudwire-ranked" /><ref name="rs-review" /><ref name="take-apic-bill" /> post-grunge,<ref name="take-apic-bill" /> and nu metal record,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Short Bus blends the industrial sound with grunge music.<ref name="Allmusic" /><ref name="rs-guide" /> The Rough Guide to Rock writer Essi Berelian described the record as "a broad and imaginative slab of industrial noise, distinguished by Patrick's ability with a strong hook and melodic chorus."<ref name="rough-guide" /> Richard Patrick has gone on to name bands such as Pantera, Butthole Surfers and Skinny Puppy as influences on the album's sound;<ref name="uber" /> Helmet and Soundgarden were also other early influences on Filter. The album's guitar-heavy sound features the use of a drum machine for percussion;<ref name="cryptic" /> the band's adoption of the digital instrument was influenced by the works of Big Black and Ministry's 1988 record, The Land of Rape and Honey.<ref name="unfiltered" /> Music software was also used to process guitars and other sounds; the verses of "Hey Man Nice Shot" featured a looped feedback of a pick stratch. The band also incorporated the sounds of a broken toilet on the track "Stuck in Here".<ref name="spin-computer" /><ref name="white-heat" /> The track "It's Over" features a guitar drop that was recorded on a low-quality mini-cassette recorder; Liesegang has described the resulting recording as a "Robert Johnson spooky kind of sound". Other incorporated sounds on the record include answering machine vocals on "Spent" and television recordings on "White Like That".<ref name="white-heat" />

Lyrical themes include religion and suicide, with the album's opening track and lead single "Hey Man Nice Shot" being written as a response to R. Budd Dwyer's televised suicide. The track was, at one point, rumored to be about the death of musician Kurt Cobain; however, the band has denied said rumor in the past.<ref>"Richard Patrick of Filter Talks About ‘Hey Man Nice Shot’ and Kurt Cobain". KLAQ, June 29, 2012.</ref> Similarly, "It's Over" was written about a mutual friend of the band who died by suicide, and was one of the first few songs written by the group.<ref name="phenomenology" /> The album is named after the slang "short bus", which refers to the smaller school busses used by students with disabilities. Liesegang stated that the band chose the title for solidarity and reclamation.<ref name="baltimore" />

Packaging

The album was released with artwork similar to that of a package, with the tracklist and barcode being part of the front cover. Some pressings included a photo on the back tray, while others simply featured a tracklist against a bare background. The minimalist design was done in homage to Public Image LTD's 1986 recording Album.<ref name="billboard-25ann" />

An expanded edition was released by Concord Music on November 2, 2018. This version replaces the Reprise Records logo with that of Craft Recordings, which is Concord's reissue label. This version adds six new mixes: two of "Dose", three of "Hey Man Nice Shot", and one of "White Like That".<ref name="broadway" />

Promotion and touring

The album spawned two major singles ("Hey Man Nice Shot" and "Dose") and a promotional single ("Under"), with "Hey Man Nice Shot" and "Dose" receiving music videos that featured an expanded line-up. The line-up included guitarist Geno Lenardo, bassist Frank Cavanagh, and drummer Matt Walker, who were all hired to back up Patrick and Liesegang for live shows. To promote Short Bus, the band would tour the United States, with footage taken during this time period later being released used for the 1996 Filter documentary Phenomenology.

Although originally intended to be touring members, Lenardo and Cavanagh would eventually join the band as full-time members to work on their 1999 follow-up album Title of Record.

Critical reception

AllMusic critic Neil Z. Yeung praised the record, stating: "Filter never sounded quite like this again and Short Bus wound up being a singular snapshot cemented in time, a sleeper hit that became an enduring genre touchstone."<ref name="Allmusic" /> Writing for The New Rolling Stone Album Guide, Greg Kot stated that the record "finds a middle ground between grunge's world-weary sense of melody and industrial rock's icy steel-pulse rhythms;" Kot further stated that the record "otherwise fails to take its Nails-Nirvana hybrid beyond the formula."<ref name="rs-guide" />

The album was featured on LoudwireTemplate:'s list of "10 Best Hard Rock Albums of 1995".<ref name="loudwire-hard" />

Personnel

Filter

• Richard Patrick – vocals, guitars, bass, programming, drums
• Brian Liesegang – programming, keyboards, guitars, drums

Additional personnel

• Richard Patrick – production, engineering
• Brian Liesegang – production, engineering
• Scott Kern – additional live drums, answering machine vocals
• Matt Drvenkar – answering machine vocals
• Jeff "Critter" Newell – additional engineering on "Dose"
• Kevin Hanley – additional guitar noise
• Mike Peffer – additional live drums
• Ben Grosse – mixing
• Deborah Norcross – art direction and design
• Chris Beirne – photography

Charts

Weekly charts

Template:Album chartTemplate:Album chartTemplate:Album chart

Chart (1995)	Peak position

Year-end charts

Chart (1995)	Position
US Billboard 200<ref name="Allmusic" />	195

External links

• Template:Discogs master