From Retired to Rewired. The 2nd life of Anthrophobia.

Anthrophobia, the long running original band from Reading, Pennsylvania have been remarkably busy since their 7 year hiatus ended in 2015. This August the band are set to drop their third EP in 4 years, entitled Altered States, a 6 song eclectic sonic ride fusing Anthrophobia’s unique fusion of rock, punk, and metal. Altered States follows the well received Rewired EP in 2016 and the late 2017 EP, Grind. The new release is their second in a row recorded at Magpie Cage recording studio in Baltimore, MD. with studio owner, engineer, producer, J.Robbins. The Altered States tracks were recorded and mixed March 6 through 13th, 2020, literally, the last week before the region was quarantined. The guys in the band are fans of Robbins’ work as a musician in Jawbox, Burning Airlines, as well as, Government Issue and his solo material. In addition, the members of Anthrophobia are fans of J. Robbins’ engineering talents that captured the sonic fury, vibe and dynamics of artists like Clutch, Against Me!, The Sword, and Local H in his studio.

Anthrophobia started gracing basement and loft punk gigs in high school, progressing to small club gigs during college in Philadelphia, then DIY touring in the ‘90s. The band built a diverse following composed of multiple rock subgenres’ fan bases, as they carved their own niche. A positive result of sharing stages with bands like Ramones and Bad Brains, as well as, tons of forgotten one hit metal, punk, grunge and rock buzz bands of the day. After a few small indie-label 7 inch releases, the band landed a deal with BMG/EMI subsidiary Mausoleum/Oxygen Records. The single ‘Wreck Me’ from the Framework EP cracked into radio charts as the band toured the US. The full length Pulse album followed in 1998, as the single “Vanishing” climbed ‘active rock’ and specialty radio charts to minor hit status. Anthrophobia gained a spot on the 30 band roster of the 1998 Vans Warped Tour, various summer radio festivals, 16 unfitting dates with Savatage as that band was transitioning into Trans-Siberian Orchestra, as well as, gigs and festivals with Incubus, Clutch, and Godsmack. Years of label jumping and line up changes followed with the release of In the Zero to 3 Movement, Magnetic, Hard by Design, and Ultrasound. Each era was filled with a few Spinal Tap type lowlights offset by many highlights, including a successful publishing deal with Pump Audio, incorporating ‘Phobia riffs in over 100 TV shows. Live and creatively, the band was firing on all cylinders, however, real life caught up with the guys and the band decided to retire in 2007, on a high note performing a hometown career-spanning ‘Phobia family reunion show. The near three hour set celebrated the band’s history with past and present members on stage in front of 1,000 people.

But, as the calendar was turning from 2014 to 2015, a seven-year itch was surfacing. That New Year’s Day, an innocent jam session of old friends together to write a few songs and have fun turned into a second life as a band. “We’re just rewriting the last chapter,” Phobia said, “and we don’t really know how many pages are in that last chapter, but we’re having a blast writing and performing, with an urgency knowing we are probably living on borrowed time as a band. Keeping that type of mindset, we keep trying to raise our own bar and keep writing the best records we’ve ever produced. We are getting to play more in cities we haven’t visited in a long time, play with bands and friends we love, and it’s all positive stuff, speaking before the pandemic, that is”.

In January 2020, the band penned and recorded the theme song for the Amazon Prime animated series Fundamentally Cynical and are presently working on music to be used in the future on the show. Anthrophobia, fronted by Frank Phobia on vocals, Brent Black on guitar, Dickie Delp on drums, and bassist Rob DiJoseph, all feel incredibly lucky to have finished the recording of Altered States when they did with the current state of the industry. Promoting the EP in their normal grass roots, hand-to-hand direct sales, and interaction with fans at live shows has to be retooled. Rather than wait to see how the live concert situation will unfold, the band is digging into releasing various videos, single releases, and interacting from a distance with their base, and potentially a few livestream shows. The first single from Altered States, “Ghosts”, has just been released and will be followed up by the singles “Cliff Notes” and “Technical Difficulties”, all to build attention to Altered States. The official date of release is August 14th on vinyl, CD, and digital via Philadelphia’s Code 3 Records.